Page 19 of A Forgotten Heart
With every limb trembling, she forced her frozen toes toward the kitchen, her drenched skirts leaving behind her a trail of melting snow.
In the kitchen, she pulled off Nick’s gloves and stashed them in her pocket. Her fingers were red and stiff as she gathered flour, eggs, and milk into a sack. At least she could make him some biscuits.
Her hand hovered over a brick of butter, the motion triggering a memory buried in the recesses of her mind. Back when she and Nick had snuck into the kitchen late one night during Christmas break.
Most of the other students had left for the holiday, but she’d lodged at school. It hadn’t been until later that she’d learned Nick had postponed his trip home so he could stay with her. No one had ever done something like that for her before.
That night, it’d been his idea to make a meal. She’d chopped vegetables for the stew as he made the biscuits. His calm confidence had entranced her, and she hadn’t been able to stop watching his hands as he formed the dough on a pan.
He’d caught her staring, and her cheeks had heated, but instead of embarrassing her, he’d only winked and kept cooking.
After the meal, when they’d been washing dishes together, hands in sudsy water, he’d turned her face to his with a moist knuckle beneath her chin.
And kissed her.
She blinked, the chill of her surroundings whisking her from the memory.
Old grief pressed in around her heart until it broke all over again.
I hope you forget me as quickly as I’m going to forget you.
Nick’s furious words from that terrible night echoed in her mind, their sting fresh.
She blinked away the tears and snatched the butter, her movements jerky and a little shaky as she added it to the sack.
The wound on Nick’s head would heal. His memories would return, and he’d hate her just as much as before.
She couldn’t let herself become confused by his kindness.
Before she left, she found a pencil and paper at the counter and wrote down exactly what items she’d taken along with her name. She would repay the café as soon as the storm broke.
She’d found food, but not the help she sought. What now?
Nick rolled his head from side to side, the words echoing through his dream.
You couldn’t have had real feelings for me. Not when you were willing to walk away so quickly.
He’d know Elsie’s voice anywhere, but who was she talking to? It couldn’t be him, yet the words were familiar.
He would never walk away from her.
Beneath the surface of consciousness, the pain in his shoulder and head throbbed. He didn’t want to wake up, but something niggled in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong.
Words flowed again.
You walked away from me first.
That sounded like his voice, but it couldn’t be.
We’ll never be friends.
Those words sank in deep and struck a wound he didn’t know he had.
He dragged himself into consciousness, forcing his eyes open. Where was Elsie?
“Elsie?” His dry lips cracked as he said her name.
A stab of pain sliced through his head. He raised a hand, and his fingers brushed against a bandage covering his forehead. He allowed his eyes to close. What had happened?
