Mary had left a message that morning to say she had car trouble. Still waiting for the auto club mechanic to arrive, she apologized several times for the “imposition” on Shannon’s big day and asked if Daniel might arrange for someone to see her home. He wasn’t heartbroken about the development, he had to admit, and he phoned her back to say he’d see to it.
Daniel had loaded the last of Shannon’s things into the back of his Lexus RX and headed up to her room to escort her down to the staff parking lot. Instead, he found her standing at the floor desk, surrounded by staff and patients, a cluster of a dozen colorful balloons tied around her fist and a plate of half-eaten cake in the other hand.
“Where’s your cane?” he asked rhetorically, and he grabbed it from where it hung on the edge of the desk and extended it toward her. With a grimace in Carrie Rhodes’s direction, he added, “And with your physical therapist standing right here, too.”
“Sorry, Doc. I’m slacking on the job,” Carrie said with a chuckle.
“We so seldom get to have a wonderful celebration like this around here,” Angela chimed in. “We couldn’t let Shannon leave without a little bit of hoopla, could we?”
He smiled at Shannon and asked, “Are you ready for the big, bad world?”
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. Daniel knew that—in spite of that gleaming smile—she meant it. “But let’s give it a shot.”
A few final embraces and Shannon headed toward the elevator. Once they’d both stepped onboard and the doors slipped shut, she released a gravelly sigh and cringed as she looked up at him.
“Here we go, I guess.”
A few minutes later, they both snapped seatbelts into place and Daniel drove them through the exit gate.
“Are you hungry?”
“Did you hear my stomach growl?” she asked. He hadn’t, but she didn’t pause long enough to allow him to respond. “I was too excited to eat lunch when they brought it to my room.”
“I missed lunch, too. Why don’t we stop for something before we head out to the house. Anything sound especially good to you? And don’t say—”
“Pizza!” she exclaimed.
“Yeah. Don’t say that. Or?”
Shannon chuckled. “I knew you’d be that way. How about something lighter then? I could go for soup and a sandwich. But—” She looked down at the baggy jeans and light blue sweater Izzy had brought to her the night before, and she wrinkled her nose. “—is this okay to wear out? I thought we were heading straight home.”
“It’s fine. We won’t go black tie.”
She giggled and poked his arm with her elbow.
“I know just the place.”
Barely off-route between Draper and Shannon’s house, Theodore’s Bistro had become a new favorite of Daniel’s. Ten minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot and shut off the engine.
“Shall we?”
Shannon grabbed her cane and used it to steady herself as she climbed out of the SUV. Once inside, Daniel looked around the restaurant through Shannon’s fresh eyes. He admired the glossy, square cherry wood dining tables, each with four straight-backed chairs, all of them surrounding the sunken social area in the center of the bistro furnished with plush couches and overstuffed wingbacks. The entire back wall of the bistro overlooked lush greenery and blooming flower trees through an enormous plate glass window.
The hostess greeted them and led them to a table near the back. “I know you’ve dined with us before,” she beamed as she handed Daniel a tablet computer, “so you know how this works.”
“Thanks, Gretchen.”
“Your server is Kyle, and he’ll be with you momentarily.”
Once they’d settled at the table, Daniel swiped the menu until he reached the combination lunches and he handed it to Shannon.
“What’s this?”
Her bewildered expression made him want to laugh out loud. “It’s the menu,” he replied.
“I don’t understand.”
He stood up and moved to the chair adjacent to her and leaned over the corner of the table. “The menu is broken down by groups.” He demonstrated with one swipe after another. “You said you might want soup and a sandwich, so this is where the combinations start, and you can swipe between pages to look at the photographs and decide what looks good to you.”
“Are you joking!” she squealed, and she snatched it from his hands excitedly. “What’s this called?”
“This is an iPad.”
“It’s amazing!” she exclaimed, pushing the pages back and forth. “Do all restaurants have this now?”
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “This is actually a little progressive still, but it probably won’t be for long.”
“This is so cool.”
“Yeah, I guess technology has come a long way since you checked out.”
“That’s no joke.”
“I use mine for—”
“Wait!” she interrupted. “You have one of these?”
“Yeah. You can read books on them, surf the Web, download music …”
“I think Izzy mentioned—” Her green eyes opened wide and she leaned toward him with the most adorable, and deadly serious, expression on her face. “Do I have enough money to get one?”
He wanted to laugh, but he didn’t. “Yes,” he said instead. “You do.”
