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Emma leaned forward. “Coffee may be the sole reason I came out of the coma.”
Georgia’s eyes widened.
“My hand to God,” Emma continued, putting her fingers over her heart. “The nurses and my mom were always drinking it. The smell of it…”
She fell over onto her side dramatically, continuing the conversation from her prone positionon the floor.
“On my first day in town, I passed by a notice on aDe Ollakiosk that said they were hiring. I took it as a sign from above.”
“Hmm.” Georgia bit her lip. “Can I ask you something terribly personal?”
Well, Emma had asked some pretty personal questions today, too. It was only fair. She raised her hand. “Shoot.”
“Why did you move here? Away from your hometown and family?”
“Ah.” Emma let out a gust of air. “That.”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me.”
She waved the other woman’s concern away. “No, it’s fine. I moved because my mother wanted me to.”
Georgia dropped a hot wheel on the floor. “Shit. Sorry.”
Emma laughed. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m on good terms with her. I called her and my baby sister right before I came over today.”
“Then why did she want you to leave?” she asked, picking up the fallen car.
Emma wondered if this was going to make her sound like a basket case. “She was worried. Because my accident wasn’t really an accident. It was a hit-and-run.”
“Shit. That’s right.” Georgia winced. “They never had a clue who did it?”
Emma shook her head. “Some drunk is the best guess. But my mom always worried that the driver sobered up and realized what they’d done afterward. It made her paranoid. She thought we were being watched.”
Not that this was anything new. The good people of Verdant Falls had always watched her mother, the better to criticize her. Presumably Emma too, by extension. But she had no memory of it. Her chief recollections of home were of the people who’d come to see her at the hospital. How awkward each interaction had been…
Her visitors had expected the stories they shared to jog her memory. They couldn’t seem to understand that her brain was permanently damaged. She wasn’t ever getting those memories back.
“It was a mutual decision in the end. Home was a place of unspoken expectations, ones I had no idea how to interpret, let alone fulfill. It got so bad I could barely talk to people at all. That’s why I came here. My cousin had a spare room. He charged me half of what he would have charged anyone else. Of course, he turned out to be a hoarder, so it wasn’t that great a price after all.”
Georgia pursed her lips. “Are things okay with him now? You seemed kind of mad at him before.”
“I was,” she admitted with a sigh. “I mean I am. I thought he could have fought for me a little more. But he has to fight for himself first. Garrett was right about that. He found him a good therapist. I’ve texted him but he doesn’t feel up to speaking yet. Which, honestly, is sort of a relief.”
Georgia nodded, her eyes a little distant. “A refractory period can be helpful. Especially if it’s family.”
Emma sensed there was more to unpack there, but then she looked at the time. “Oh God. I need to get ready or I’m going to be late for work.”
George scanned the room for the clock. “Eek! Sorry to keep you so long but thank you for helping!”
Her hostess saw her to the door, pausing at the threshold of their shared hallway. “Hey, has Garrett mentioned bringing someone to the wedding?”
Emma froze. “Like a date? No.”
George shrugged. “I’ll get Rainer to ask him. It’s a little awkward asking if we can take back his plus-one, but a few Auric people want to come that we didn’t originally count on. They were supposed to be out of town on a long-term assignment, but it wrapped early.”
“There’s also me.” Emma winced.
George touched her arm. “You are officially team wedding. That makes you a lock.”