Zach searched his brother’s eyes for a moment. Jesse wasn’t playing this time. “Jesus, you’re just like Senior.”
Jesse sat back and stroked his beard as he closed his eyes. “I know. It’s why he left me in charge.”
“He leftusin charge. Check that FAQ on our website.”
Jesse finally cracked a small smile and Zach knew that order had been restored. Sensing sleep still wasn’t in the cards, he pulled out his phone and connected to the inflight network. He’d distract himself with unread emails instead of dwelling on just how many times he’d wished a new text alert from Evie would appear. He couldn’t think about the fact that in a few hours they would finally be back together, face-to-face, and she would have no clue who he was.
Chapter 4
Evie couldn’t climb out of the ravine. Nana had told her more than once not to chase after the boys, but Evie didn’t listen. She followed them down the narrow path on the promise that they had something cool to show her, but now she was all alone, trying to scale the smooth diamond-coated walls that lined the shallow stream.
“You want a boost?” Evie heard the familiar voice say, and for some reason an angry heat spread out over her face. She looked over and there he was, squatting beside the water. He picked up three pink acorns and skipped them all at once to the other side. Hot tears bit at the back of Evie’s eyes.
“No. I don’t want a stupid boost. This is all your fault.”
“I know, and that’s why I’m trying to help you. Come on.” He came closer and laced his fingers together. All she had to do was step in his waiting palm and he could hoist her up, but the wall was too high. Even with his help she would only be able to reach halfway. “Hop on, Buck.”
“No. I got it.”
“Yvonne! We gotta go!” Evie looked up and saw Nicole in a puma mascot costume standing on the ledge above, the furry fierce head tucked under her arm.
“I’ll be right there.”
“Just let me help you.” He chuckled some more.
“No. I got it.” But she didn’t have it. She tried and tried, but her cowboy boots couldn’t find purchase on the slick diamond wall. She tried once more, jumping as if her quad strength would propel her some twenty feet in the air. It didn’t. She fell and kept falling, the desert floor swallowing her up. When she landed she was on a rainbow parachute, sprawled out on the floor of the old barn. A dirty green Coke bottle in the middle was pointing to her, but the barn was empty, except for him.
“I guess it’s your lucky day,” he said, with that damn chuckle.
Evie felt herself frown, but that didn’t stop her from crawling across the parachute. “Just kiss me and get it over with,” she grumbled. She closed her eyes and leaned in, but she felt nothing. When she opened her eyes, he was gone.
“Okay, now wipe your lips with this.” Evie took the damp paper towel from Blaire and wiped the sugary, exfoliating crystals off her lips. Instantly her mouth felt better. She rubbed her lips together, marveling at how soft and smooth they suddenly felt.
“Good, huh? Now put on this lip balm. Shanny recommended it, and we always trust Shanny.”
“She does my makeup?” Evie asked before she used her finger to apply a bit of the fresh-smelling balm. It had been three days since she’d woken up in the hospital. The doctors were somewhat pleased with her progress. She felt better moving around for short periods of time and she didn’t feel like she needed to sleep most of the day. Her head still ached, but the area around her stitches had stopped throbbing. Still, her memory hadn’t returned. Dr. Manzo had assured them all that Evie would be fine, but the more time she spent with Blaire and Raquelle, the more complicated she realized total memory loss was.
She knew nothing about her best friend or her assistant, nothing about the people and things they mentioned to her, nothing about herself. All she could do now was rest and heal, and pray her brain did what she needed it to do. If not, she’d just have to build new memories, learn new things, and possibly start her whole life from scratch. She couldn’t think about her career at the moment. That was too much to consider.
Nicole had sent out a press release, stating that Evie was doing just fine and resting, but requesting privacy at this time. It didn’t stop people from sending tons of texts to Evie’s phone, texts Raquelle was thankfully managing. It also didn’t stop people from sending dozens of bouquets of flowers to her hospital room. Evie was overwhelmed by the continuous deliveries.
“Right.”
“And she sent the white and yellow roses.”
“Yup. You’re good at this!”
Evie tried not to sound disappointed with her pitiful progress. “Who are those from?” She nodded toward another bouquet of flowers on her bedside table.
“Let me see.” Blaire snatched up the tiny white envelope. “Oh, these are from Tiffany! You two are really good friends.”
“Does she live in New York?”
“I think she’s actually in Spain right now. That’s where her husband is from.” Evie knew sometime soon she was going to have to leave this hospital, and while Blaire had been amazing, she wouldn’t be able to hold Evie’s hand every day, filling the gaps and explaining the ins and outs of Evie’s personal and professional relationships, who was friend or foe. If Tiffany was a good friend, the idea of seeing her and not knowing who she was didn’t sit well with Evie, even if it was outside of her control.
“They got married a few months ago. You were a bridesmaid. You looked amazing.” Suddenly Blaire’s phone made that little chirping noise that signified she had a text. She’d shown Evie how her phone worked and how she usually silenced it when she was in her hospital room, but they were waiting to hear from Nicole. Evie watched as Blaire’s fingers moved quickly across the screen before she tucked the phone back into her sweater pocket. She offered Evie a warm smile.
“That was Nicole. She just met Jesse at his hotel. He came with his brother Zach. They should be here soon.”