Page 54 of The Do-Over
“You’ll be all right,” she said. “Just wait for me here. Put something on TV, and I’ll see you in a few hours. You can call me if you need anything.”
“I don’t have your number.”
“Yeah, you do. I programmed it into your phone,” she said. She showed him how to access the contacts and how to find her name. “Just tap on it if you need anything and it’ll ring me, okay?”
He didn’t answer. He was scrolling through the list of contacts now. She thought he was mouthing the names.
“Seriously, don’t get lost in the phone,” she told him. “That’s not healthy for you. Take a break from that and watch TV, or…or read a book or something.”
“Okay,” he said.
“I’ll see you in a few hours,” she told him, and hurried out of the house, anxious to be away from all the feelings he stirred up in her.
* * *
“I brought home smoothies,” Thea announced as she came in the door. Being away all day had done wonders for her state of mind. She was sure now that she had been imagining the tension between Rob and herself. He was confused because of his memory problems, and she was being protective over him because that was her nature. It was that simple.
“Thea,” he said, coming into the kitchen in sweatpants and a tank top that exposed his shoulders. He’d clearly just gotten out of a shower. His hair was wet, and he was toweling it dry.
She made a face. “You’re not supposed to do risky things when I’m not home.”
“Like showering?” He sounded amused.
“Yes, like showering. You could fall and drown.”
“I could drown in the shower.”
“Stranger things have happened, Rob.”
“Well, I survived,” he said, and the grin he gave her was the same one that had made her heart flutter when she was young.
She cleared her throat. “Strawberry banana or mango?”
“Strawberry banana.” He held out his hand and she passed it to him. He took a long sip and smiled. “That’s nice.”
“What are you thinking for dinner?”
“I’m thinking, why did I come back to Deer Ridge?”
She froze and turned to face him. “That’s not dinner.”
“Yeah, but I want to know.”
“You were being given an award,” she said. “A medical award. The ceremony was the day after tomorrow.”
He was quiet. “There’s no way I’m going to make it to that.”
“Well, don’t lose hope,” Thea said. “Everything in town has been canceled thanks to the snow, so you’ve got a few extra days. I’d say it’s more than possible that you might recover in time.”
“Do you think so?”
She smiled. “It’s good to see you concerned about this,” she said.
“Why do you say so?”
“Well, I’m sure this ceremony was something that was really important to you before your accident, or you wouldn’t have come all the way back to Deer Ridge for it,” she said. “You hate Deer Ridge. You remember that, right? All you ever wanted was to get out. It was more important to you than—than anything.”
More important than me.
