Page 82 of Don't Forget Me
A strange pressure enveloped the hand resting on the book, and he lifted his head to stare at it. It felt almost like…"Liz.” He didn’t know it was her, but the hope inside him wouldn’t allow any other possibility. The pressure curled around his fingers like two hands folding him in their safety.
He tried to move his hand, to let her know he was here, but it felt like cement held it in place. With the other hand, he could only tap one finger, but maybe it was enough. Liz would know. She’d see even if no one else did. He was still here.
His lungs expanded with an odd mechanical feeling, and he couldn’t get out a single word.
A tear slipped from his eye, rolling down his cheek. I’m coming, Liz. I’ll make it back to you. I promise.
31
ELIZABETH
Home. The moment Elizabeth’s dad uttered the word, panic shot through her. She couldn’t go home while Nick was still here.
Yet, they said she also couldn’t stay.
Where did that leave her?
Sitting on her hospital bed with a small duffel beside her containing everything from this room that proved she was here. Gifts from her father’s friends and from the nurses and doctors she’d known for years. Various clothing items and toiletries. They’d allowed her to shower, and she finally felt human again.
It had been days since security dragged her from Nick’s room. Days since anyone would mention his name to her. The doctors told her dad what happened, but he hadn’t said anything. Still, she could see the worry in his mind every time he looked at her.
“There’s my girl.” Her dad walked in with Evelyn and Owen in tow, a bright smile gracing his handsome face. He’d tried to be more upbeat than usual lately, but she hadn’t been much for smiling. Except when the twins were here. Those were the only times she could forget about the giant hole in her heart.
“Mommy.” Evelyn ran toward her and jumped onto the bed at her side, shoving the duffel to the ground.
“Hi, baby.” Elizabeth wrapped her uninjured arm around Evelyn and pressed a kiss to her head. “O, come here.”
He approached more cautiously with a shy smile on his face. He’d acted this way since she woke, almost like he was scared to be near her. “Hi.”
Elizabeth’s face softened. “I want to hug my favorite boy.” She scooted off the bed, managing to stand on her own—something she’d been able to do more of as her strength returned. “Come on, you won’t break me.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, tentatively at first, but then his grip tightened. She leaned down to kiss his curls. “I’m so happy to come home to you guys.” She was. Even if leaving Nick gutted her, she couldn’t wait to curl up in bed with the twins, letting them heal her more than any medicine ever could.
“We ready to go?” Booker walked in, looking less like himself in his jeans and a graphic t-shirt. He wasn’t on shift today and had spent most of his time off with her.
But there was something she had to do before she went home. “We need a family meeting before we leave.”
Her dad gave her a strange look.
“I’ll go pull your dad’s car around.” Booker turned toward the door. “Take your time.”
“Book,” she called to stop him. “This family includes you.”
“Oh.”
“I just need to talk to you all. Sit down. Please.” She lowered herself to the edge of the bed again and dragged Owen up to sit with her and Evelyn. Her dad took a seat in the leather chair next to the bed, and Booker leaned against the wall near the window.
This wasn’t going to be easy. She knew they already thought she’d suffered some kind of mental damage from the coma. That was the only explanation for her obsession with the movie star down the hall.
But this wasn’t about her. There was a man who needed to open his eyes.
“What’s wrong, Mom?” Evelyn looked up at her with such sincerity she almost lost it right there.
Elizabeth held back the tears threatening to derail this conversation. She swallowed past the lump in her throat to ask a simple question. “Have any of you ever known me to lie?”
“Lying is bad, Momma.” Owen slipped his hand into hers. “You’d never do that.”
She turned her gaze on her dad, waiting for his answer. His brow furrowed. “Of course not, honey. You’re the most honest person I know.”
