Page 96 of You Again

Maybe she isn’t angry. Maybe she appreciates that we honored her wishes. Maybe she just needs to process. “It’s understandable. Things have been overwhelming, and with your panic attacks⁠—”

“So instead of going against my wishes and telling me who you were, you pretended you didn’t know me.”

I swallow. “Uh—yeah.”

“You talked to me like a stranger.”

I huff. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

Her eyes find mine and she stares at me. “Where were you when I woke up? Why weren’t you at the hospital with my parents. With my grammy? With Fran?”

“I was.” I clear my throat, my heart pattering. “We were in the accident together. I was in a hospital bed when you woke. I had surgery, but it was complicated, and I ended up needing a second procedure. They kept me here for a week. By the time they released me, you were adamant about learning things in your own way and time.”

Rosalie’s eyes droop down and her brows knit. “Your leg.”

“Yes.”

Her jaw clenches. “They said I was driving.”

I move to the edge of my seat. “You were. But we were parked off to the side. I’d asked you to pull over.” Guilt punches in my gut. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Or yours.”

“Rosalie,” I say, scooting my seat closer to her.

She shakes her head, “I know what I said. I know I asked for people to not overshare. But when things progressed with us—” She shuts her eyes. “You should have told me.”

“I didn’t know what to do.”

“I know this is partly my fault. But you lied about not knowing me. Everything you said...” Another shake and a tear falls from her eye.

This can’t be happening. I lost her once, and now I’m going to lose her again. “Because I love you,” I say. “You didn’t want information. You didn’t want to meet a bunch of people who knew you but were strangers to you. You needed time. But Rose, I—” My voice cracks with the words. “I need you.”

Rolling onto her back, she stares at the ceiling. A tear skates down the side of her face and into her ear. “I’m not sure I can do this.”

Tears flood my eyes and blur my view of her. I sniff and run a hand beneath my nose. “You were willing to forgive Robert. But you can’t forgive me?”

“I have no memory of what Robert did.”

Am I the villain? Am I now lumped with that man who hurt her so badly?

“It took us so long the first time around.” I stand and scrub a hand down my face. “It couldn’t have all been for nothing.”

“I don’t remember the first time around.” She rolls away from me.

“That’s it?” I say. “You aren’t even going to try? You love me, Rosalie. And I don’t know how to live without you.”

Her shoulders shake and a quiet sob fills the air. “I need to think.”

“Please, Rose. Don’t let this little thing of me needing you and you not realizing it come between us. Please.”

“Little thing?” She tips onto her back and stares up at the sky once more. Tears stream from the corners of her eyes. She pushes them away with the back of her hand and exhales a shaky breath. “I’m going to need some time, Zev.”

Time. It’s the one thing that plagues us both.

Forty-One

The Sugar Pine Café is quiet on Mondays. Always has been. Which is why I’ve always gone on Mondays. I can’t help but wonder if Zev knew I’d be here, or if the first time he saw me it was a happy accident. He came consistently, long before he spoke to me. He always had a book in hand. Did he do that because he knows I like to read? Or did he come to read, too?