Page 34 of The Moment You Know

“You don’t need to be squinting at your phone, texting answers to her stupid questions.”

“What if it’s a legitimate question?”

“I doubt any of them will be, but I’ll read her texts to you, then text back your answers. How’s that?”

Paige pulled her phone out of the pocket of her sweat pants and held it out to Jules. “Fine. But you have to be on your best behavior. You have to text exactly what I say—you can’t throw in any ‘Fuck you’s’ or anything.”

“Best behavior. Got it.” Jules took the phone and discreetly switched it to silent mode before shoving it in her pocket; it was the only way she’d be able to keep her promise. “Now go have a seat.”

Instead of following Jules’s directive, Paige opened a cabinet and grabbed a glass.

“What are you doing?” Jules asked. “I told you to go have a seat.”

“I’m getting a glass of water. I’m thirsty. And I need to take some Tylenol.”

“I’ll get it.” Jules took the glass, filled it with water, then got two tablets of Tylenol and put them in Paige’s hand.

Paige popped the pills in her mouth and then raised an eyebrow. “You sure you don’t want to hold my glass for me while I drink?”

Jules’s hands went to her hips. “You think this is funny?”

“Maybe a little.”

After swallowing the Tylenol with a long drink of water, Paige reached for a plate.

“Now what are you doing?”

“I’m going to get a waffle.”

Jules took hold of the plate, quickly wrestling it from Paige. “I’ll get your waffle.”

“Jeez. I think I can make my own waffle—”

“Go. Sit. Down.”

With a sigh, Paige did as she was told.

A few minutes later, Jules brought their plates to the table and after setting them down, she dimmed the overhead lights so that the room was mostly in shadows. “You’re supposed to avoid bright lights,” she explained as she sat down.

“I know, but there’s avoiding bright lights and then there’s eating in the dark. I can barely see my waffle,” Paige told her, even though she could see enough to know it was prepared exactly how she liked it, with a ton of butter and syrup.

Jules adjusted the light a little. “Is that better?”

“Barely. Is this how the whole weekend is going to be?”

“Yes.”

“Well, just so you know, Nurse Ratched, I’m drawing the line at having my ass wiped.”

“You’re not drawing the line at anything. If your ass needs wiping, then I’ll do it.”

“I know I’m the one with the concussion, but you’re the one acting crazy,” Paige said, cutting into her waffle and taking a bite.

To her dismay, Jules felt the backs of her eyes burning a little and she blinked rapidly to fight off any tears that might be on the way; she hated crying and tried to do it as infrequently as possible, which meant she avoided Nicholas Sparks books and movies like the plague. “When you called me at 3 a.m. and told me you were in the hospital, there was a very real moment when I was scared shitless,” she said, her voice catching a little. “And you might think I’m overreacting, but fuck. You were badly hurt.”

Seeing the real angst on Jules’s face had Paige taking her hand and squeezing it. “I know. And I’m not happy about that. But honestly, though, the concussion isn’t even the worst thing that happened to me last night.”

“I know.”

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