“And can I get one of those phones like Izzy has with all the pictures?”
“I’ll take you shopping myself when you’re up to it.” It came out as a natural fact, as if it were not at all strange for him to take her shopping, and the surprising part was that it felt that way. He shot her a quick glance for some indication of how it had felt to her.
Unfazed, she swiped one more menu page before looking up at him. “Can we go after lunch?”
Daniel chuckled. “Those graphic design roots are showing. Maybe we’ll get you home and see if there are other things you need. How’s that?”
“Okay. But you’re sure I’ll be able to get one of these?”
“I’m sure.”
Good grief, this girl is adorable!
“I suddenly have a flash of you as Alice, landing on the other side of the looking glass,” he told her. “I wonder who that makes me. The Cheshire Cat? Or the Mad Hatter, maybe?”
Shannon giggled. “You’re in the wrong fairy tale, Doc,” she said without looking up from the new toy in her hands.
“Oh?”
She finally set the iPad down on the table and leaned back against the chair and smiled. “Yeah, you woke up Sleeping Beauty, remember?”
“How’s that one go again?” he asked her.
“The stunningly beautiful coma patient is awakened by Dr. Charming.”
Stunningly beautiful, he replayed in his mind. That’s no joke.
It wasn’t until the thought had already taken flight that the impact of it struck him.
“Have you had enough, or would you like dessert?” Daniel asked, and Shannon moaned contentedly.
“I’d love to order dessert,” she told him. “But not because I want it. I just like playing with the menu.”
“Here,” he said, pulling up an image of a beautiful poached pear drizzled with a caramel sauce design. “Just stare at it instead then.”
She giggled as he handed her the iPad, then winced as her back muscles pulled.
“All right?” he asked.
“Fine. Sometimes I forget how weak I am.”
“Temporarily,” he reassured her. “Your body just needs some time to catch up to the idea that you’re up and moving around.”
Daniel plucked his wallet from the inside pocket of his jacket, and Shannon noticed the set of unique bracelets he always wore. She reached out and gingerly touched one of the braided suede straps knotted at the underside of his wrist.
His curious smile acted as a catalyst, and she remarked, “I like them.”
“Thanks.” He handed his credit card to the waitress.
“I noticed you never take them off.”
“Sometimes. But not too often.”
“Do they have a special meaning for you?” Shannon suddenly realized she’d crossed over the mildly curious line and stepped right into the nosey zone. “Sorry. You don’t have to answer if I’m prying.”
“You’re prying a little,” he told her with a charming smile that fired up the spark in his chocolate brown eyes. “I happen to love the person who made them for me.”
Why did those words drop inside her like a heavy stone? Get a grip, girl, she said to herself. He’s not really the handsome prince come to the rescue. He’s just a doctor with a great smile and a warm stethescope.
Maybe it was time for some respectable distance.
“You know, all this time you’ve just been my doctor and Edmund’s friend,” she pointed out calmly. “I guess I never thought about you having a personal life, too. So your girlfriend made them?” She paused. “Or your wife?”
He paused to sign the credit slip and slid the card back into his wallet. “A girl named Bushira.”
“Interesting name.” Shannon tried it out. “Boo-SHE-ruh.”
“Swahili. It means one who brings good tidings.”
She didn’t quite know what to say. It wasn’t hard to imagine Daniel coupled with an exotic African beauty. She imagined her with long beaded braids and a joyful, somewhat breezy disposition …
“After I completed my residency, and before I chose a specialty in neurology, I spent some time with an organization called Medical Mercy,” he explained as he slipped the wallet into his pocket. “Sort of like a Doctors Without Borders. Part of that time, I went to East Africa, which is where I met a thirteen-year-old with AIDS.”
Shannon exhaled deeply, realizing she’d been holding her breath. “Bushira,” she confirmed.
“Yes. I took care of her and her mother, both of whom had contracted the disease. These bracelets were a thank-you gift Bushira gave me the day I left.”
“You’ve worn them ever since?”
“Pretty much.”
“How are they doing now? Bushira and her mother.”
Daniel lowered his head for a moment before he glanced up at her and shook his head.
“I’m sorry.”
He sighed. “Are you ready to go home?”
Shannon’s stomach did a somersault. “I don’t know. Let’s give it a try.”
She thanked the hostess at the door and followed Daniel out to his SUV in the parking lot.
“Are we far from the house?” she asked as she buckled the seat belt.
“Not far at all.”
