I soften my face with a smile I don’t really feel. “Go home. Get some sleep. In an actual bed.”
“But I thought… Maria, I can help.”
“I know, Rem. And I appreciate it. But watching you sleep sitting up in that chair is giving me a crick in my neck. Go home and rest. I’ll be okay, I promise.”
“Are you sure? I can stay. It’s no prob—”
“I’m sure, Rem.”
He considers me for a long moment and then nods. “Okay. If that’s what you want.”
“It is,” I say and try to mean it. “But trust me, the jury’s decided. You officially saved the day. Thank you for being there for me.”
“I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.”
With words like that, I almost have the urge to tell him to stay forever, but I know that would be ridiculous.
“However, you should know, my departure comes with stipulations,” he says and stands to his feet.
“Stipulations?”
“Yep. Stipulations.” He smirks as he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and holds it out toward me. “I’ll head home…once you give me your phone number.”
In an instant, I feel like I’ve been transported back in time.
Twenty-Eight Years Ago…
Friday night, the first week of school, after leaving the ER…
Maria
Remy comes to a stop in front of my building, and I stare down at the brand-new, bright-pink cast on my arm. The ER doctor confirmed that my suspicions were correct; I did break my arm, but apparently I was lucky it was a clean break to only one bone. And after six weeks of walking around with this colorful monstrosity attached to my body, I’ll be as good as new.
Another oldie but goodie plays from Remy’s stereo, a song I’ve heard my mom play a thousand times while she’s making dinner. It’s one of those songs that just…I don’t know…gives you goose bumps. Pretty sure some guy named Otis sings it, and the title is “These Arms of Mine.”
I look toward the driver’s seat, where Remy sits, and I don’t know if it’s the music or the dose of pain medication the ER gave me to take the edge off, but I feel…something. Something that I don’t really understand but makes me want to lean over the console and find out what Remington Winslow’s lips feel like against mine.
But that’s crazy, right? That would be a crazy thing to do. Especially for a girl who has only kissed one boy in her entire life, and it was just a small, little peck of nothing exciting.
“You think your mom is going to be mad?” Remy asks, and I’m thankful for the distraction. Goodness knows, my mind wasn’t heading anywhere good.
“Well…” I look at him with wide eyes and a smile that’s equal parts terrified and amused. “I don’t think she’s going to be happy that I didn’t call her.”
Instead, the nice nurse in the ER was the one to let her know her eldest daughter broke her arm while verifying insurance information and parental permission to be casted by the good doctor. Pretty sure I’m about to get an earful of anger and worry and disappointment when I walk through the door.
I did end up talking to her, more so to calm her down and so she didn’t burst through the hospital doors like a madwoman than anything else, but still. I at least did that.
Thankfully, her inability to leave work at a moment’s notice gave me more time with Remy. And after she talked to his mother on the phone, she gave a disgruntled go-ahead for him to drive me home.
Well, you better bring your ass right home, were her exact words.
Considering Carmen Baros never curses, it’s safe to say, I have a heap of trouble waiting for me.
“I should’ve told you to call her first.” He grimaces. “You were just in so much pain, all I could think about was getting you to the ER.”
He just might be the sweetest guy I’ve ever met.
“Don’t be silly. You helped out a lot by getting my mom in touch with your mom.”
“Just so you know, Wendy Winslow wasn’t too thrilled with me either,” he says through a half laugh, half grimace. “I’m not really supposed to be driving everywhere on my own yet. I only have my permit.”
“Eek. Looks like we both have long nights ahead of us.”
He nods dramatically. “Yeah.”
“Thanks again for…everything,” I tell him for what has to be the one-hundredth time of the evening. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you today. You saved my butt.”