“I believe it.”
“Are you comfortable?” Jesse asked suddenly. She didn’t know him—not like she should—but she could tell something was wrong. For such a large, imposing man his voice sounded so unsure. She tore her gaze away from Zach and looked at Jesse. He stood at the foot of her bed nearly blocking out all the sunlight from the window.
“I’m sick of being in this bed, but I’m okay. Thank you for asking.”
“Why don’t Blaire and I give you guys a little space. I’ll go out and try to sneak you in something better than whatever they’re going to serve you for lunch,” Nicole suggested.
“I’m gonna call my mom, but I’ll be right outside. Unless you want me to stay,” Blaire said.
Evie glanced at the looks on Jesse and Zach’s faces, both expectant and wary. Trust seemed like a strong word when it came to men she had just met, but she did want to speak to them, maybe with a few less people crowding in her hospital room. “It’s okay,” Evie said. “You can go.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Nicole said with a tight smile.
Blaire leaned over and squeezed Evie’s hand again. “We’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
Evie watched as Blaire and Nicole walked out of the room and instantly it felt like they took all of their comfort and ease with them. Not that she was afraid of Jesse Pleasant or his brother Zach. Clearly Jesse was important to her if he was her emergency contact. But once again, she was with complete strangers who somehow knew her better than she knew herself. They were all silent for a moment.
“Man.” Zach let out an odd chuckle, shaking his head. Then he looked right at Evie before sitting on the edge of her bed.
“What is it?” Evie asked.
“Nothing.”
“Please tell me. Dr. Manzo said that it’s best if people don’t assume I’ll get an inside joke or be able to read their cues. I can’t. You know things that I don’t remember.” Evie felt awful for the way the warm smile on Zach’s face immediately dropped, but she knew she was right. There was so much she didn’t remember.
“Shit. I’m sorry. You’re right. Nicole mentioned that. She said that you didn’t seem like yourself and she was right.”
“What’s missing? What’s the most obvious thing?” Evie asked.
“Well, for starters you would have asked me what the hell I was doing here the moment you laid eyes on me.”
“Why?” Evie asked.
“We can talk about that later,” Jesse said, a bit of authority reinforcing his voice. Evie wanted to question him again, but from the way Zach clammed up she figured she should drop it for now. “How have they been treating you here? How are you feeling?” Jesse asked.
“Well. Better. The nurses are very nice and Dr. Manzo has been very patient with me. They’ve been letting Blaire stay beyond visiting hours, so that’s been nice. I don’t feel so alone.”
“Man!” Zach sprang up with another laugh and slapped his tan cowboy hat against the side of his free palm. “This isn’t weird to you?”
“You’re not helping,” Jesse said, his voice sounding dangerously tight.
“This isn’t weird toyou? I’m not talking about her. I’m talking about all of this.” He motioned between the three of them. “When have the three of us ever had a conversation this tense and tight. Nicole said don’t confuse her. She didn’t say we should act like damn robots around her.”
“I don’t want that. Please be yourselves around me.”
“See?”
Jesse threw up his hands in surrender and leaned against the corner of the windowsill. Zach seemed to take that as some sort of cue. He sat back down on the bed, closer this time. Evie could feel the warmth of his leg pressed up against hers through the thin hospital bedding. It reminded her of the warmth from her dreams. She looked up into his dark brown eyes and was shocked all over again at the familiar feeling. He meant something to her.
“You look like hell, Buck,” he teased. It made no sense, but something in his perfect smile triggered something deep inside and Evie started to cry.
Chapter 5
So much for not fucking things up. Before Zach could let an “Oh shit” slip, Jesse had shoved him out of the way and Nicole and Blaire came flying back into the room, rushing to Evie’s bedside.
“What happened?”