Shannon tapped her fingers on the door ledge as they sped along, keeping time with the music on the station Daniel had chosen. The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, Carole King; each song seemed to bring back the distant taste of a memory that never quite made it to the surface. She knew all the words, though, she realized with satisfaction. That counted for something. She wondered if he’d chosen the station because these songs might ring familiar to her—and she felt certain he had. His thoughtfulness comforted her.
Not until they turned off the main road and passed through the stone arch announcing the Briarcliff community did any of it look even slightly familiar. The Temptations’ upbeat “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” provided the soundtrack of a rush of memories that pelted her with imaginary pebbles from the sky as the Lexus carried her like a shiny white carriage around the curve of the road and into the driveway of a house that felt more familiar than anything else had in the weeks since she’d awoken.
When Daniel turned off the engine, he shifted in the driver’s seat and smiled at her. “Familiar?”
“Clear as a bell,” she replied, closing her eyes. “I can almost feel Edmund sitting behind the wheel next to me, telling me he just has a feeling about this house. ‘This is the one,’ he said when we pulled up out front that first day.”
“Do you want to—”
Shannon opened her eyes, cranked open the door, and climbed out of the SUV. Had Daniel been speaking to her? It felt like the sidewalk had turned into one of those people-movers in the airport, and it carried her along toward the front door. It wasn’t until she tried to turn the knob that she twisted around to look for Daniel. He stepped past her, keys at the ready.
“Thank you,” she said when he pushed open the front door and allowed her to walk inside. The place smelled like fresh citrus and orange blossoms—and it looked different than she remembered. The beige carpeting she thought she remembered had transformed into light wooden floors, and the white living room walls were now painted a sweet butter cream. She felt a little disappointed.
As if reading her thoughts, Daniel spoke. “Edmund made a lot of changes with you in mind. He left the house in my care, just for basic maintenance.”
She began to take in more of the changes. The new flooring wound around to the wall of glass overlooking the beautiful stone patio; it had been the selling point for them all those years ago, as she recalled. Shannon yanked the sliding glass doors open as far as they would go. The wooden pergola they’d dreamt up as they surveyed the backyard on that first day now stood in place, providing shade for several cozy couches and chairs forming a border around the fire pit in the middle.
“Edmund,” she whispered. “It’s just like we planned.”
A tsunami of unexpected emotion crashed over her, spraying her face with hot tears as she let her cane fall to the ground before she sank to her knees, dropped her face into both hands, and wailed.
She didn’t know how much time had passed before she remembered that she wasn’t there alone, and she glanced up to find Daniel standing helplessly beside her.
“Oh, Daniel. I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her face with the sleeve of her oversized blue sweater and struggling to get to her feet again.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked in a soft voice as he helped her up. “Let me see if I can find you some Kleenex.”
Wiping her face as she waited, Shannon wondered at Daniel Petros. He’d become her regular provider, hadn’t he? Every time she broke down, this really handsome man turned up to make sure she had a box of Kleenex when she needed them. That handsome helper should have been Edmund. But it wasn’t. She shook her head, hoping to shake loose her tangled thoughts about that. She looked up and laughed with relief to find him comically hurrying back with two boxes—one in each hand—extended toward her.
“Izzy did the shopping,” he said, examining the boxes. “We’ve got a box of extra soft and—let’s see—one with an antibacterial agent.”
“They make antibacterial tissues now?” she sniffed. “What’s next? Are you going to tell me they’ve made phones without cords?”
He grimaced, staring at her strangely.
“Ha! Kidding,” she said, and Daniel groaned. “Just kidding.”
The two of them sat down on one of the sofas beneath the pergola, and Shannon blew her nose.
“I seem to do this a lot around you—blow my nose. Don’t I?”
“What is it they say?” he asked. “Better out than in?”
“I think they say that about gas.”
“Gas? That doesn’t seem right, does it? Better out than in? I mean, who’s it better for?”
His observation struck Shannon oddly funny, and she started laughing.
“Not the person sitting next to you, that’s for sure,” he continued.
She cackled and snorted until she’d lost her breath, but Daniel showed no mercy.
“I think it’s the snot that’s better out than in, frankly. The gas? Not really so much.”
“Stop!” she cried, struggling to pull herself together. She plucked one of the extra soft tissues from the box and dried her eyes as she groaned. “You have to stop.”
Daniel smiled at her in triumph, and Shannon realized his thoughtfulness again. He had diverted her sadness momentarily. She felt fairly certain they would circle back around again, but for the moment, she appreciated his kindness.
