“It’s okay, Mom. I’m capable of making a bed.”
“Then why don’t you ever do it at home?” She laughed.
It was a nervous laugh.
She considered me fragile, and she worried, but she was trying to give me something normal. After high school, you went to college. That was normal.
But I wasn’t fragile. Not anymore. I kept up with my high school classes despite my hospitalizations. I’d always learned quickly and easily, and that was a godsend when I ended up missing most of my junior year. I worked hard and was able to graduate on time.
I returned for senior year. Everyone at school believed I’d spent junior year abroad in London. Everyone at home walked on eggshells, wondering if I’d break again.
But I hadn’t.
I hadn’t broken.
I was okay. Okay enough to leave home and begin college.
I remembered everything now. Never lost time, and never escaped to an imaginary world in a cloudy haze of medication. I knew what was real and what wasn’t. I’d worked hard with my therapist to put the pieces of junior year back in place, but in the end, the puzzle remained unfinished. I just didn’t remember most of the year.
Everything else was good, so it was time to accept that my amnesia wouldn’t be cured.
The dream I’d had last night popped into my head.
The images always began to form but never completed. Maybe this time—
The door to the room swung open. “Hi there! I’m Patty. You must be Daphne Wade.” The bubbly redhead stuck out her hand to me.
“Oh, yeah. Hi. These are my parents.” I took her hand and gave her a firm handshake, like my father always taught me.
“Mr. and Mrs. Wade, great to meet you. This is my mom, Lila Watson.”
Lila was an older and slightly overweight version of Patty. The same red hair, bubbly personality, and everything.
“Are you ready to go?” Patty asked me.
“Go where?”
“To the mixer, silly. It’s a welcome-back thing, and upperclassmen guys always go to check out the freshman girls.”
My father wrinkled his brow. “Upperclassmen are here already?”
“Yeah. Well, a lot of them anyway,” Patty said. “My older brother graduated last year. He told me most upperclassmen come back early to party for a few days before classes start.”
My father’s brow stayed wrinkled.
“You should go, honey,” my mother said. “Get into the spirit. Orientation starts tomorrow.”
I looked in the mirror. My long dark hair was pulled back into a braid hanging down my back. I didn’t wear a lot of makeup. I’d gotten out of the habit of painting my face after another hospital patient painted a canvas of me. I’d had no makeup on, and he made me look so beautiful that I began seeing myself as beautiful without it. I was lucky that I had dark brows and long black lashes. I liked a little lip gloss, though. My lips were a nice pink, but I liked the shine.
I looked down at my jeans and sandals. “I guess I should change.”
“It’s casual,” Patty said. “You look great. You’re a natural beauty.”
My cheeks warmed a little. “So are you.”
“I do okay. Too many freckles. Not you, though. That’s a peaches-and-cream complexion if I ever saw one.”
I looked a lot like my mother, and I was lucky I never had an acne problem. My brother, Larry, had terrible zits, or at least that was what my father said. I’d only seen him a few times over the years. I used to wonder why…until junior year. After that, I had enough of my own stuff to deal with, and I rarely gave my seemingly invisible half brother a thought.
My father cleared his throat. “We should be going, Lucy.”
My mother nodded, her eyes a little sad. “You okay, Daphne?”
“Yeah.” I went in for a hug.
My mom was always available for a hug. I’d put her through so much, I was surprised I hadn’t hugged her out.
Dad kissed me on the cheek. “Give ’em hell, little girl. Be strong.”
Be strong.
The same words he’d used every time he came to visit me at the hospital. At least the times I could remember.
I’d heed them.
I’d be strong for my parents. I’d put them through more than enough.
The mixer was held in the huge courtyard in the middle of campus. A keg of beer was set up. I was only eighteen and had virtually no experience with drinking. Patty pushed through the crowd and came back with two red plastic cups filled with beer.
I wasn’t a huge fan of beer, but I wanted to fit in, so I took it. I’d been cleared for alcohol consumption once I went off all my meds, but still, I planned to be smart about it. I wouldn’t have more than this one cup.
I was shy by nature, but Patty was the opposite. She dragged me all around, introducing the two of us to pretty much everyone who crossed our paths. We met some girls from our dorm and quite a few others as well.
I finished my beer and felt a little more at ease.
“You want another?” Patty asked.
“I shouldn’t.”
“Sure you should. Let’s go.”
We made our way to the keg and held up our red cups.
The auburn-haired guy manning the keg filled Patty’s and turned to me. “Empty, sweetheart, but a new one’s coming. Hold on a minute. Here he comes.”
A muscular man hauled another keg toward us.
He turned and met my gaze.
And I nearly melted into the darkest brown eyes I’d ever seen.
Chapter Two
Brad
“Thanks, Steel,” Murphy said.
But I barely heard him.
Next to him stood the most beautiful girl I’d ever laid eyes on. She was perfect. Fucking perfect. Dark hair pulled back and accenting her perfect oval face. Pink cheeks and lips. Gorgeous big brown eyes with the longest black lashes. Like a curtain of ebony.
Since when did I think in such stupid poetic words?
I hadn’t seen her before, so she was probably part of the new crop of freshmen.
Also, I had a girlfriend. Sort of.
Wendy and I had been together since high school. She was a junior at a different college, and I was a senior here. We were on-again, off-again, and right now we were in an off-again phase.
Which was fine with me, especially now that I’d laid eyes on this beauty.
Murphy got the keg tapped and filled the girl’s cup. “There you go…”
“Thanks,” she said.
“You didn’t catch that, did you?” Murphy said.
Her red-haired companion laughed. “He paused at the end. That means he wants to know your name.”
“Oh, sorry.” She blushed adorably. “Daphne. Daphne Wade.”
“Nice to meet you, Daphne.” Murphy held out his hand. “Sean Murphy.”
She took his hand, and a strange pang hit my gut. Probably ate some bad shit last night.
“I’m Patty Watson,” the redhead said, “Daphne’s roommate.” Then she turned to me. “And you are…?”
“Brad Steel.”
Patty held out her hand, and I took it, but my eyes never left Daphne.
Was this Larry’s half sister? Larry Wade and I had gone to Tejon Prep in Grand Junction together. I knew him well. Better than I wanted to, honestly. He’d told me about his sister, said her name was Daphne and that she’d be starting college here this fall. She didn’t look anything like Larry, who was blond and blue-eyed. Of course, they had different mothers.