Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
6 Months Later
Mercy
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” My dad asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
I raised my eyebrows. “Absolutely not,” I told him.
I knew it was hard for him, being there in Jasper Springs. Even if he was dropping me off for the next chapter of my life: College.
Given everything that had happened, it was probably the last place he wanted to be. I got it. But while I’d been in my coma, I’d gotten my acceptance letter.
I took it as a sign.
But all I wanted for my eighteenth birthday was one thing.
To visit Miles.
He’d been out of the hospital for three months, and was finally mobile.
The accident we’d been in—a car crash—had claimed his right leg.
It was a long recovery for both of us, but it was so much worse for him.
I’d sustained no injuries, save for a few scratches. The doctors said it was a miracle, considering the car flipped and rolled twice before nearly crushing both of us.
But somehow, I walked away with scrapes and bruises, while he fought to learn to walk again.
We were both lucky to be alive.
“Okay, but you’ll call me if you need anything...”
“Dad. It’s a coffee shop. I think we’ll be okay,” I said with a smile.
I knew this hadn’t been easy for him, but if anything positive came out of my accident, it was that my dad stopped drinking.
I guess being threatened with the near death of your only kid would wake anyone up.
I hated that it took such a thing to wake him up, but I was glad that he did.
He was different after I came home. He kept looking up vegetarian recipes to make. He drove me everywhere, swearing up and down that I’d never have a car until I was forty.
I guess I couldn’t blame him, though, and if I was being honest, it was kind of... nice.
His concern made me feel loved, but it also made me feel a little claustrophobic.
I was eighteen, I couldn’t hide forever. I had a life to live.
“I will call you if I need you,” I told him.
He nodded. “Okay, pumpkin.”
He hadn’t called me that since before mom died. I loved it, and I hated it.
I grabbed the strap of my messenger bag with one hand while I opened the door with the other.
“Have fun,” he said, but I could see the worry behind his eyes.
“Thanks,” I said as I closed the door and headed into the cafe.
I looked around, taking in the sight of the place. It was small, sparsely populated.
There was a group of teenagers over in the corner, scrolling and laughing on their phones, a mother and her daughter sitting at a table by the window.
Finally, my gaze settled on him, sitting in a leather chair by the fireplace.
Miles.
I got a good look at him. Still cute as ever, his hair a little longer, his bony wrists hanging off his knees.
That was when I saw it.
His new leg, jutting out from beneath his athletic shorts.
He looked up at me, his bright green eyes shining like stars.
“Mercy!” he smiled, getting up.
I froze, wanting to rush to him, but he was in front of me within a second.
He wrapped his arms around me in a warm hug, and suddenly, I relaxed.
We were no longer trapped beneath metal.
We were safe.
We were alive.
I breathed in his scent. Axe. The ocean one I bought him for Christmas.
He held me out in front of him and looked at me with a smile.
“Have you eaten?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, Dad drove me straight here from the campus.”
“Oh, right,” he said, nodding. “When do you start your classes?”
His hand slid down my back, coming to a rest above my ass.
I felt my cheeks heat.
“Friday,” I said. “You?”
Miles guided me to the register, and I got the strangest feeling like someone was watching me. I looked around, but I didn’t see anyone looking at me. The mother at the table was cutting up her daughter’s cinnamon roll, and the teenagers were filming themselves, completely enamored with their devices.
Weird.
“Monday,” he said. “I’m just doing online until doc clears me to drive.”
“You’ll get there,” I told him. “I have faith in you.”
“That makes one of us,” he said as he nodded to the menu.
“What’ll it be, baby?””
Heat filled my cheeks and I knew I blushed six shades of red. I didn’t think I’d ever get over the way I felt when he did that.
It was dumb, I knew that, but I was a romantic. Sue me.
“French vanilla latte and... Split a cinnamon roll with you?”
Miles nodded as the cashier rang us up.
A strange breeze rustled my hair. My skin prickled with goosebumps, and there was the faintest smell of funnel cake.
I squinted at the menu.
That was odd, I didn’t see funnel cake listed.
I knew I was probably losing my mind. With school starting up, and everything that had happened...
“Here,” he said, and passed me my drink as we headed to the end of the counter to get our dessert.
Something pulled my attention to the corner by the window. No one was there, but yet...
Miles handed me the cinnamon roll.
I searched the room for an open table for two and settled on one next to the window.
“That one,” I pointed with my coffee.
Miles headed for it, nearly bumping into a couple that looked to be leaving.
“Shit, sorry,” he said as I stopped.
The woman looked at me with warmth. Her bright blue eyes were so crystalline, I felt frozen. Her golden hair bounced as she smiled.
“It’s alright, sweetheart. You’re good.”
The man beside her stopped, too, staring at me with the same warmth before flashing a glare at Miles.
“Watch where you’re going,” he grumbled, but there was no bitterness in his voice. It was almost... amusement.
“Will do,” Miles said. “Come on, Mercy.”
I gave the couple a smirk. “Have a good day,” I said.
“Come on, Angel, we’ve got work to do,” the man said, and something about his voice felt oddly familiar.
Like I’d heard it in a dream or something.
I blinked as he opened the door for Angel. The name was oddly fitting. She was pretty enough to be an angel, all right.
I sat in my seat, sipping my coffee, watching as the couple crossed the street, but I never saw them enter a car.
It was almost like they just disappeared into thin air.
Before I could think about my impending insanity, Miles stole my attention.
“How do you feel about a movie?” he asked.
“Movie sounds good,” I said, biting into my cinnamon roll, feeling like everything was just as it should be.
Like my life was only just beginning.