Memory's Edge: Part One Read Free Page B

hugs and the occasional arm around her shoulders as much as she got
onto him about it. She wasn’t in a place where she could admit that to him, but
she cherished his friendship. Until she got to know some of her coworkers
better, he’d been her only friend in town, and he had been a good one.
    “You could
have called me,” Carl said. “I would have driven out to help, and waited with
you at the hospital.”
    “I know,”
Gretchen said quietly. “I’m sorry I didn’t. I was just so scared and worried, I
guess I shut everything else out.”
    He pressed
her closer to his chest and took a deep breath. “Is the guy going to be okay?”
    Gretchen
could only shrug. “Nobody’s sure. He was still unconscious when I left.”
Yawning, but too tired to attempt covering it, Gretchen’s eyes slowly began to
close. “I’ll check on him tomorrow.”
    Carl was
quiet for a moment. “You will?”
    She nodded
and tried to tell herself to get up and go to bed. Alone.
    “Why?”
    “He’s…by
himself, and hurt,” she said, her words broken up by another yawn.
    “Gretchen,”
Carl said cautiously, “this may not be something you want to get involved in.
If it’s drug related…”
    Gretchen
wanted to shake her head at the suggestion, but even though the town was fairly
small, Carl had told her stories of cartel influence and trafficking. They
lived in the northern part of New Mexico, but it was still a border state. His
warning did give her a moment’s pause, but the need to know the man she’d
rescued was at least going to survive was too strong to overcome.
    “I’ll just
stop by and make sure he’s doing all right. I can’t imagine waking up alone
from something like that.”
    Carl
sighed. She knew he’d continue to fight her on the subject, but it was well
after three in the morning, and Gretchen knew despite his insistence that she
call in sick to work, he wouldn’t do the same. It reminded her that she really
did need to call in, and pulled away from Carl to find her phone.
    She fished
around in her purse sleepily before Carl finally took it from her hands and
extracted her phone. He handed it over and leaned his head back against the
couch as though he intended to stay there all night. Shaking her head, Gretchen
sent her message and turned to face him.
    Without
opening his eyes, Carl snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her to his
chest. Her lips parted to complain, but he spoke first. “Just once, let me have
this, okay?” He settled his chin on the top of her head and exhaled slowly. “I
thought something awful had happened, and I was going crazy waiting to hear
from you. I want to be mad at you for letting me think you’d gotten into a
horrible car accident or something, but I’m so glad you’re okay I can’t work up
enough strength to be upset. I just want to hold onto for a few minutes, all
right?”
    There was a
good chance it was a line she was about to cross with Carl she wasn’t ready
for, but Gretchen couldn’t bear to refuse him. Just this once . It had
been a long night for both of them. As she relaxed against his chest, the
tension he’d been holding since storming out of his house finally melted away.

 
     
    Chapter Four
    A Sound
     
     
    In one
week, Gretchen learned more about comas and coma patients than she ever
expected to learn in a lifetime. Textbooks she hadn’t touched since her first
year of college were littered over her kitchen table. Carl didn’t approve of
her interest, but kept his frustration to warnings about what getting involved
might lead to.
    The nurses,
however, were supportive and helpful. They updated her on tests they ran and
prognoses the doctors gave. It felt good to learn about what was happening to
John as he lay asleep in his hospital bed, but every day he didn’t wake up,
stepping into the hospital got a little harder. As did going home to find Carl
pushing her to stay out of it.
    It didn’t
stop Gretchen, though. Every day after school she