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"I’m not able to get around with my leg like this."
"Your leg like what?" he asked, smiling and pretending not to notice.
He was an absolute heartthrob. "Owen. You have work and I have to heal up. Let me stay here for six weeks." I leaned up and whispered directly in his ear. "And then I can run away with you."
His chest expanded with a big breath when I whispered to him. He found my ear and began to whisper back to me. "Listen, I don't mean to put it like this, but my family is loaded. My mom's dad has sixteen classic cars that are all sitting in an indoor garage. He has millions of dollars in cars alone. He has horses to ride and horses that race, and he has boats and a small plane. My parents have this gigantic house and they're sad that I'm not at home anymore because it's too quiet around there. You can go there right now. My dad is a physical therapist. They'll put you up, and you can heal your leg. Just move there for a little while. Get away from here."
"I can't move in with your parents," I whispered even though I really wanted to.
"Why not?"
"Because they can't do that. They don't even know me."
"I know. But they know me. Come with me. You can heal up while I'm finishing this movie. I already thought about this before I even knew you were hurt. But now it's really perfect. Mydad's a good therapist, and one of my best friends works at his clinic. They would love to help you out." He paused long enough to pull back and look at me. "Do you want to? Do you want to leave with me now? Would you do it? Is that something that even appeals to you?"
"Y-yes," I said simply, trying not to start shaking again.
"Yes?"
"Yes," I said, nodding and reassuring him.
He smiled at me like he was genuinely excited, and I felt like I could just die from sheer relief.
"I'm taking you with me right now," he said, "I'm making sure you understand that and want it."
I nodded.
His blue eyes stared into mine, and my heart soared.
He gestured to the door. "Let's go inside and get your things."
Chapter 14
Three weeks later
Memphis, Tennessee
So much had happened in the last few weeks.
I moved to Memphis.
I flew from Montana to Tennessee two days after that all went down with my mom. I would have left right away, but I stayed to get my personal records from my mother. I called her from Paul and Ellen's house, and I threatened to press charges if she didn't give me the records of my birth and the paperwork she had regarding changing my old name. She hadn't been very good at recordkeeping, but she did have a few things, and Paul went with me to the house to pick them up.
As of now, everything was still in the tattered, oversized envelope.
I didn't look at any of it… not even my original name. I had access to that information in those papers, but I hadn't looked at it yet. I knew where it was, and I told myself I would go through it all when I was ready.
Paul and Ellen were amazing in Montana. They helped me by giving me rides and taking care of me before I left for Tennessee. I took some of my clothing and personal things from Stanley's,and I shipped them in boxes to Owen's parents' house before I ever left town.
Paul drove me to the airport two days later, and I took a flight to Memphis. I didn't have much luggage. I checked one bag, and I didn't have to carry anything but a purse while I was traveling.
No one, not a single soul, knew the whole story regarding my mother and Stanley, and everything that had gone down with my leg. Paul and Ellen didn't even know, and they had helped me deal with my mom in Montana. I gave them very few details. I didn't even tell Owen. He was busy finishing the movie, and I didn't want to put that on him.
And now that I was in Memphis, I found that I didn't want to tell Owen's parents. They were amazing and I loved them too much to tell them the crazy truth. If I told them, there was a definite possibility they would look at me differently. I had talked to Owen quite a bit over the phone. We had talked about personal things, but I hadn't shared the part about Stanley and the hole.
I had been with the Atkinson family for three weeks now. I've gotten to know Charlie, Denise, and Caroline, and I had shared personal things with them, things about my childhood. They knew about my mom running away to Montana all those years ago. But I was just too embarrassed to tell anyone the whole story.
Owen's dad had been amazing in helping me with physical therapy, and I felt stronger and stronger by the day. I had a doctor's appointment next week, and I would find out when I would get my cast off. Owen was always asking about my recovery. We spoke a lot, but I hadn't seen him since I left Montana. There were pictures of him all over the house, though, and his parents had shown me a ton of videos from his childhood. I watched his movies, too.
