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“We’ve been going out of our minds since your accident., wondering when you will wake up.” Trent’s eyes are still wide… childlike.
“Despite everything, how is everyone? How’s the café doing? Mom?”
He swallows hard like it’s a lot to take in and to answer. “Café’s doing really well, so don’t you worry your pretty head about that. You’re more important. Everyone is fine. Your mother’s sad, but of course she is. She wants to be able to talk to and hold her daughter again.”
A tear runs down Audrey’s face as she takes it all in. Meanwhile, I stand here feeling like I’m intruding on a private conversation.
“I wish I could do that too.”
Trent reaches up, tenderly wiping her tear away. “Hey, none of this sad talk. Your mother’s strong and so are you. You’ll both get through this. Just…” He picks up both her hands and pulls her arms up in the air. “Look at you. You’ve changed so much since I last saw you. Got yourself a sweet-assed husband to boot.” He glances up, winking at me. Shyly, I smile back.
Audrey glances up to me, a smile on her face. “Yeah, all of that certainly has its advantages. I can’t get over the fact that people want an autograph from a café owner from a small town, but yes… having Eli by my side certainly helps.”
Trent gazes up at me. “And you knew… from the start?”
I shake my head. “I’ve only just found out. I knew something was wrong… knew that she was behaving completely out of character and seemed to have adopted the same traits as the lady from the coffee shop whom I had only met a few days prior. I must admit, I thought Kendra was playing a game with me and had met Audrey so that she could find out about her. It didn’t make any sense to me, but I certainly wouldn’t have believed this. That’s why I had to come to Sheridan to find out.”
Trent frowns and then something dawns on him. “Victoria said you were here yesterday asking questions about Audrey. Now it makes sense.”
“Don’t tell Victoria what you know, please,” Audrey pipes up. “I love Victoria, but she will end up telling my mom, and I don’t want to upset her any more than necessary. She will never believe this.”
Trent picks up her hand and kisses it. “You don’t worry about a thing. You can trust me. And you’re right,” Trent continues, glancing up at me. “Victoria is a blabbermouth. She can never keep anything a secret. I once told her I had trouble with my number twos and she quietly told me she would go fetch me some tablets from the drugstore as I was embarrassed to do it myself. She came back to the café twenty minutes later and shouted, ‘I got the constipation tablets you wanted!’ I almost died!”
Audrey bursts into laughter. “You wouldn’t talk to her for a week practically.” She looks up at me. “I had to be mediator. ‘Audrey, tell Victoria that she needs to make coffee for guy at table three.’ ‘Audrey, tell Trent that I am busy wiping tables and that he should do it.’ ‘Audrey, tell Victoria that she’s a lazy-assed bitch with too much hair.’ I almost died at that one.”
“Oh, God, it’s so good to talk to you,” Trent beams. “I’ve so missed this. The café hasn’t been the same vibe since you’ve been gone.” He then flits his head back and forth between us. “You said a month, right?” Audrey nods her head. “I guess that means you’ll wake up shortly.”
“I certainly hope so,” she responds.
“But then what happens?”
Silence fills the air as Audrey and I stare at each other. Eventually, Audrey responds. “I guess I get myself one hundred percent and carry on as normal. The café needs someone to keep you all in check,” she jokes.
Judging by the look on Trent’s face, that wasn’t what he was asking. Words are on the tip of my tongue, but I’m afraid to get them out. I want to tell him that I will be there for her, that I want to be in her life, that I will try my hardest to be… but. And there’s a big but.
Does she want that too?
I find myself in this strange position I had never considered before. What does happen once she wakes up from her coma? Will she want to carry on as normal, or will she want me in her life… even if it is as friends? Questions. So many of them I can’t answer because I don’t know how Audrey feels. Of course, she will be cautious. I’m a married man, for goodness’ sake. I have no right to want things from her, and I also have no right to demand she want them too. She’s as free as a bird, but me… I’m the one with the baggage. Baggage I know I must deal with once Audrey wakes and… I guess… Kendra comes back.
Man, this is crazy.
“What’s your cell number again?” Audrey asks Trent as I’m stood there still deep in my own thoughts.
Trent, noting my expression, offers a sympathetic smile before writing down his cell number on a piece of paper Audrey hands him.
“Girl, why don’t you have my number cemented in your brain?”
Audrey laughs out loud. “I would if I lived in the 1980s.”
“Too true. Don’t get me started on kids these days.” Trent rolls his eyes, which I find amusing. “How long are you in town for?”
Audrey flits her eyes to me. “Just until tomorrow. We have stuff to deal with back in LA.”
“Aww, that sucks. Make sure you come say goodbye to me, you hear? And keep in touch.”
Audrey smiles before taking him into her arms. “I will. Promise.”
“And make sure you come back to us. We need you.”
Trent squeezes her in his arms, and I watch as she closes her eyes a moment before they land on mine, a mixture of apprehension and sadness passing through them as she squeezes him back. It’s only for a fraction of a second, but a thousand words seem to pass through us. I know she’s desperate to get back to her life and I know she has every right to feel that way, but the highly selfish part of me wonders… where do I fit into all of this?
