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“Oh, nothing,” I said, trying to hide my embarrassment.
He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t believe you,” he said.
I sighed, feeling pathetic. “I just need to call my mom. I forgot I didn’t drive here.”
His smile was sympathetic. “How long until you have a car again?”
I shook my head. “Actually, that’s not why. Well, maybe partially. I could have driven Mom’s car, if that were the issue. I’m not cleared to drive yet.” I shrugged. “So, Mom gets to play taxi driver.” I pulled my phone out and pulled up her contact info.
The phone was tugged from my fingers, and I looked up.
“You don’t have to bother her. I’ll just take you home.” Jake’s tone was casual, but there was an intensity in his eyes I couldn’t ignore.
He wanted me to say yes. But why?
Hadn’t I just agreed to be friends? Even if it felt like I was jumping in before I knew the water, it would be rude to insist on calling my mom.
“Okay. That would be great, thank you.”
Jake smiled, and I realized once again how handsome he was. I’d always thought so. There was just something about crushing on your older brother’s friends that didn’t seem to go away. As we’d both gotten older, his boyish charm had remained, though his jawline was sharp and his eyes a little less carefree than I remembered.
Our paths had always crossed. Family gatherings, community events, or things at the station always meant there was plenty of overlap in our worlds. This was one of the first times I could remember it being just me and Jake. Had we spent time alone that I couldn’t remember?
And that was a futile question. The doctors had reiterated just the other day that they couldn’t make any predictions or promises about my memory.
If Jake and I had been alone before tonight, to me it might as well have never happened.
I had to stop looking backward.
Step one to reconnecting the two halves of my life was accepting that whatever had happened during the six months I missed wasn’t coming back. The specialists said they couldn’t explain why I forgot so much, and they couldn’t say if or when it would come back. So, I wasn’t counting on it.
But my life was pretty uneventful. I probably hadn’t missed much.
Step two was getting back to work. Although the splitting headaches would seriously have to take a hike before there was any chance of that happening. Plus, I couldn’t let nonexistent memories with Jake distract me.
Work was the most important thing in my life. There was one memory from my years as a nurse I could only wish I’d forgotten in the accident.
Even with a brain injury, I would never be able to forget how I lost my focus in the ER and cost a patient their life.
And what had that distraction been?
None other than Jake being admitted with a broken collarbone. I’d been worried about him instead of focused on my own patient. If the younger version of me had ever entertained fantasies about the two of us, they’d died that day along with my patient.
Jake was simply a distraction I couldn’t afford. Back then and now.
But now, he was apparently my friend. I could handle that, right? That shouldn’t be too distracting.
ChapterFive
JAKE
Igrabbed my keys and led Monica to the garage.
My heart was racing with anticipation and nerves. I didn’t want to mess this up. It was a simple drive, but it felt like an opportunity. My first chance to show Monica who I was.
I opened the passenger door on my red truck and pointed out the handles and running boards she could use to step up before walking back to my side.
When I climbed in, I found Monica’s wide eyes examining the inside of the truck. “Wow. This is… clean,” she finished after a moment.
