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“Please, Valik.” I gripped his hand. “I’m getting cabin fever.”
He looked over his shoulder at the shut door, and sighed. “OK, let’s do it. But if you get too tired, then we come back, OK?”
I clapped my hands together and threw the blankets off. “Yes, sir!” I stood up and immediately stumbled to the ground. “No, no, no, I’m fine.” I gripped the side of the bed and dragged myself up, Valik’s arms coming around my waist.
“Up ya go.” He lifted me up back to the bed. “Jeez, Nova, you’re like a baby giraffe.” He chuckled.
Twenty minutes later, after Valik insisted on helping me stretch out my entire body, we were walking barefoot in the grass outside, being careful to avoid the small granite rocks that were everywhere. We were on an island off the coast of Maine, Valik had mentioned. It was breathtakingly beautiful and so green. Exactly what I had imagined an island paradise would be.
“Do I live here?” I gripped onto his forearm as we walked at a snail’s pace.
“You live in downtown Chicago in the same building as Ryzen. This is the first time we’ve been here.”
“Am I happy?” I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, gauging his reaction.
He chuckled. “I would say yes. There are some days you are glowing with happiness. There are others where you look like you want to murder someone.”
We reached the edge of a bluff, and I peeked over the edge, little pebbles of granite falling down below. It was a good hundred feet to the bottom. Valik gripped me close, making sure I didn’t get too close.
“Tell me about Ryzen. Is he a good man?”
He was quiet for a moment, and I tried to read the expression on his face. His whole demeanor had changed, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
“Yes,” he said softly, and walked us away from the ledge.
“I heard him yelling at you. Is he always that way?” I stopped walking and he looked down at me.
Valik’s lips were set in a flat line, and he shrugged. “It’s complicated.” He didn’t offer anything else.
“OK, I can see you are not in the divulging secrets mood.” I punched his arm softly, almost losing my balance. “We’re friends, right? Me and you? I can tell. You’re pretty great, Valik, and I’m happy that you look after me.” I smiled at him.
“You’re a pain in my ass, is what you are.”
“Oh, hush. Are you going to tell me what happened to your neck? That’s a pretty nasty cut.” I reached up and traced the mark there, and he froze, his whole body tensing.
“It was a misunderstanding,” he said softly.
I blew out a deep breath. “That’s a scary misunderstanding. I’d hate to be in the room with the person who did that to you.”
His eyes widened, and his body shook with laughter. “You have no idea, Nova.”
We walked for some time, the fresh air making me feel alive for the first time in a while. I had so many questions and wondered where the doctor was. Why weren’t we doing something about my memory loss? There should be tests or a psychologist or something, anything. But Ryzen hadn’t mentioned any of that. I thought back to what I had heard him tell Valik the other day.
“I’m doing what’s best for her.”
Of course he was. He was my fiancé. I shouldn’t doubt him, should I?
We made our way back to the house and found ourselves on a terrace of sorts. Ryzen was sitting at a table with a woman, and waved us over when he saw us.
“You’re up, sweetheart.” He stood and kissed me on the cheek. “Getting a little exercise, are you?” His smile didn’t meet his eyes when he looked at Valik.
“Yes, sir. Just helping her stretch her legs.”
“You can go now.” Ryzen nodded his head towards the house and Valik left.
I nibbled on my bottom lip as I watched him walk away. That had been rude of Ryzen, and totally unnecessary. Valik was helping me so much. Ryzen should treat him better. Was Ryzen always like that to him? Maybe Ryzen was jealous for some reason. I would talk to him about it.
“Nova, this is Iva, a friend of ours.” He helped me sit down next to him and pushed my chair in.
