Page 29 of Love and Memories

“They probably had to cut it off of you,” Travis explained. “That’s pretty common.”

Bella pushed the ruined shirt aside and reached into the bag. The pants were in worse shape.

A few minutes later, the nurse returned with a clean pair of purple scrubs and handed them to Bella. “There are socks and disposable underwear too. Those won’t be too comfortable, but they’ll get you home.”

Home. She doubted the charity clothes would last until she found her home. Who knew where that was?

In the bathroom, she laid Travis’s shirt on the counter and pulled the rest of her old clothes out of the bag. She dropped dirty socks and underwear into the trash bin and pulled out the jeans. Those had to be tossed too.

She slipped on the scrub pants and reached for Travis’s shirt. She slipped it over her head and breathed in the pure comfort. It was three sizes too big, but it covered her bruises and wrapped around her like a security blanket.

Just like Travis. She’d been clinging to him like a crutch, and she had to pull herself together at some point.

For now, she’d wallow in the gift she’d been given.

She stepped out of the bathroom, and Travis looked up. His gaze swept from her head to her feet before climbing back up to meet her eyes.

Bella gripped wads of the shirt in her fists, pulling on it like the skin that didn’t feel like hers. “It’s a little big, but it’ll work.”

Travis’s jaw twitched and he shook his head. He cleared his throat. “I have gym clothes in my truck, but I stopped there before heading here this morning. You don’t want those.”

He was right. Sweaty Travis clothes would only muddle her thoughts even more. “Thanks for letting me wear your shirt. I’ll get it back to you as soon as I can.”

There was a knock at the door, and a teenage girl stepped in with a wheelchair. “Miss Young?”

“Yes,” Bella said, hoping that she was, in fact, Miss Young and not some other title and surname she’d missed. That would be a huge oversight, but she hadn’t figured out a way to know for sure. If she could get in touch with someone besides her parents in Omaha, maybe she could piece together some of her history.

She wouldn’t think about her mom’s dismissal. Not now or anytime soon. That knife was still lodged in her back, and any attention she gave to the wound would only make it larger.

Travis stepped toward the door. “I’ll go get the truck.”

The morning had been a storm of confusion, and her anchor was drifting out the door. Bella sucked in a long breath and lifted her shoulders. She could manage a few minutes without him. Then she’d work up to living without him altogether.

Baby steps.

The young girl grabbed Bella’s arm and made a big show of helping her into the wheelchair.

“I’m okay. I can walk.”

“Standard procedure, miss. I have one job, so I should probably do it well.”

Bella smiled, and the pull on her cheek was only a fraction of what it was yesterday. “I love that you take your job seriously.”

“I just want to help,” the girl said as she wheeled Bella down the hallway to the elevators. “My mom is a nurse here, and mydad is a physical therapist at the rehab center next door. I’ve always loved what they do, so I’m excited to get my turn to help now.”

Bella linked her hands in her lap. Her parents skipped between jobs with the seasons, and sometimes went months without employment.

But they could be doing anything now, and Bella wouldn’t have the slightest clue. The gaps in her past were a constant sore that only festered when she paid attention to it.

The young girl wheeled Bella out into the midday sun, and a soothing warmth tingled over her skin. Travis stood beside a red pickup truck parked next to the sidewalk. The white T-shirt clung to his chest and stretched over his arms.

No, she couldn’t wallow in his kindnessandbe attracted to him. One without the other was shallow. Together they were a recipe for an unrequited crush.

Bella stood and thanked the girl with as much of a smile as she could muster. When she turned, Travis was right in front of her, waiting to guide her to his truck.

“You ready for this?” he asked as he opened the passenger door for her.

She wrapped her empty arms around her middle, holding her fragile world together. “I have no idea.” She was getting into a stranger’s truck, and it felt right.

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