Page 50 of Matched with the Player

“Thank you.” Her mother reached awkwardly for Marissa’s hand and squeezed it. Her eyes were clear and focused. Almost disconcertingly cognizant. “Thank you, Baby.”

Marissa’s knees wobbled. They might have gone out from under her if Isaac and Stacy hadn’t appeared at her side to steady her. Adrenaline buzzed while the pair bracketed her, Stacy with a huge bouquet of local wildflowers and Isaac with a new album of a band that Brandy had frequently cited in interviews as one of her all time favorites.

Was this the moment Marissa had been waiting for?

“Ms. Collins?” Stacy ventured. “How do you feel?”

Brandy blinked. Shook her head as if trying to clear it. When she opened her eyes again, that flash of recognition had vanished. The skin between her brows wrinkled as if she tried to pull back a memory that wouldn’t come.

It was an expression that Marissa had seen on her mother’s face innumerable times over the last few months. The adrenaline letdown was sharp, leaving her feeling deflated. Numb.

But there’d been a hopeful moment, right? Her throat closed around a lump, her eyes burning.

“It’s okay, Mom.” Marissa rubbed her mom’s arm to comfort her. And herself. “You’re getting better.”

She had to believe that. Her faith in her mother’s ability to heal had driven her through months of caregiving. But it had zapped her emotional reserves more than she’d realized, leaving her little to offer a great guy when he came along.

Brandy stared at her for a long moment before her eyes moved to Stacy. She smiled and reached for the bouquet of wildflowers while Marissa tried to recover herself.

“One step forward, two steps back,” she whispered to herself, knowing that recovery would take time.

But she would be there beside her through it all, even if had cost her… so much. Would she look back one day and wonder what if? Regret that she hadn’t tried to make things work with Kyle? In many ways she already did.

“Marissa?” Isaac Reynolds set the album beside a turntable on a built-in bookshelf, then moved back a step while Stacy told Brandy Collins all about her new social media account. “Can I talk to you?”

It had been sweet of them to visit, although Marissa guessed Stacy wanted to check up on her after the way she’d lit out of Pittsburgh like the hounds of hell were at her heels. And they were, sort of. They were named Heartache and Regret, and they bit with a vengeance. But even after five days away from Kyle, she didn’t have any answers for the problems that kept her apart from him.

Now, she moved back a step from her mother’s bed, praying that she hadn’t just dreamed the flash of recognition she’d seen in her mom’s eyes after all this time. Maybe the new experimental treatments would help.

“Sure.” Marissa picked up a silver water pitcher, ice clanking against the sides. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“That’d be great.” Isaac took a glass and waited for her to fill her own. He looked around the dining room stuffed to the rafters with her mother’s things. “You must have worked hard to convert this space to accommodate your mom.”

She smiled at the guitars hanging on the walls. The framed photographs tucked in every available space.

“If you ever want me to film the room for you and digitize it, we could project the surroundings for her somewhere else, so you could move her anywhere you wanted.”

“Excuse me?” She knew she was sensitive about her mom and the choices she’d made about her mother’s care, so she tried not to let the comment ruffle her feathers.

Kyle had suggested something similar and she hadn’t been ready to consider it. Now, Isaac sipped his water and gestured to the bank of windows overlooking the spring gardens.

“I’m in the graphics business. And we’re improving 3-D technology and multimedia mapping daily to help people enjoy a more fully developed environment. I could recreate the look of this room somewhere else if that would prove helpful to you. You know, if you think your mother would be more comfortable in a real bedroom, for example, instead of the dining room. I could film her current surroundings and set up a three-dimensional image-”

“Really?” she frowned even though she could immediately perceive the benefit of such a plan. She hadn’t wanted to sell the house because the doctors said familiar surroundings might anchor her mother. But it sure tied her hands when it came to paying for the expensive in-home care visits from any number of medical professionals.

“Easily. The technology I have coming out is until I get it to market, but I could make it available to you. It would look extremely convincing.” Isaac reached for the album he’d brought and slid the vinyl onto the turntable nearby. “I can come back with some equipment today, if you want.”

Marissa’s chest tightened again. It was kind of Stacy and Isaac to come in the first place since the visitor traffic had died off months ago. But it was even more kind of Isaac to offer his expertise and a tool to aid in her mother’s recovery.

She’d resisted moving her mom’s most prized possessions into a rehab facility where patients were limited on how much they could bring into the care center. But if at least some of the environment was virtual, she wouldn’t have to hang priceless guitars on the walls of a medical institution. Her mother could have access to more immediate care while still benefiting from the comfort of familiar surroundings, surroundings that could help bring back lost memories and maintain a connection with her past.

If Marissa had known about this before, might she have been less inclined to push Kyle away? Certainly it would have opened up some more options for travelling. But then, maybe she’d allowed herself to be scared off from a relationship too easily. She’d been afraid of the knowledge that she’d loved him, for one thing. While she’d made peace with living in her mother’s shadow long ago, she hadn’t necessarily wanted to reciprocate that dynamic with Kyle. He was a superstar. A strong, talented, amazing man.

And instead of being a strong woman for him, she’d scurried away, too scared to embrace the possibility of a future for fear she’d end up hurt.

If her mom recovered right now, she’d tell Marissa to stop being a coward. Her eyes went to the other side of the room where her mom lay. She wondered what other advice her mother might give.

Don’t you dare hide behind me, young lady!

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