Page 41 of You Again

“I never said she left.”

My breath hitches. Oh my gosh. She’s dead. Zev’s girlfriend is dead and I’m talking about her like she’s some skank who broke his heart.

“Rose, would you like to spend the fourth with me?”

A holiday? With Zev?

“I—” I shut my eyes as my head pounds. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“I understand,” he says. And when I open my eyes, that angelic man smiles at me. It’s a sad gesture, but still a smile. “Here’s your sinus meds.” Zev’s hand might be twice the size of mine. That, or I’m not seeing clearly. But that’s my thoughts as he drops two pills into my hand, then covers my open palm with his. Pins and pricks make their way from my fingers to my wrist, to my elbow.

I sigh. “Maybe you could read again?”

“Happy to,” he says, and I am convinced that Zevulun Hayes is no different than Wesley from The Princess Bride, only he has a different tag line.

Twenty

THREE MONTHS AFTER THE ACCIDENT

It’s been months.

I haven’t played soccer. I haven’t practiced.

And I haven’t seen my girl.

For three months. So, yeah, I’m more than semi depressed and I’m spiraling.

Rosalie moved to Tesoro six weeks ago. At least that’s what Fran said. I haven’t seen her. I’ve been wandering around town, trying to bump into her for weeks.

I keep asking Fran if she’s ready yet. Can I see my girl again?

But Rosalie’s stubborn, and she’s decided she doesn’t want to know about the relationships she forgot. It’s painful. It sends her into a panic. And she just wants to move forward. Which is exactly why she moved away from Reno. Because she has no idea that so much of her life was here. With me.

I pull up her name on my phone and write out a message that won’t reach her. She has a new number.

Me: I miss you.

Me: Come back, Rose.

And then the drop-down box on my phone shares something I never thought I’d see again. Something I’d given up hope for.

@rosaliecon7 sharing location

Rosalie’s email from her college days. Fran said she got a new email, too. But she must have just signed into her phone with her old one for some reason. We were sharing locations before. It was previously enabled in her iCloud settings, and now it’s automatically connected us again.

My hand tremors as I open my GPS-sharing app. A dot with Rosalie’s name pops up on my screen, along with her location. “Sugar Pine Café.” I took her there once. She doesn’t remember it, but clearly she’s found it again.

And then I’m moving. My body is more in charge than my head at the moment. I can’t quite decide what’s happening, what I’ll do when I see her. I just know that I have to see her.

And everything is about to change.

Her pale blonde hair is pulled back in a low ponytail, and she’s wearing that cardigan I bought her. Of course, she doesn’t know I bought it for her. Because she doesn’t know me.

Still, heart pounding, I sit four tables away from her. Her nose is in a book. She doesn’t even look up to sip on her drink. She doesn’t look away from that book at all until the waiter comes by. She glances up, and there’s a smile on her pretty face. She says something I can’t hear. Gah, I should have sat closer.

My heart stings at the sight of her. It pounds, it aches, it longs.

Rosalie.