“Thank you, Daniel.”
“Ce n’est rien,” he said with a wave of one hand.
“Greek?” she asked, and Daniel grinned at her.
“French.”
“You’re a Greek boy who speaks French.”
“Y español.”
“Spanish, too?”
“What can I tell you, Shannon? I’m a renaissance man.”
“You certainly are.”
Daniel stood up before leaning over and grabbing her hand. “Izzy gets off work at five, so she should be here by six.”
“Oh, I forgot.”
“And your Aunt Mary will be here in the morning to stay with you during the day.”
She clicked her tongue and sighed. “I don’t really need a full-time staff of babysitters, do I?”
“You do not,” he replied, shaking her hand playfully. “Just for the first couple of days while you get your land legs again.”
“Land legs,” she repeated. “For someone who nearly drowned. If that’s a joke, it’s not a very good one.”
“It wasn’t. What do you need before I go? Shall I put on a movie? Get you something to drink?”
Shannon’s heart thumped a couple of times before she swallowed around the lump in her throat and asked him, “Do you have to go? Can you stay just a little while longer?”
“Sure. I’ll stay with you.”
“That’s chai with a triple letter score on the C, and a triple word score besides,” Shannon announced. “That makes it fifty-one points!”
“I thought your brain was compromised,” Izzy grumbled. “Start acting like it.”
Shannon fell backward into the sofa cushions with a soft groan. “No, thank you.”
“Well, of course, I’m kidding you. But you’re wiping the floor with me. I’d completely forgotten my vow to never play Scrabble with you again.”
“You have to,” Shannon told her with her best sad-eyed impression. “I’ve been in a coma for ten years. My poor little brain needs this. Would you really deny me?”
When she forced her lower lip to quiver, Izzy burst out laughing and picked up a pillow, tossing it at Shannon. “Pathetic!”
“I know. But it’s all I’ve got.”
Shaking her head, Izzy leaned on the coffee table between them and pushed up from the floor. “I’m getting more tea. Do you want some?”
“Nah,” she said, her focus trained on The Dick Van Dyke Show episode that was playing quietly on the enormous flat television screen over the whitewashed brick fireplace.
Rolling her eyes, Izzy picked up their glasses. “Don’t you ever get tired of historical white noise?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve always been like this. You’d so much rather live in that world than this one. But Shannon, there is actual current television to watch that is fun and entertaining instead of playing the same old thing over and over in your head until you can recite it. It’s not a good thing that you can wake up ten years later and still be up to date with your favorite shows!”
“Yeah,” she replied, her eyes back on Rob and Laura Petrie’s living room. “But I’ll bet there’s no one as good as them on today, Izzy.”
Shaking her head, Izzy padded off toward the kitchen. “I give up,” she called over her shoulder.
“Promise?” Shannon returned.
Oddly familiar music yanked her attention back to the television, and she drew a sharp intake of breath as Mary Tyler Moore danced to a Calypso-type beat …
She fought a surge of dizziness that set her head to spinning to the rhythm of a song she somehow knew very well. Dark leggings, a light mock-turtleneck sweater, little ballet flats, the offending ottoman moved out-of-frame.
Shannon raked both hands into her hair and tugged on it. Had she really turned a scene from The Dick Van Dyke Show into her own frazzled memory? Somewhere inside the unconsciousness she’d known for the last ten years, she’d crawled deeper into the murkiness and into a pair of 1960s leggings. She’d put on her dancing shoes and felt the thump of the bongos and she’d become Laura Petrie for a moment. And then she’d become the owner of Freeway, the dog belonging to Jennifer Hart.
As much as she loved it, she suddenly knew that going back to that world wasn’t helpful right now. She needed to find her own true self, as she was now. Shannon Ridgeway, coma survivor, widow … and what else? There was much more. She just had to find it.
“You’re sure I can’t get you anything?” Izzy asked as she returned with a fresh glass of iced tea.
She aimed the remote at the television and turned off the DVD player. “I think you might be right. Maybe I’m watching and listening to these old shows too much.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Tell me, what wonderful programming do they have on a Thursday night in today’s world?”
“Well, for one thing, it’s Monday. Not Thursday.”
“Oh. Is it?”
“And if you’re serious,” Izzy exclaimed, snatching the remote out of Shannon’s hand with a huge grin, “I’d like to introduce you to Richard Castle and friends. Girl, this is going to rock your little TV-lovin’ world.”