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“Bucky T., do not call your brother dumb,” Kayla yells.Kayla—that’s who spoke before. Kayla.
It’s taking me a minute to put all of it together, but my head is clearing.
Only—why am I at Kayla’s?
“Hey there, sleepy head. How ya doing?” Annie sits on the coffee table next to this couch I lay on.
“Sleepy?” I lift up on one elbow, but my head goes fuzzy all over again. The room is spinning. I am having really bad luck with my head this month. “What’s going on?”
“Ahhh.” Annie bites her bottom lip. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
I think. And think. “Date. Blonde girl—”
Annie nods. “Ang.”
“She wore this sweater. It—” I cinch my brows, thinking. “It was covered in cat hair.”
“Yes, it was. And she made you pet her like a golden retriever.”
“Yeah. And then—”
I see the arm of Kayla handing Annie a glass of water, and then it’s gone.
“And then,” she says, setting the water on the table next to her, “you went into anaphylactic shock. Ang thought you were choking on something. I guess you were, in a way—your tongue. Jamal, the waiter—”
“Jamal,” I say, remembering the man who wrapped his arms around my middle.
“Yes, well, with Ang’s encouragement, he attempted to give you the Heimlich maneuver—which you didn’t need. Needless to say, we were all lucky that I was…passing byand saved the day with your EpiPen.” Her coffee-brown eyes widen—which means she isn’t telling me something. I know Annie, and I know when she is purposely leaving out information.
“Passing by? You were passing by in Post Falls?”
With her lips pressed tight together, she nods. “Mmm-hmm.”
“Annie…” I sit up, but I’m dizzy. I am not normally this high maintenance. But the forces against Owen’s head are winning, two to zero.
I reach for the water that I’m assuming Kayla brought over for me. I down it in two gulps and look out at Annie, then just past her. I’ve never been inside Annie’s sister’s house before. Sure, I’ve met Kayla, but she’s a good eight years older than Annie; we never hung out with her. This place is loved and lived in, from the orange fingerprints on the white door frame to the Legos scattered over the living room floor.
“I was visiting Kayla. And the boys. And we went out. And passed by. And—”
“You were spying on me.”
She breathes out, her shoulders deflating. “I was spying on you.”
I lean back, and the leather couch wheezes beneath my weight. “Well, thanks. You probably saved my life.” I shake my head. “I’ve never had a reaction like that before. There wasn’t even a cat in sight.”
“I’m pretty sure she had her sweater made from her cat’s hair. I’m sorry, Owen. I don’t know how I missed the crazy in that application. I thought she was the real thing.”
“Yeah, well—”
“We’ll do better next time.”
“Next time.” I shut my eyes.Ugh. “I did ask three meaningful questions.”
“No way. In the twenty minutes before you lost consciousness?”
I clear my throat.So manly. So heroic.I am a dreamboat—as Grandma Bailey would say. “Yeah, well, I’m not sure it did you a lot of good—”
“No, I think it did. Ang said she really liked you, that she could tell you were there for the right reasons, that you were showing up for her. That is until you blacked out.”
