18 Thoughts (My So-Called Afterlife Book 3) by Jamie Ayres

the top and squeezed ourselves into a spot meant for one to get maximum viewing for the sunset behind the dunes, then the musical fountain show.
    Nate sat back, slinking an arm around my shoulder and shaking his head. “So is this show as hokey as it sounds?”
    I took a bite of my cone. “Pretty much. I mean, they’ve done a lot of cool updates over the course of the last few years, so it’s more modernized and stuff, but it’s no Las Vegas.”
    He looked up at me with a sly smile. “No dancing girls in bikinis coming by on water skis then?”
    Taking another bite, I said, “Only the drunken tourists.”
    “I’d rather see you in a bikini. What do you say to a beach date on Friday, and then we can go to that sand castle contest? We can enter if you want.”
    “Mmm.” Another bite. “I suppose I could go after work at three. I can’t stay out too late, though, because I have to visit Conner.”
    “You know.” He paused, giving me a sidelong glance. From the softness of his voice, I could tell I wasn’t going to like the next thing that came out of his mouth. “I understand why you feel the need to visit Conner every day, but how can you blame yourself for his accident? You can’t fight nature. It was a random lightning strike.”
    It was the decisive way he said the words that shook me to my core, like I’d been beating a dead horse and now I needed to put the stick down. And then Nate was there, wrapping his arms around me, knowing I needed to cry even before I did. These weren’t sad or happy tears, just ones that needed to be shed. I’d never been more scared these past two months, every day getting out of bed not knowing if Conner would still be alive. I didn’t know why, but Nate’s arms around me told me everything would turn out okay. The Grand River slapped against the harbor, making watery noises and drowning out the sound of my sobs. It felt so good to cry, so good to be held.
    I glanced at my watch and noted the time was ten o’clock on the dot. Just like magic, the musical fountain show started, the lights and Beatles music a welcome distraction.
    Nate leaned against the side of the railing and kept his arm around me. His embrace wasn’t too little or too much; it was just what I needed.
    After the twenty-minute show, he shuffled down the bleachers with the rest of the crowd before turning toward me and helping me off the last step.
    I smiled. “Thanks. And hey, maybe I can visit Conner Friday morning so we can stay out later.”
    Nate blinked rapidly, like a Morse code for
really?
    “Olga!”
    I turned, and there were Kyle and Sean with Nic.
Nosy
, I thought toward my best friend, throwing her a look she didn’t return. She looked like she desperately needed to tell me something. When Sean was about an arm’s length away, he launched himself at me, throwing his arms around my waist and swinging me around.
    I ruffled his afro, because that’s what the Jedi Order always did when we saw him.
    “I’ve been trying to call you. Don’t you check your phone, girl?”
    I pulled my cell out of my purse and cursed mentally. I’d forgotten to turn off the silent mode after my work shift ended. Five missed calls. How could I have been so careless? No doubt, all of these calls could only mean one thing.
    “Conner?”
    I met Kyle’s eyes and he nodded, hugging me tight.
    “He’s awake,” he whispered in my ear as a wave of applause and cheers came from the crowd when the band starting to play again.
    I glanced at Nate. He’d been so nice to me all night long, and I felt bad leaving him, but after eighty days, Conner was finally awake. Words escaped me, but of course Nate knew.
    He nodded toward the street and gave a slight smile. “Go.”

    Taking long, measured breaths, I wiped the tears from my eyes as I rushed down the hospital corridor. I couldn’t believe he was awake and apparently talking. He remembered everything and didn’t seem to have many side effects. Doctors were running