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“I just...I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m saying,” she forced out on an apologetic rush as if she was sorry for having said anything at all. “I’m being ridiculous. This whole situation just has me looking for things that aren’t there because you’re my best friend, and I’m worried about you.”
“Samantha—”
“But it’ll be fine. I know it,” she offered. Her gentle encouragement somehow not managing to encourage me as she started backing away. “Let me know if you figure anything out—either of you.”
“Yeah, of course,” I murmured as I tried clearing my head of the doubt she’d unintentionally placed there. “See you Friday.”
“Love you,” she called over her shoulder as she grabbed her bag and hurried down the driveway, saying something to Chase as they passed that I couldn’t hear from where I stood.
But it had Chase pausing.
Brow furrowing as he glanced back at her, and then again as he continued toward me.
“What is it?” I asked as he pulled me into his arms and pressed a soft, teasing kiss to my lips. “What’d Samantha say?”
He grunted as he shifted to look at where she was pulling away from the curb. “I know her? I mean, I know I do. You’ve said she’s your best friend. Right?”
“Right,” I said warily, my stomach dipping as I waited for what he would reveal next.
His head bounced quickly. “She didn’t say anything weird, just ‘Hi, Chase.’ But it gave me this—I don’t know. Didn’t feel like a memory, but like the distinct feeling I’d heard those words in that tone at the shop. Have I tattooed her?”
“A few times,” I said as I glanced at the place she’d just been. “I think the first time was when she and I got our sternum pieces together.”
His brow furrowed tighter like he was trying so damn hard to remember. “Matching?”
“No, hers is different. We just got them done at the same time.”
“Yeah, I don’t know,” he mumbled after a while, then pulled me closer. “How’d your session go?”
My head moved slowly as I tried to force away the completely unfounded and insane thought that something could’ve happened between Chase and Samantha before I managed to say, “Good. Good, it was fine.”
“You sure?” he asked cautiously, eyes taking me in like he was looking for anything that would say otherwise.
“No, it was great,” I assured him, then forced a teasing smirk. “I think I’m just tired because someone wouldn’t let me sleep last night. Or the night before. Or the—” A gasp tore from my lungs and ended on a giggle when Chase lifted me into his arms and started walking toward the door.
“When’s your next session?” he asked before stealing a quick, hard kiss.
“A little over an hour.” Another laugh bubbled free as I vainly reached for the equipment. “But I have to clean—I have to prepare! And you have a meeting in less than that.”
Setting me down just inside the house, he kept one hand on the open door and trailed the other down my spine and over the curve of my butt. A smirk shaping his lips at my next inhale when he continued the path until he was teasing just between my thighs. “If you want me to let you go...”
Taking his hand off the door, I let it slam shut and then reached for the bottom of his shirt as he grabbed the band of my workout pants. “It can wait.”
* * *
“So, we come here a lot?” Chase asked late that afternoon, expression the same as it often was lately as he took in our favorite coffee shop.
Like he was trying to remember. Like hewantedto.
And couldn’t.
Tomorrow would make a month since his accident. And even though things between us were so much better than they’d been when he’d first woken from the short coma, our lives were still incredibly different than they used to be.
Mornings weren’t the same without him in the water with us. There were dozens of inside jokes that would go by without a reaction from him. He was getting more and more restless to get back to the shop and doing what he loved. And even though his truck would be replaced soon enough, according to the meeting he’d had today, Chase wouldn’t be able to drive—or surf—for another few weeks, at least.
Something he’d voiced his displeasure about at the doctor’s office about an hour ago.
But as the doctor had reminded him, even though his bones were healing extremely well, head injuries needed to be treated carefully.
