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“Wait!” I shout when she’s about to push my foot in, my eyes wide. “Do that again.”
Her brows form a frown as she tilts her head back up to me. “Do what?”
“Touch my foot there again.”
She moves her fingers slightly and a loud gasp leaves my mouth as the sensation rolls through me. My stomach dips, my hands landing on my chest as my breaths come faster and harsher. I shake my head, not quite believing it.
“Did you… did you feel that?” Maya asks, her voice full of wonderment.
I lift my gaze from my foot, still able to feel her fingers on the top of it in one spot. I don’t understand, my brain wants to deny it but my heart is soaring at what this could possibly mean. It may only be a small spot on the bridge of my foot, but it’s more than I’ve been able to feel for more than six months.
“I… I think I did.”
“Oh my God, Amelia!” Maya makes quick work of pushing my boot on, tying it up before she jumps into a standing position, pulling her cell out of her back pocket. “We have to call Nate.”
“No!” I grab her phone, pulling it out of her grasp. “Not yet. I don’t....” Clearing my throat, I try to make sense of everything. Does this mean all of the feeling will come back? Or will it only be that area? “I don’t want to get his hopes up, let’s erm… let’s keep this between us for now.”
“What? No! You have to tell him: this is major!”
Flicking my gaze back up to Maya’s, I try to convey as much as I can through my eyes. “Not yet, Maya. It’s a small spot: it could mean anything. Let me call Doctor Bale first… just… let me process it all.”
“I really think you should tell Nate. He’d want to know about this.”
I grit my teeth, knowing she’s right but not wanting to admit it because I have no idea what this means.
“I can’t, Maya. Not yet. Please just…” I sigh. “Please, keep this between us.”
“I don’t like this. I never keep secrets from my brother.” Guilt washes over me, but I don’t back down. I don’t want him to know yet: not until I know for sure what’s going on.
“I hate that I’m asking you to keep a secret,” I tell her. “But I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t
important. I don’t know what is going on myself yet.”
Biting her bottom lip, Maya studies me for several beats and I watch as she decides what she should do before she nods her head slowly. “Okay.” Nodding her head again, she repeats. “Okay, but I still think you should tell him.”
We stare at each other in silence for a minute that feels like an hour, hope blossoming throughout me at this new revelation.
“Let’s go to the lake and put this to the back of our minds until I know more.” I say the words but I don’t mean them because just the feeling of feeling my boot on the top of my foot has me grinning like a fool—there’s no way I could put this to the back of my mind.
“Right, yeah, the lake.” Maya grins before her cell goes off in my hand, and when I move my gaze toward it and see Jake’s name pop up with a message, I quirk my lips at the corner.
“I think your boyfriend is texting you.”
Her hand whips out, grabbing the cell as her eyes greedily take in the message. “Shut up,” she says, her voice light and joking. She walks through the kitchen doors, heading out the back as she shouts, “Jake said hi!”
I grin, loving seeing her like this. It only took one week after New Year’s Eve for him to finally ask her out and make it official. I was the first person she called when he did—in the middle of her AP English class. I could hear her teacher shouting at her to put the cell away, but she didn’t, instead she told me the whole story leading up to him making a big production in front of the whole school asking her to be his girlfriend.
“Tell him hi back,” I reply, wheeling through the kitchen and down the ramp leading out to the patio area.
When I get there, Maya puts her cell away, smiling wide at me. “You sure your chair will be okay through the woods? I could get the cart.”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” I tell her, trying to remember the route Nate took us to the lake all that time ago. We made it without a problem back then, but when I look down at the grass, I take note of the wetness—it must have rained last night. I don’t mention this though, instead I continue to wheel along the path, Maya’s cell pinging constantly.
She ignores it, looking around at the trees, but I can see the expression on her face. “Answer it,” I tell her, relishing in her grin as soon as she pulls it out.
Do I have the same expression on my face when Nate looks at me or when I’m thinking about him?
I close my eyes briefly, halting and relishing in the sounds of singing birds and the leaves as they sway with the slight wind. The oranges and browns are starting to give way to new buds and green leaves, ready for the new season.
