“You absolutely did. Here, drink this. It’ll calm you down, you said.”
Wisps of that moment floated at the edges of my mind. “I used to babysit for a lady with a crazy six-year-old. She’d give him Pepsi and he’d settle right down. I must have thought it would work for you.”
“You admitted to taking it when she came back in and asked. You got detention in the principal’s office.”
My memory of it was too cloudy. “Did the Pepsi help you?”
“Yeah. It helped that day. For a few years, my parents told me no, I couldn’t drink it, that it wasn’t a kid drink. I think they assumed the combo of sugar and caffeine would only make my ADHD worse, but I bought it from the school vending machine in high school. When I joined the military, I started drinking it every morning. My focus improved greatly, as did my results.”
Ah, so he’d been successful in the military. An image of Jeremy Hotston in uniform tempted me. I suppressed a little sigh.
“I’ve been drinking it ever since anytime I need to stay focused and calm. When I forget it, my brain goes into a whirlwind of thoughts, and I can’t pick one to focus on. It’s helpful when I want to brainstorm lots of unique ideas, but not so helpful when I need to buckle down and work.”
Wow. I’d helped him. And he’d become successful. Based on Pepsi.
Weird. But kind of sweet.
“Thanks for taking the punishment and getting detention for me, Danica.” My name on his lips did something to me that should be illegal.
“It’s fine.” I gulped. “I don’t even remember detention. Oh, wait.” Yes, I did remember. “Yeah. They stuck me in detention in the school library. That’s when I found out how much I love the book Jane Eyre. I read almost the whole thing over those three days. I was mad when detention ended, because I still hadn’t figured out the mystery in the book. I didn’t get a chance to check it out, and I was stuck the whole weekend wondering about the fire.”
Wow. Pepsi and Jane Eyre were connected.
Make that, Jane and Pepsi connected me to Jeremy.
Pulsations covered me from head to toe.
I stared at him, and the intrusive memories of a moment ago became insistent. They broke through my concentration and took over, flooding me with a sensory overload of Jeremy’s kiss, his arms around me, my intensifying feelings for him. I couldn’t push them away.
They pelted me incessantly, and I could barely sit still. There was just one cure—and I’d need Jeremy’s help, and only Jeremy’s help. Would Jeremy be game? Considering all the recent times I’d rejected him?
Argh. I chickened out and told him about Tennille and Liam and their decision to move.
“She actually admitted to not liking working with children?” His brows raised.
Interesting that he’d focus on that point. “Yep, in no uncertain terms.”
“I can’t imagine. Kids are so great. And they’re drawn to you. I hope you’re not thinking about following her lead.”
I stifled a gasp. “Stop teaching the kids?”
Jeremy let out a laugh. “There’s the Danica I know.”
And love, my wishful thinking filled in the blanks. It was weird every time I realized how well he knew me.
“I mentioned that I had another reason for making this meal.”
“Yeah?” Jeremy broke off a piece of biscuit and tasted it. And took another drink of water. Couldn’t blame him.
The moment had arrived. I bolstered my nerve, and the request tumbled from my lips. “Dr. Chen said if I revisited some of the circumstances that I’d been experiencing during the period of time I’d lost, I might regain some of my memories of it.”
“So you made the same dinner you cooked that night?”
Wait. What? “I cooked that night?”
“Yeah, it was your first meal to make solo. Well, I pan-fried the chicken, but you made everything else.”
No way. “You’re kidding.” I took another bite. It tasted a whole lot better all of a sudden—and it jarred loose another faint remembrance. “Did I also bake a cake?”