Evie knew they were right. Her heart was still beating a mile a minute and her mind was racing. So much was happening, so much had already happened. She had to take a breath, take a moment before she rushed off into the night again. Last thing she needed was to pass out mid-flight from something like undiagnosed internal bleeding.
“Come on.” Evie carefully stepped out of the truck and followed Jesse up to the front door.
Chapter 23
Zach knew between his brother, Vega, and Miss Leona they were more than capable of handling Evie’s stomachache. That didn’t stop him from rushing back to the house as soon as he could. Still, the sun was already starting to set by the time they could get Bam Bam settled in his stall. Clearly date night, part two, was off if Evie wasn’t feeling well, but Zach wanted to check on her before she turned in.
Things were oddly quiet when he walked into Miss Leona’s. The dogs didn’t even bother to greet him. He found his grandmother in the kitchen. Jesse and Corie were standing at the island, with grim looks on their faces.
“Hey. Where’s Evie? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, baby,” Miss Leona said. “She’s down in her room with Vega and Lilah. You should go speak to her.”
“Is she alright?”
“She’s fine,” Jesse said again, but the grave tone of his voice was anything but reassuring.
“Just go talk to her,” Corie chimed in.
“Okay. I will.” Zach turned and headed down the hall toward Evie’s room.
“Do you want us to stay?” he heard Vega say as he got closer. He didn’t hear a reply. Just as he reached Evie’s door, Lilah and Vega came out and squeezed by him in the hallway. Vega wouldn’t look at him as she said her excuse-me, but the expression on Lilah’s face matched the grim look that Miss Leona hadn’t tried to hide.
Zach came around the corner and found Evie standing near the foot of her bed. Her suitcase was spread open on top of her bedspread, half full of clothes. Euca was curled up in the armchair in the corner. She looked at him before she closed her eyes.
“What are you doing?” Zach said.
“Close the door, will you?”
Zach did as she asked, letting the door gently snick closed behind him before he turned back around. “What’s going on?”
“I’m packing.”
“Why—” Zach registered it then. Something was different about Evie. Since she’d been in the hospital, she’d been occupying space in a particularly cautious way. But this Evie suddenly seemed possessed with a confidence he hadn’t seen in almost ten years. Zach swallowed and watched Evie as she glanced up at him through her eyelashes. She folded a pair of jeans and carefully put them in her suitcase before she reached for another pair of pants. “What happened out at the ranch today? Didn’t have anything to do with your stomach, did it?”
Evie moved over to the window seat and sat down. She crossed her legs, then dragged her teeth over her top lip, letting out one hell of a sigh.
“Dr. Zordetski thinks it was a full, spontaneous recovery of memory brought on by an overwhelming familiar scent or flavor connected to an important person or moment.”
“What?”
“Chris Alvarez gave me a piece of Big Red gum and I practically hallucinated Nana right there by the corral. It hit me so hard I thought I was having a stroke.”
“Your memory’s back?” he asked, a heavy sense of relief flooding through him before the panic rushed right up behind it. Her memory was back and she was skipping town. “No,” he said stepping closer to her. “Don’t leave like this.”
“I have to.”
“No, you don’t—”
“Zach.”
“So, this is over?” he asked, motioning between them.
Evie nodded. “Yeah, I think it is.”
“At least talk to me. I don’t want a repeat of last time. Where you’re pissed at me and then you run anyway and I don’t hear from you for another twenty years.”
“I’m not running away. I’m just—”