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While Tuesday stays at the front desk tying up loose ends, I carry the suitcases to the Escalade, thinking about how close we were for the month she was staying at the hotel. Just around the corner from each other. Coming to the same place for coffee at least a couple of times a week. We were so close, but it took a bad day, coffee, and a mugging to bring us together.
I never thought I’d find love when I least expected it. Guess I should have since Harbor is a prime example for proving it’s true. I’m sure he didn’t expect to meet his other half at a gas station. Now look at him and Lark.
Brady comes around to open the back. “Surprised they still had her luggage.”
“Yeah, me too.” I’ll be curious about what she does with it. It’s another life, but it’s hers to claim. Do the clothes inside suit Tuesday as much as they do Céline?
She’s going through a transition in many ways. Her moving in with me permanently is just one. Picking out a place to call home together is the next. Making her my wife will be the icing on the cake. Lots of changes ahead. Good for both of us.
He loads them into the back. “It’s good to have her back.”
“I’m chopped liver over here?”
Chuckling, he comes around and pats my back. “Good to have you back, Loch.”
“It’s good to be back.” We take our respective seats inside the SUV. I look to see if she’s coming yet. Since she’s not, I ask, “How’s the love life?” Who knew that was going to be opening a can of worms.
I might have lost track, but I think we’re in the middle of a story about his third date in two weeks when Tuesday joins us. Slipping into the back seat with me, she says, “Before I got my memory back, I thought I was just running away from my life. I wasn’t. I was fighting back the only way I knew how.”
“By going incognito with your name and whereabouts until you could get that into the right hands?”
“To handle it properly and put Carter away for years to come.”
“He managed to do that himself.” I chuckle. “How far did he think he’d get on that horse?”
“He was probably hoping for anywhere no one knew him.”
She leans forward. “Hey, Brady, do you mind waiting a little longer?”
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Popping the door open, she says, “Want to take a walk with me?”
How can I resist when she’s wearing that sweet smile for me? I can’t. I follow her out of the SUV and take her hand. “Where are we going?”
“I thought we would go back to where we first met. I could use a pick-me-up.”
I give her a little wink while we walk. “I picked you up all right.” I can still make her giggle. It’s a glorious sound.
Rounding the corner, I see the coffee shop ahead, and although we’ve visited it before, this time feels different. I bring her hand to my mouth, kiss the top of it, and then say, “I’ve been thinking about that day.”
“What are you thinking?”
Pulling her off to the side of the sidewalk and under the awning of the shop next door, I bring her against me to hold. And kiss. “It wasn’t the accident that brought us together. It was destiny.”
With her palms on my chest, she lifts up and kisses me. “That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.” Whether she was Céline or Tuesday, my soul was meant to meet hers that day. “Can I buy you a coffee?” she asks.
“Absolutely, but I promised to be back at the office in an hour.”
She laughs, throwing her arms up in surrender. “Hopefully, it won’t take long. No more complex orders. I promise. I’ve had enough complications to last a lifetime.” We place our orders and wait in the same spots as we did the first time. “Did you know that we met on a Tuesday?”
“Was it?”
Nodding, she comes around to face me. “We did. Out of all the days, it just happened to be a Tuesday.”
I wrap my arms around the small of her back. “Did I ever tell you how much I hate Tuesdays?”
“What?” Offense riddles her eyes.
Kissing her, I wait until she’s kissing me right back before adding, “But damn, I love them now.”
Five months later
It’s been fifteen minutes, but nurses are busy, so I continue waiting with the bouquet of yellow flowers in my hand. Tuesday said freesia are some of her favorite flowers, and they’d be perfect for this occasion.
The same compassion Nurse Belinda showed me and Tuesday when we were at this hospital last fall still rests on her softened features when she comes around the corner and sees me. I say, “Not sure if you remember—”
