Page 23 of Out of Sight

Regis came over and smiled. “You should head out. They are calling Poppy. They are taking what is becoming the traditional route.”

Ted smiled. “Back in time?”

“Yup. They are going for their degrees, and Avor recognized them when they came in, so they are already out here somewhere. Time travel gives me a headache.”

Ted chuckled. “I am not even going to try. Right. I am heading out. Have to make visiting hours.”

Mik hugged her. “Call for any reason, even if you don’t want to spend the night alone. Not that way.” She wrinkled her nose.

Ted nodded. “Thanks for the offer. I will keep it in mind. I might call.”

Mik nodded. “Yup. I want you to. How is Nora’s baby, by the way?”

“At home with the nanny most days. He has a cold that he got from the other cousins.” Ted smiled. “He’s still super cute, though. It’s a good thing Sabin can fight. He’s going to have a house full of omegas.”

Mik smiled. “I don’t think he’s going to complain. Good thing the family can protect them.”

Ted thought of her enormous extended family. “Yeah. We can. Right. Have a great day. Congrats on the green giant. I am betting he comes back as a therapist.”

Mik blinked. “Interesting. So I should watch my office for an encroacher.”

Ted looked over at the slick-looking orc. “Yeah, he has encroaching all over him.”

He turned his head toward them and winked.

“And he has the freaky hearing. Okay. I am gone. That is too funny.”

Mik laughed and saluted, and Ted portaled to the memory care home where her father sat and stared out at the open fields and distant lake. She signed in and went to find her father. When she sat near him, he held his hand out to her. She smiled with watery eyes. “Hi, Dad. I am back. I have missed you so much.”

He patted her hand on his. “Do you know my daughter Therese? She’s about your age.”

Ted smiled. “Tell me about her.”

They sat there in the sun and watched the lake, and he told her about the daughter who lived in his fading memory and nowhere else. He had always remembered her even when he didn’t know her. It was a wonderful place to be.

Chapter Five

Ted walked into her apartment, her heart light and heavy at the same time. She ordered food, and while she had forty minutes to kill, she went to carefully take a shower. It was a funny thing, to never be remembered. She had let her appearance slip, and that stopped now. Into the shower, and her braids were getting a going over.

She undressed and got into the warm shower, soaking her scalp and sighing. After she had relaxed a few degrees, she got her clarifying shampoo, watered it down, and applied it to her roots, flicking her braids from left to right to make her scalp happy.

Ted smiled at the little bit of normal that she was reclaiming as the shampoo was rinsed off and the conditioner went on. Wearing the braids had been self-defense when she was a teenager. There weren’t a lot of people of colour in the neighbourhood, and she was the only one in the family. Her hair had been an irresistible draw, and the constant patting was annoying. Her mother had told her to pick a colour, and the next day the braids went in. Hours of tugging and chatting in a small room with no bathroom breaks, and she had come out with hot pink hair cascading over her shoulders. Her mom had told her to go bold, and since she got attention anyway, she could control the narrative. Shockingly, her mother had been right. The family started keeping their hands to themselves.

She finished the shower with a scrub from top to toe, and when she finally felt clean, she turned off the water and dried off. Her braids were wrapped in a microfibre towel that would dry them fast. The rest of her was swathed in a thick robe, and she smiled. She was feeling more and more like herself with every passing minute.

The doorbell rang, and she walked over to collect her food. This was the first meal of her new life, and it was going to burn all the way through. Cleansing by fire had always been a family tradition. Well, in her family. Her father had married her mother, beta to beta. Because of their designations, the family congratulated them and said it was cute. When she had arrived, everyone had smiled politely, but her grandmother had gone nuts and spent days cuddling her every time her mother would part with her.

She knew that her grandma loved her, and with her mother’s family overseas, she was the only grandma that Ted knew. She was still alive, and Ted was nervous about seeing her again. She didn’t want to surprise her. Nanna Anya was old, and Ted didn’t want to shock her.

She sat and ate while she answered her friends and ex-jobs. She told friends she would be up to start socializing the following week, and the ex-jobs were usually comprised of folks who had become friends.

Sorting through her family took a while, but she didn’t find anything from Lucia. Frowning, she sent her cousin a text, and she blinked when there was an answer immediately.

You remember me?

Ted’s guts went cold. What do you mean? Of course I do.

You are back to yourself?