A Forever Christmas(26)
“What?”
“Then don’t try,” Gabe repeated. “Just for now,” he advised, “just let yourself be.”
“But who is ‘myself’?” she cried. Didn’t he see? That was the problem. She didn’t know. How could she be herself when she didn’t know what that meant, what it involved.
To her surprise, he didn’t shrug or dismiss her exasperated question. Instead, looking directly into her eyes, he gave her an answer.
“A beautiful woman who survived a horrific accident that could have very easily been fatal. You’re a survivor,” he told her. “For now, that’ll be enough. We’ll build on that.”
“‘We’?” she questioned. How could there be a “we” when she was so very alone?
Gabe nodded. “You and me. And everyone else in town.” He smiled as he saw the skepticism entering her eyes. “Forever’s that kind of a town. People like helping their neighbors whenever they can.”
He made it sound like a perfect place. She would have loved to believe him. But there was just one thing wrong with his assumption.
“I’m not a neighbor,” she pointed out.
His eyes continued to hold hers. “You’re here, aren’t you?”
Of course she was here, she thought. He knew that. “Yes, but—”
Gabe cut in, stopping her right there. “People in Forever don’t need anything more than that. So—” a whimsical smile curved Gabe’s lips as he looked at her “—are you planning on staying down here until morning, or would you like to get up? Maybe lie down and get a little more sleep?” he suggested, nodding at the bed.
She looked back at the bed she’d run from in her terrified, semiwakeful state and let out a ragged breath. “I don’t think I can sleep,” she told him.
“Okay.” Rising to his feet, Gabe extended his hand to her. After a beat, she took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. “I can make us some coffee,” he offered.
For the first time, questions that had nothing to do with the past she couldn’t remember occurred to Angel. She looked around at her surroundings. “Is this your place?”
He nodded, then apologized. “Sorry about the mess. I just moved here.”
He’d tendered the explanation that, according to Alma, was getting a little frayed around the edges since he’d made absolutely no headway in organizing his things since the first day he brought them into the house. Cleaning had never been one of his attributes and most likely never would be, but for now, Angel didn’t need to know that about him.
“Why here?” Angel asked.
“Because the owner gave me a good deal on the place and I—”
Angel shook her head. He’d misunderstood her question. Small wonder, she thought, since she’d only given him a snippet of what had occurred to her in her mind.
“No, why did you bring me here?”
“You fell asleep in the car on the way back. You looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to disturb you. I figured it was just easier to carry you into my house than go knocking on Alma’s or Miss Joan’s door to stay there.”
She turned to look at him. His description of the events took her by surprise. “You carried me into the house?”
He laughed. Why would that surprise her? Other than waking her up—which he was trying not to do—that had been his only option.
“Well, my magic wand’s in the shop and dragging you from the car into the house by your hair just didn’t seem like the way to go, so yeah, I carried you,” he told her. “Why?”
“No reason.” She didn’t want to tell him that the thought of his carrying her like some princess in a fairy tale seemed so incredibly sweet, not to mention romantic.
It wasn’t until almost a minute later that she realized his words struck a faraway chord in the barren wasteland that comprised her mind. She tried to make it come closer, but couldn’t.
Had someone carried her up the stairs before? Or was she just imagining it?
“It just sounded…” Her voice trailed off for a moment before she concluded, “Familiar.”
Gabe fought the urge to press, to ask her what else might have sounded familiar. That would have definitely been the wrong way to proceed. What she needed right now was to give herself time to heal, to relax, and maybe then she would remember something more.