Page 35 of You Can Make Me

Denny flinched at my words, and he cursed under his breath.”Not in the least.” He exhaled a harsh breath through his nose. “Thought I made that clear earlier. The only thing I regret was losing you.”

“You never lost me, Denny. I’m just a proud bitch, and I couldn’t accept that you’d ghosted me.”

“I never?—”

“I know. And I know you might need time?—”

“Cooper, I want you to have your life back. I want you to not be in pain. I want you to be happy.”

“Can I work on thatandwinning you back?”

He huffed out another breath.”You never lost me.”

I exhaled this time. “Okay. Then I promise I’ll start cooperating. Bring your PT friend. We’ll call the plastic surgeon for a consult. I’ll try the occupational therapist. I’ll drink those nasty shakes. I’ll do whatever you think is best.”

Denny turned his head to look at me. “Good. That’s good.” He smiled.

“And then I want to get to work.”

Denny laughed. “Of course you do. It’s got to be driving you nuts, not having fifty million things going at once.”

“I can’t sit here anymore and rot. That’s all I’ve been doing. Thank you, for bringing them here today.”

“I’ll do anything for you. Remember that.”

I placed my hand on his face, and he nuzzled my palm.

Good. So hopefully he’d still be this amenable when I hit him up to help me find more information about this carnival. I was already formulating a plan to get him to help me talk to Dee Dee again, see what he would tell me.

Between the dreams I’d been having, the stories Granddad used to tell me, and all of the connections between the players involved in my attack, Iknewthe carnival played a role somehow. It was almost as if I was meant to intersect with the carnival at some point in my life.

I intended to find out not only what was so special about this particular place, but how it all fit together.

Denny rolled over and kissed my forehead. “Get some rest. You had a big day.”

“I feel awake for the first time since this all went down. I feel like I have a second chance. And Denny?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I want a second chance with you.”

“It’s yours.”

I closed my eyes and breathed in Denny’s scent.

But after a few moments, instead of smelling Denny, my nostrils filled with the smell of dirt and decay. A constant drip sounded from somewhere, but it was so dark I couldn’t see anything.

Then I heard…whistling? It was a familiar tune, and it echoed off the walls so much I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

Suddenly, there were lights in the distance, so I started walking, slowly, because the ground was uneven and my cane kept hitting rocks.

Colorful triangular-shaped tents appeared in the distance, and my breath caught in my chest.

The carnival.

I began to walk faster, but just as I was almost able to read what was painted on the sign above the entrance, it began to retreat.

“No, come back!” I called out. I hurried toward it, then I tripped and fell forward into the blackness once more.