I look all around us, then close my eyes and breathe in as I listen to the sounds of the birds chirping overhead, the wind rustling through the trees.
“I thought once I got here, maybe I would, maybe I’d know why I was here, but…”
Goddammit. I really thought this would work.
“I’ve been doing everything I can to get back to my routine, butnothingis working. It felt like if anything was going to work, it was going to be coming here, seeing where it all started, but I’m here and… nothing.” Tears press against my eyes as I look back at Nora, and something inside me crumples.
“What are the other things you’ve been doing to try to remember?” she asks.
“Starting back at the coffee shop, hanging out with my best friends. AlthoughapparentlyI wasn’t even doing that much anymore so maybe it’s not a surprise that didn’t work. They told me I’m always working and barely have time for them anymore, so I don’t even know.” I shrug. “I even went to see my dad at his garage, but we barely had anything to talk about. So I guess I’ve mostly just been hanging out with my mom and going to our favorite spots.”
“Oh. Are you two close?” she asks.
“My mom and I? Yeah, we’re like…” I cross my middle and pointer fingers. Nora furrows her brow at me and does one slow nod. Instantly I feel bad saying that, when she can’t even stand to be around hers.
She looks away at an animal rustling in some brush, and then she gets real quiet.Mental note: Don’t bring up moms.
“You want to get out of here?” I ask. But as I turn to takemy first step away, my foot catches on a branch and it pulls me down until my knee collides with a rock.“Son of a—!”I yell as blood begins to seep through my scraped skin.
“Stevie. Oh my God.” Nora crouches down in front of me as I plop my butt down on the ground, a laugh already escaping my lips. “I will straight-up bubble-wrap your ass. Jesus Christ.” She wipes a hand down her face, trying and failing to hide a smile as she sits back on the rock.
“Sorry,” I say. “Ow.” I pluck a few pieces of dirt out of my knee.
“Come on. We have a first aid kit up at the house,” she says, pulling me up off the ground.
Before we go I look back down at the water and the near-vertical wall of mud on the other side, keeping my feet safely planted where they are.
What she did seems almost impossible.
I can’t even imagine being able to pullmyselfout of there, let alone someone else.
It must have almost killed her.
I don’t think many people would do that for a complete stranger.
I can’t believe she did it for me.
I always pictured farmhouses as big and cozy. Lots of family photos lining the walls of every room and heaps of antiques cluttering old wooden hutches.
Nora’s house isn’t anything like that. It’s big but… empty, lacking any sort of warmth.
“Okay, hop up and swing your leg over the sink,” she says, smacking the countertop as she rifles through a metal first aid kit. I do as she says, watching her pull out what seems like way too many things for just a scraped-up knee, but I don’t say anything.
She unscrews the white cap off a brown bottle and moves to pour it over my knee. All of a sudden I’m transported back to my mom holding the same bottle over a cut when I was real little.
“Wait, is that the one that bur—Oh my—Nora!” I clutch my knee as the clear liquid sizzles over my scrape.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.” She winces up at me. “I thought it would be better if you didn’t know it was coming.” She dabs a paper towel over it and then finishes up by carefully spreading Neosporin over a rectangular Band-Aid and sticking it onto my knee. “There.”
“Ow,”I moan as I inspect my knee.
“Oh, you survived a fifteen-foot drop onto your head. You’ll be all right,” she says bluntly. I hop down off the counter, testing the bend in my knee.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re incredibly sensitive?” I ask.
“You’d be the first, andthank you so much.” She turns around, grinning innocently, and I shake my head at her. I’d never admit it to her, but I kinda love the way she talks to me, like I’m just a regular person. Like she’s not afraid I’ll break.
“How about lunch?” she asks, opening the fridge and slapping down a package of… uh… I don’t know what.
