Best Friend's Ex Box Set

"I think you know," she replied. "We're doing it."

"I'm worried that he's really hurt, Verity," I said pulling my hand away and folding the towel that hung over my shoulder. "Hitting his head on the kitchen floor did not help things."

"I think he's okay," she said trying to project the confidence I wasn't feeling. "Yesterday, after the accident, he was conscious and talking to us as we pulled him out, and then he walked across the road to the house. I didn't think he'd suffered anything very severe."

"But what's wrong with him now?" I asked. "He's groggy and talking like he's drunk."

"Maybe he's got a concussion?" she said. "I don't know if those show up right away, but it might be what's ailing him."

"We can't keep him here," I said. "He's an outsider, and he's obviously made Uncle Amos upset."

"I think he's kind of nice," Verity said. "And he's very handsome."

"Verity, you know as well as I do that this is going to cause gossip," I said in the sternest voice I could muster.

"Oh Grace, why are you so worried about what everyone else says if you know in your heart you're doing the right thing?" she asked, leaving me looking for the words to break the news to her.

"Because we can't afford it right now," I finally said. "Verity, the store is in big trouble and I'm not sure I can save it."

My sister turned and looked at me for a long time before she reached out and took my hands in hers and said, "It's God's will, Gracie."

"No, it's not," I replied shaking my head. "It's bad business and we're going to have to find a way to turn it around or we're going to lose the farm, too."

"I have faith in you, Grace," she said squeezing my hands as she looked at me. "Mamm and Dat trusted you, and so do I. You'll find a way to make it work."

I nodded, but said nothing. Verity's calm faith in God was not going to soothe me, and I could feel the fear beginning to solidify in the pit of my stomach as I wondered whether I could find a way to fix everything.

Chapter Sixteen

Adam

I woke up on the couch with a strange man leaning over me pressing a stethoscope to my chest and nodding to himself.

"Mr. Wallace," he said as he raised one of my eyelids and shined a very bright light into my eye. "Mr. Wallace, can you hear me?"

"Yes, get that light out of my eyes, will you?" I grunted as I swiped at his hand. He backed away and stood just out of reach. "Jesus, I just got lightheaded, there's no reason to call out the cavalry."

"I'm not the cavalry, Mr. Wallace, just Doc Johnson," he said as he held out a hand. A generous assessment of his bald head, round glasses, and old-fashioned medical case made me guess that the man was in his mid-seventies. "I think the knock you took to your head yesterday caused a concussion. That's what caused you to pass out this morning."

"Gee, thanks Doc," I said sarcastically as I pushed myself up to a seated position. "Not like I couldn't have figured that out myself."

"No need for sarcasm, young man," the doctor said cheerfully. "What you need is some rest so that you can recover. Do you remember what happened that caused the concussion?"

"Of course I do! I was..." I trailed off as I tried to remember how I'd ended up on this couch. There was something flickering around the edges of my memory, but the more I tried to catch it, the further away it seemed. I looked up at the doctor as I tried to come up with an explanation. Finally, I remembered, "I was in an accident and the family who lives in this house took care of me last night and then fed me breakfast this morning."

"That's okay, don't push yourself," he said patting my shoulder. "It's not uncommon to have some temporary memory loss in the hours or even days following an accident. You probably pushed yourself too hard this morning and the combination of heat and humidity caused you to pass out."

"I had a meeting," I said as I continued to try and pull the memory from the recesses of my brain. It felt like something I'd once known but had forgotten, and that was frustrating. I could remember sliding off the road into the ditch.

"You are right, you were in a car accident, Mr. Wallace," Doc Johnson said. "You crashed your car, a lovely Mustang by the way, into the ditch across the road. The Miller children brought you in and kept you overnight."

"Ah yes, Danny and Honor and...the other two," I finished up trying to remember the other girls' names.

"Grace and Verity are in the kitchen preparing lunch," he said. "I'd advise you to eat something and I’m going to have the girls wake you up every few hours to check your cognitive skills. How is your head right now? Any pain or buzzing sounds?"

"Not now, but there was some earlier, I think," I said trying to put the pieces together. "Yes, there was! Earlier at the breakfast table. I heard a buzzing sound like a plane flying overhead! Then I stood up from the table and..."

"You passed out and you've got quite the goose egg on the side of your head!" Doc Johnson said with a smile.