didn’t think you were listening because you didn’t even comment on it.”
“That wasn’t you. I found out from my mom.”
I stared at him. He truly believed that he’d found out from his mother. “Seriously? You don’t remember when I told you this? It was last week. You were playing video games.”
Another thing he never used to do. Now he played those stupid video games all the time.
He looked up at the sky then back at me and I saw it on his face that he knew I was right. “Shit. I... fuck.” He bit the corner of his bottom lip and I tried not to notice how sexy that little move was. In the past, I could forgive him anything when he did that. He held his hand over his forehead like a visor and massaged his temples. I wanted to ask him if his head hurt but I felt like I was always pestering him about it so I kept my mouth shut. “Sorry about that. Now that you mention it, I do remember.”
A jolt of panic shot through me. What did that mean? He didn’t remember but now he did? Jude had the memory of an elephant. He remembered things from years ago and could recount the memory in vivid detail but now he couldn’t even remember something I’d told him a week ago?
“Jude...” I started, not sure what to say. It was pointless to keep asking if he was okay because clearly, he wasn’t. “What did the doctors say when they checked your head? Did they do an MRI? Did they—”
“Lila. Stop making it sound like such a big fucking deal,” he snapped. “I had a concussion. Nothing worse than the one I had when I was playing football.”
I didn’t believe him. He was lying. “Did you black out? Were you unconscious?”
“I’m fine. It’s nothing to worry about, okay?” he said, his voice softer now like he was trying to reassure me. He wrapped his hand around the back of my head and pulled me against him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and tipped my face up to his.
When he smiled, he looked like the Jude I used to know. “Stop being such a worrywart.”
“I need to look after you. You’re my man.”
“And don’t you forget it, baby.” His hands framed my face and he kissed me. “It’s all good.”
I had no choice but to believe him.
“Do you want to keep running?” He looked around as if he was just now noticing where we were. “I didn’t realize we’d come this far. We should head back. Are you okay to run?”
I nodded but the worry was still gnawing at me. “Yeah, I’m fine. I can run distances, no problem.”
“I’ll slow the pace. That way we can talk if you want to.”
I smiled, acknowledging that he was trying. “Okay. Sounds good.”
We set out at a decent pace, more of a jog than a run and I wasn’t so out of breath that it prevented me from talking. “So, tell me more about the business.”
Encouraged by his interest, I told him how Christy and I wanted to open a floral design studio. All through college, I’d worked part time for a florist and for the past year I’d been working as an event planner at Sadler’s Creek Vineyard. Hill Country was the wedding capital of Texas, and the floral design studio would cater to weddings and events.
“We’ll have to take out some loans but I really think we can make it work. Gideon said he could put together a business plan for us.”
“My brother Gideon?” Jude asked, sounding surprised, as if there was another Gideon.
I laughed. “Um, yeah, your brother Gideon. He’s wicked smart and he’s studying business.” Gideon was going into this third year at Columbia University and was spending the summer in New York City, doing an internship at a venture capital company. But he’d flown in last night so he could be at Jude’s Welcome Home party.
“Sounds like a cool idea,” Jude said. “I know you’ll make it a success. And I’ve got money in savings so you won’t need to take out loans.”
“Thanks, but that money is for something else, right? I mean, if you still want to do what we talked about...”
“Nothing has changed. I put a ring on it, didn’t I?”
I laughed a little, rubbing my left thumb over the diamond on my ring finger. “Yeah, you did.”
“There you go. I’m still going to marry you. We’re still going to buy