Chapter 6
I’m too amped up to sleep, so I decide to get up and sit out on the deck for a while to wait for Elizabeth to wake up from her mid-morning snooze-fest. She needed it.
Emotional exhaustion can be more taxing on the body than physical exhaustion, and if anyone has been through the ringer the past twenty-four hours, it’s her.
As I close the door to my stateroom, I hear a high-pitched whimper coming from Elizabeth’s cabin.
It sounds like she’s having bad dreams. I hesitate briefly at her door before continuing my way up the stairs, forcing myself not to go to her.
She may need my help at the moment, but she also needs to learn how to deal with some things on her own.
Her mental demons being one of those things.
Me: Kitten made me promise to text you guys every day. You are today’s winner only bc I like you best.
Ry:
Ry: How is she?
Me: Scared and confused. She hates herself. She’s trying hard to hold it together, but sooner or later that girl is going to explode if she doesn’t figure out a way to deal with everything her memories brought back.
Ry: Jay and Jules lost it this morning when I told them. It’s killing us not to be able to be there with her to help her.
Me: I think she may also have a split personality
Ry: Don’t tell me that. I hope you’re joking.
Me: Her words, not mine. She says Old Elizabeth and New Elizabeth are battling it out. I’m half expecting her head to start swiveling around on a 360.
Ry: That’s not funny. Is she ok?
Me: As good as can be expected. She’s asleep right now, but how much rest she’s getting is probably nil.
Ry: ?
Me: Nightmares.
Me: Dad made sure to have a doctor on board just in case anything happens.
I told Robert to act like one of the crewmen, so Elizabeth wouldn’t be freaked out. He’s our family’s private physician. He and Dad met freshman year at college and have been friends ever since.
Ry: I hate hearing that. Anything at all comes up, you call the freaking Coast Guard and have her Medivacked out and taken to a proper hospital immediately. Even if you think it’s minor.
Me: I got it covered. She’s safe with me.
Ryder goes silent for a minute, but I see the little dots dancing that tell me he’s typing a reply.
Ry: She promised me that nothing would change between us if she ever got her memory back. She promised all of us she would never leave again. Why couldn’t she come to me? Why did she run? Why go to you?
Me: You, Jay, and Jules are part of the problem right now.
She needs distance and time. Being around you three would just mess her up more and confuse her.
You guys would be fighting over her like rabid dogs and making things worse.
Give her time to deal with everything without being all up in her face.
Ry: I would never hurt her.
Me: You wouldn’t mean to, but you would. You, Jay, and Jules would be pressuring her and hovering over her 24/7. And from the situation between you and Jay right now, you can add fighting over her. I’m Switzerland in this scenario.
Ry: Help her, Fallon.
Me: I will
Ry: I trust you.
He shouldn’t when it comes to her.
Ry: Tell her that I love her.
I don’t reply. Instead, I turn my phone off.