“Tell me what you remember.”
Liza squeezed her eyes shut to avoid rolling them, but clenched her jaw and reached for her phone. She opened a browser and pulled up theHouston Chroniclewebsite, then did a quick search in its archives, located the short, yet detailed article about the wreck, and slid the phone to him.
“I don’t remember any of it.”
He furrowed his brow as he stared at the screen of her phone for a long time. Eventually, he pressed the button to put the phone to sleep and covered his face.
The kitchen was silent. Ophelia reached for his arm, and he flinched away when she made contact. She retracted her hand and set it in her lap. Sunny pushed a pile of paper napkins to the center of the table. Caroline giggled and squealed in the backyard. Scott hollered something imperceptible from the roof.
“I killed you, too,” Connor finally said.
Liza resisted the urge to scoff. “No, you didn’t. Don’t be ridiculous. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be sitting across from you right now.”
He pressed the button on the phone to wake up the screen and slid it back across the table to her. “Your heart stopped for three minutes. They revived you with a defibrillator, but I still killed you.”
He shoved his chair back and stood, then took a step backward as if staggering. Liza jumped out of the chair and reached for him as she crossed around to the other side of the table.
“Baby, let’s go next door and just—”
Connor held up his hands and backed away from her. “I need a moment.”
She hesitated, drawing her arms back against her chest. “Okay.”
“Connor, let me go grab Scott off the roof,” Ophelia interjected, standing up from the table. “Maybe y’all can go over to the Old Point. Luke’s working, and I’m sure Brennan’s not doing anything. I could call him, and—”
He shook his head, hands still raised as if telling everyone to keep their distance. “I’m gonna go for a run. I just need to clear my thoughts.”
“Scott could run with you,” Sunny offered. “Or maybe you just want to go for a walk. Elijah needs to walk a little every day. I’m sure he’s out there on his duff.”
“No, ma’am,” Connor said, stepping around Liza and toward the door. “No, thank you.” His gaze darted around the room as if he were searching for something. “I just need to clear my head. I’ll be back later.”
He disappeared through the doorway, and Liza sprinted after him, grabbing his arm just as he pushed the front door open. “Please don’t run right now. Please just go over to your place with me. I know you need to process this, but I don’t think you should pull away from me. Just let me be with you. Let’s go through this together. Please?”
He turned to her, jaw set, eyebrows high, eyes wide, and gripped his temples. “Liza…Ican’t. I need some space right now.” He took a step through the door. “I’m sorry. I’ll be back later.” He flipped his hand at her as he turned away. “Then you can coddle me all you want.”
Liza watched him cross through the grass, head hanging below his shoulders, and then he jerked open the door to his house. Closing the front door, Liza watched through the screen until she saw him again about three minutes later. He’d changed into a pair of black running shorts and a gray t-shirt with ARMY emblazoned in black across the front and began jogging in the opposite direction.
He hadn’t reached for a bottle. He hadn’t jumped in his car to tear off and run away from home. Jogging seemed like a healthy enough outlet for what she knew was tearing up his mind right then. The worst thing about it was that it seemed like a physical beating given the heat and humidity of the afternoon, but going for a run seemed to be one of the better things he could have done right then.
So, Liza went back inside, back in the kitchen, back to the bowl of beans, and attempted to distract herself.
Her phone suddenly rang where it sat on the table. The screen was flashingBrennan Riley, and she picked it up.
“Hi, B.,” she answered.
“L.,” he said urgently. “What’s going on?”
She shook her head. “I…uh…nothing?”
“No,” he countered. “Something’s going on. I have this weird, bad feeling, and you soundoffright now.”
She scoffed in tepid amusement. “Are we like psychically linked or something?”
“Yes,” he said matter-of-factly. “What the hell is going on?”
“Who is that?” Sunny piped up.
Liza glanced at her and pulled the phone slightly away from her mouth. “It’s Brennan.”
