Free In My Dreams (First Tracks Book 2) by Kristen James Page A

guy on the street (but still like me) and she met me, we
probably wouldn’t have made eye contact. I would have checked her out, and she
would have looked down and hurried away.
    And yet we were thrown together so we couldn’t even hide our
thoughts from each other. Maybe that was for a reason. Maybe the universe
wanted me to help Avery come out of her shell. I know she believes it happened
so she could save my life, but maybe I’ve helped her too. And I have to make
sure I keep doing that. I can’t let her leave her life in ruins. It’s my fault,
but I’m going to make sure it gets fixed.
    I stretched my body in the bed, feeling weak and sore, but I
wouldn’t trade any of this if that meant I didn’t know her. That clarity
surprised me. Maybe I was finally getting my head on straight.
    I was alone for a change. It was too early for my family,
and the staff was letting me rest. Anytime now, though, the nurses and
therapist would intrude again and want me to go through all the monkey tricks.
    Man, I’m starting to sound bitter. I’m alive. I’m in one
piece. I’m going to recover. After all I’ve been through to get to here, this
should be nothing. I’ve trained long and hard, and chased my dream all across
the world. I’ve gone farther than I ever thought possible…even though I
believed in it too.
    Now I would chase my health and Avery. Just her name made me
close my eyes, my body perking up and wanting her.
    “Marc?” Jen’s soft voice startled me.
    “Oh, hey, sis. You’re here early.” I fumbled around until I
found the button to raise the bed. She reached for it too. “I got it. I can do
some things for myself.”
    “Like fall in love while you’re in a coma?”
    “Huh, guess I can’t slip too much past you.”  I tried for a
laugh and she did too. “Does it make any sense to you?”
    “Nope.”
    She turned away from me and attached something to the wall,
a big poster board. When she stepped back, I could see it was filled with
photos of me in snow gear, others with me grinning with my boys, and our boards
in the picture half of the time. A few photos showed me airborne in the middle
of a flip on the slopes. My life stared back at me in photos. That’s who I
am, not this weak person lying here.
    “I thought some good memories might encourage you.” She
folded her arms and stared at it for a minute before sitting by the bed.
    “ Noice! Thanks, sis.”  I held up my fist and she gave
me some love. We both looked at the photos for a minute and then I realized
what was missing. “Where are you?”
    “What?”
    “You should have put some with you, sis.”
    She laughed and dropped her head. Jen’s more of a
behind-the-scenes person, but she’s always been there for me. I wished I had
pictures of Avery and me too. Wait…
    “Hey, will you check over there and see if she left my
drawings?” I pointed, my heart jumping when I saw a stack of papers. Jen
flipped through them, a smile forming on her face, and then she laughed.
    “This is me.”
    “Yup. Avery got so jealous when I drew that! I didn’t know who
it was.”
    “Really?” She glanced at me several times while she tacked
my drawings to the wall. “How did that work? You could draw while you were in
her head, but you didn’t even know who you were drawing?”
    “Yeah, I drew some of those in the middle of the night. She was
sleeping and I somehow made us get up, and I used her hand to draw. I had this
vague memory of you. Then Avery found them in the morning.”
    Thankfully Jen turned away then and didn’t see my evil grin.
That night I also sneaked a peek at a few of Avery’s things…like her panty
drawer. I wonder if Avery knew about that? I guess there’s a few surprises we
can still share.
    Now I did have a more complete mosaic of my life with Jen
and Avery. We’d have to put some up of mom and dad too, if I was here much
longer. I ignored that thought and focused on the moment.
    A minute later, I asked, “You think