Evie thought about her dreams. Maybe keeping track of them would help. “This is—this is wonderful. Thank you.”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Okay. I don’t like this bed. It’s not very comfortable.”
“Miss Leona will hook you up. The beds in her guest rooms are comfortable as hell.”
“Miss Leona is your grandmother. That’s what Jesse said. I’ll be staying with her.”
“Yeah, if you’ve decided to come with us.”
“I don’t think I really have a choice.”
Zach frowned as he moved a little closer to the bed. “Yeah, you do. Nicole came up with a good plan and none of us want you out walking the streets of New York like this, but you have a choice. We can hire a nurse for you. Whatever you need.”
“Jesse mentioned that too.”
“But . . . ?”
“I think coming back to the ranch might be the best idea. Jesse told me more about it last night. It sounds nice.”
“You loved it there. I think you’ll enjoy coming back. Did you have any more dreams?”
“About you?” Evie said. She felt herself glaring at him as that same tightness from her dreams flared through her chest. The crush she’d had on him was real and, apparently, so was the way he loved teasing her. She hated it. Kind of.
“Hey, I didn’t say anything about—”
“What did you dream about?” she asked him right back.
“I didn’t dream about anything. I was so tired, I hit the sheets in the hotel and it was a wrap. We’ll get you out of here and into a nice, soft bed and you’ll know that good sleep.”
It sounded heavenly, but that wasn’t the answer she wanted. “You like giving me a hard time, don’t you? You’re just like this in my—”
“In your dreams. You can say it. I won’t be mad.”
Evie sighed and tried not to roll her eyes.
“Here’s how I see it. Something about me is trying to make it through the fog in your memory.”
She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him, but what he said had some truth to it. Something in her mind was showing her bits and pieces of her life, of her past, and for some reason all of those bits and pieces included Zach. “That’s a good way to describe it.”
“You cried when I called you Buck. You’ve had more than one dream about me, but you didn’t recognize anyone else in the pictures I showed you. I think that only means one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I am a vital part of your recovery.”
It was too early in the morning to have this conversation, but Evie couldn’t stop herself. “You like giving me a hard time and you’re full of yourself. If I come back to the ranch, how much time do I have to spend hanging out with you?”
A stuttered cough that turned into a laugh burst out of Zach, and Evie realized how quietly they’d both been speaking.
“Give me crap if you have to, but I think it’s only fair if you admit how much you’ve been thinking about me,” she said.
“Every day for the last ten years, and there might have been a few dreams in there too,” Zach confessed, and then for a moment all his bravado seemed to leave the room. Evie sat still as his eyes roamed over her face, and finally settled on her mouth. Her lips were still smooth, from the day before. She’s taken Blaire’s advice and applied more lip balm before she’d gone to sleep. If her lips looked as good as they felt, maybe Zach might try to kiss her.
But she wasn’t ready for that.
“I have to use the restroom,” she said. She set aside her new journal and started to slide to the edge of her bed.