Free Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) by Jools Sinclair Page A

was painful realizing what I had been doing, I felt thrilled. Thrilled to have those memories back.
    “Excellent,” he said as he wrote in his notepad. “This is a tremendous breakthrough. And it’s just the beginning. You’ve taken the hardest step here today, Abby. This has been a very good session.”
    I stood up. It was the fastest hour since I had started seeing Dr. Krowe.
    “See you next week,” I said.
    “You have my number. Call if any other things come up. I’m always available.”
    I smiled.
    My life was coming back to me.

 
    CHAPTER 19
     
    I decided not to mention the specifics of my memories to Jesse, especially about Amanda, until I was ready. It felt great to understand things, why Amanda had turned on me. But there were still mysteries, things I didn’t know. Like why weren’t they still hanging out? I hadn’t seen them together since I had come back to school. I felt stupid suddenly about how I had told him I loved him. No wonder it was too late. Of course it was. He was with Amanda.
    When I picked him up, I told Jesse about the great session with Dr. Krowe and that some memories came back. I was still flying high. I was so excited.
    “That’s awesomo , Craigers!” he said as we drove. “See, Doc Mortimer was right. It just takes time. You’ll have it all back soon.”
    “Yeah,” I said. “For the first time in a while, I believe that.”
    “You should go ahead and apply to a few colleges. Write an essay about your death experience. They’ll love that. You might be ready by September.”
    I smiled. College. That still seemed a ways off, being that I hadn’t even passed my last algebra test.
    “Well, one step at a time,” I said.
    “Right,” he said. “Seriously, that’s great.”
    “Let’s do something this weekend,” I said.
    Even with the new knowledge about Amanda, it was an old habit, hanging out with Jesse, and one I didn’t want to give up. I bit my bottom lip. Damn.
    “Name it, I’m there,” he said.
    “Well, only if you have time. I mean, if you have plans with other people, that’s okay. I’m totally cool with that.”
    I said it even though I really didn’t feel it inside. It was good to have the memory back about Amanda and Jesse, but I couldn’t stop these feelings I had for him. They were swelling up in me like a river after a storm.
    “Gotta be at night because I’ve got some serious burger serving to do up at the mountain all day Saturday and Sunday, plus I’ll need time for my free runs. Hey, you should come up. The mountain misses you.”
    “It’s doing fine without me,” I said.
    “I’m off by three. I could sneak you on the lift. Why don’t you meet me?”
    “Not yet,” I said.
    I wasn’t ready to go up to the mountain. I missed snowboarding, but I didn’t have my balance back yet. And the last thing I wanted to do was just watch other people doing something I loved so much.
    “How about a movie or something? When you get back.”
    “Sure,” he said. “Or even bowling and the arcade if nothing good is playing. Just let me know.”
    We pulled up to his house. It was nice to think about fun things for a change and not about lakes and visions and fires and killers.
    “So you actually like serving up burgers to a bunch of snow monkeys?”
    “It’s not so bad. They’re mostly friendly. Hey, good work today on your memory recovery,” Jesse said, giving me a high five. “And thanks for the ride. See you at school tomorrow.”
    “Glad to hear you say that,” I said. “You know, the part about you being at school and all.”
    “Yes, Mom,” he said opening the car door.
    But then he stopped.
    Jesse’s dad stood in the doorway, watching us. It was strange that he was home. He was usually working at his garage from morning until night. He just stood there, staring, until I waved and then he headed over to the car.
    “Ah, jeez, now you’ve done it. He’ll talk your ear off and you’ll never get home,” he said.
    “I haven’t