Summary up to this point
Max and Linda were neighbors growing up. Linda convinced Max to have casual sex with her, but once they started developing feelings, she broke his heart by leaving him for another guy at their college. That guy, Jake, treated Linda like dirt so they eventually broke up.
When Linda asked Max if he would ever take her back, her former fuck buddy rejected her. After dropping out of school, Linda felt she had disappointed everyone and went into a deep depression. Her best friend, Jesse, who found her with a bottle in her hand one night, convinced her to start going to therapy. Linda has been going to therapy for over a year and feels much better but is still nervous of how she will feel if things go bad for her again.
With all the issues Linda was suffering from, they decided to stop talking to each other. However, Max, who is now a real estate agent, suffered a severe concussion after getting into a major car accident. With his parents out of town, Linda became his emergency contact after the police found her number in his phone.
Now, Linda has picked him up from the hospital and has taken him home after a year of not speaking to each other. Max is dealing with some short-term memory loss, a broken arm, and a fractured hip. Feeling frustrated by his lack of awareness about what happened, Max asked Linda to stay the night with him. Linda also agreed to find his car the next day so she could salvage his belongings.
And this is where the story picks up...
***
Chapter 21
*Knock knock... Knock knock knock...*
After quite a few knocks, Max answered the door that cold morning and found Linda on the other side. "Oh, hey..."
"Hey, Max," the young woman greeted, wearing the same peacoat with his work bag around her shoulder. "I don't know if you heard me this morning, but I left really early to find your car. I grabbed your work bag and some of your other belongings while I was there."
The injured man raised his eyebrows at his former neighbor, still a little groggy and confused. "Oh, thanks for getting my stuff... How's my car?"
Linda went completely frozen as the images of the destroyed car flashed through her mind. She could still see the blood on the window as she stared at Max's bandaged head.
"Linda... are you okay?"
The young woman shook her head quickly, trying to snap herself out of the daze. Gently, she placed her hand on Max's cheek for a brief moment and said, "I'm just glad you're okay."
Max could see her eyes soften as she stared so deeply into his own. He nodded his head as she took her hand away. "Well... thanks for grabbing my things."
"No problem. How long have you been awake?"
"Not that long."
"Did you take your medicine?"
"Umm... no..."
Linda raised her eyebrows curiously and paused. "Do you even remember the instructions the nurse gave you?"
Max furrowed his eyebrows, frustrated that he was still having difficulty with his short term memory. "I'm not sure..."
"That's okay. Do you want me to come in and help you with your medication?"
Propping the door wide open, Max answered, "That would be nice."
Before stepping in, Linda turned around and stared at her van for a brief moment. "Do you mind if I bring my dog in?"
"Your dog...? You have a dog?"
"Yeah... It's kind of an emotional support thing... Jesse suggested it..."
A confused expression came over the groggy man's face. "Oh... Yeah, you can bring him inside."
Much to Max's surprise, as soon as Linda opened the van, a large dog jumped out and began running circles around him. "Uh... Linda..."
After rushing over to gather the excited dog, Linda looked up at her childhood friend. "Uhh... what's up?"
"This isn't an emotional support animal... This is a Rottweiler..."
"Yeah, he's not registered... or even trained... but he has helped me a lot. And he's not a Rottweiler; he's a Rottweiler mix..."
Max stared at the dog for a few more seconds, trying not to let his mouth drop from the size and strength. "What is he mixed with, another Rottweiler?"
Linda playfully slapped Max on the chest and smiled. "Oh, stop! He's a good boy... Just a little misunderstood."
"How did you end up with a Rottweiler, anyway?"
A soft smile came over the brunette's face as she stared down at Duke, remembering the day she first laid eyes on him. "After Jesse suggested I get a dog, I thought about visiting a shelter for a while. When I finally went, I fully expected to leave with a smaller dog, but when I got there, Duke ran right up to me and gave me a big hug."
Watching Linda tell the story brought a smile to Max's face. It was the happiest he had seen her in years. "That's really nice."
"I don't know if it makes me selfish or not, but after seeing the way he ran up to me, I just had to have him. Maybe I'm not the best person in the world to handle a dog like him, but I just felt like... we needed each other for some reason. The staff told me they were having trouble finding anyone who would want a dog like him."
Max let out a small chuckle as he smiled at his childhood friend. "Maybe you're not the most qualified... but he seems happy with you."
The young brunette smiled before refocusing on her injured friend. "I'm actually a little surprised that you're not scared of him. You didn't even flinch when he ran up to you. Do you like dogs?"
"Yeah..." Max answered, slowly nodding his head. "Do you remember my golden retriever, Tina?"
Linde paused for a second before a light bulb came on in her head. "Oh, that's right! Oh my God... That was so long ago..."
"Yeah... When we were kids, you would come over and we would run around in the backyard with her."
Another genuine smile came over Linda's face and her eyes softened as she reminisced about her early childhood. With a fragile voice, she admitted to her former neighbor, "I forgot how good of friends we were when we were little."
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Slowly and carefully, Linda finished re-wrapping Max's head with bandages. "The nurse said you need to clean your wound and replace the gauze every few days, or you might get an infection."
"Thanks for your help," Max responded, as he watched Linda throw away the packaging. "I guess I'm just having a hard time remembering."
"It's okay," the pretty brunette said as she handed him his pain medication. "Did you eat anything yet?"
"No."
Pulling out a plastic bag from her belongings, Linda held out two items wrapped in foil. "I stopped by the gas station and got breakfast burritos. Do you want chicken or pork?"
The young man looked up and shook his head, not wanting her to do him another favor. "I'm not really hungry."
"You should really eat something before taking your medication," Linda explained, with a soft voice. Nodding her head, she held out the two options in front of Max once again, and asked, "Chicken or pork?"
The exhausted young man smiled before grabbing one of the burritos. "I'll take chicken... Thanks."
