Page 64 of Fall With Me (Sugarland Creek)

Now, back to my alternate reality where Ellie doesn’t hate my guts.

I can only hope she forgives me when she remembers she does.

Chapter Fifteen

ELLIE

Although my head is throbbing, I remove my blood pressure cuff and crawl out of bed as soon as Landen and Noah leave and go to the bathroom. When I look in the mirror, I gasp with horror.

“Oh my God…”

My hair looks like it got stuck in a windmill and all my makeup rubbed off, making me look like a banged-up ghost who got electrocuted.

You’d think I’d be tan from working outside all day, but I wear a lot of sunscreen to avoid getting burnt or prevent skin cancer.

It’s bad enough I don’t remember Landen or anything about our history. I don’t also need him seeing me like this.

It’d be my luck that I’d wake up to the sexiest man I’ve ever seen next to my bedside and he’snotmy boyfriend.

A six-foot-something, blue-eyed cowboy staring at me like I’m his.

Noah’s words from a moment ago repeat in my head.

Landen continued to be nice and supportive because he liked you. He tried for years to get you to like him back. But Iguess he finally realized you never would and has a girlfriend now.

If that’s true, this nagging feeling about the things I can’t place is going to drive me even more crazy.What would make mehateanyone?

As I search my brain for answers, I realize there are a lot of holes in my memory that won’t surface.

I’ve never had a seizure or concussion before, so maybe this is a completely normal side effect, but it doesn’t feel normal to me. Something is off.

Continuing to study myself, I notice a massive bruise on the side of my forehead surrounding the bump that’s covered with gauze. I’ve fallen off Ranger before but never to this extent where I’ve hit a barrel and caused this much damage. I wish I could go see him right now and reassure him this isn’t his fault. We’ve been through so much together over the years and he won’t understand any of what happened.

Wetting my hands, I thread my fingers through the strands around my face. I normally keep a hair tie on my wrist or in my bag, but I don’t even know where it is. Or my phone.

I’m in an unattractive hospital gown, so my clothes must be here somewhere.

Once I’ve finished combing through the best I can and washing my face, I get myself somewhat comfortable back in bed. The pillows are too soft and the blanket is scratchy, so I’ll be happy to get out of here tomorrow and back into my own bed.

I already know my parents are going to stress out seeing me in here. As much as they’ve supported me for the past several years, seeing me hurt is going to make them second-guess letting me continue. It could’ve been worse, though. Whatever caused the seizure could’ve happened while I was driving and then I could’ve crashed with no one around to help me.

When Landen returns, my heart races and my chest swells with anticipation. I don’t know why I’m reacting to him this way since according to Noah, I didn’t even like him, but this feeling doesn’t feel new.Suppressed, maybe?

“Hey,” he says, pulling the chair out and taking a seat. “You look more awake now.”

“Yeah, I scared myself when I looked in the mirror, so I tried to clean up a bit. I wish I could take a shower, but I doubt they’d let me with a concussion.”

“True, you might need someone to help or at least be around to keep an eye on you.”

I raise a brow. “Are you volunteering?”

“Uh…” He smiles nervously, which is adorable. “I wasn’t, but if you needed my help, then sure.”

I chuckle at how taken back he seems. “Sorry, that probably came off a little strong. I’m not normally this forward, but whatever pain meds they have me on are giving me loose lips.”

“Trust me, I’m aware. I don’t think you’ve said more than ten words to me at a time in the past four years. Usually, it’s to tell me off, so this is a pleasant change.”

Cringing, I chew my lower lip. “Yeah, Noah told me we weren’t exactly friends.”

---