Two days of Bowie hovering over her were enough. Ben watched the bakery while Cannon stepped up to watch the bait and tackle store. Sage wandered over and mothered Katie while Bowie went home for a change of clothes.

“I promised Bowie I wouldn’t leave you.” Sage stood in front of her with her hands on her hips.

“You’ll be across the street getting me a grilled cheese and fruit salad. I’ll be fine for the time it’ll take you to pick it up.” Katie fluffed the pillow leaning on the blue sofa arm. Bowie insisted she lay down. She fought him on his overprotectiveness at each turn, but she always lost. “I’m more likely to die from starvation than a head injury.” Katie looked around Sage and flipped through the channels. Daytime television sucked, and since she’d been on a budget, expensive cable wasn’t an option, but each time her limited selection came up, she met it with a sense of pride. She’d paid for those stations with her money. Not once had she dipped into her trust fund to pay for anything, including her pricey insurance.

Sage gave her a “You win” look. “Okay, but don’t move.”

Katie pulled the plush blanket up to her chin. “Not going anywhere.”

She glanced at her phone on the table. She’d been waiting for a private minute to call her mom. Although she craved independence, she needed her mom for the tough moments.

“You better not move. I don’t want Bowie mad at me.” Sage picked up her bag and walked to the door.

When Katie heard her footsteps disappear down the stairs, she called her mom.

“Mama?” She tried to keep her voice calm and swiped the tears running down her cheeks.

“Katie girl, what’s wrong?” Panic rose to a high pitch. Mothers had that sixth sense about their children and never failed to pick up the small hints of something wrong.

Even after heroic attempts to temper her emotions, Katie couldn’t stop the sobs from breaking free. “I don’t know what to do.”

“About what, honey?”

“I’m in love with Bowie.”

Silence stretched between them.

“His name is Bowie?” Leave it to her mom to focus on the name, and not the emotion.

“Focus. I said I was in love.” Katie sat up and leaned her side into the armrest. “He’s so amazing.”

“The bait-and-tackle man?” In the background, the sound of a chair scraping against tile echoed through the line. “Let me get coffee.”

Katie heard her mother walk around the kitchen of her Highland Park house.

“He’s more than a bait-and-tackle man.” Katie knew there was a large dose of sarcasm tingeing her voice, but she needed her mother to pay attention.

“Honey, that’s wonderful. All Daddy and I ever wanted for you was to be happy and healthy. So why the tears?”

Katie started from the beginning, where a pink envelope changed her life. When she got to the part about having Brandy’s fiancé and her heart, her mother cried with her.

“I want to kill that woman and hug her at the same time.” She pulled in a shaky breath. “She gave you life and stress in the same gift.”

Katie could picture her mother dabbing at her eyes with a Kleenex so she didn’t mar the makeup that took an hour to put on.

“Mama, she gave me everything. A second chance at life. A way to live independently so I wouldn’t have to remain childlike in your eyes. She gave me purpose and friends and the greatest man on Earth, but what happens when I tell him? What if he can’t stand to look at me because it’s just too weird?”

“He told you nothing could change his feelings for you. Give him a chance to prove it.”

“I’m so scared.”

Her mother let out a long sigh. “You’ve been scared before and survived. You’ve faced more in life than anyone I know. This is small stuff compared to dying.”

That was the magic of mothers. They put things into perspective. Sophia Middleton taught Katie to look at life from a glass-half-full attitude. Unless that glass had fine champagne in it, then Sophia said it was better to look at it half empty and get in line to have it filled back up.

“What if he leaves me?”

“Then he never truly loved you.”

“What if he only loves me because her heart is in me?”

Her mother rarely made unladylike noises. They weren’t flattering, but she let out a growl that could scare a badger. “Honey, he said he loved you. He doesn’t know that heart, only what’s in it. It’s your lifeblood that keeps it pumping. The minute that heart took residence in your chest, there was an agreement made. It would provide you with life, but not without your life-giving blood. Her part in your existence is no stronger than yours. You and she are partners for life.”

Mom was right. Brandy’s heart wouldn’t beat without Katie’s blood, and Katie’s blood could not circulate without her heart. “I love you, Mama.”

“You want me to come out there? I’m happy to hop on the plane today.” Her voice was hopeful.

Katie teetered on the edge of saying yes, but she said, “No. I have to do this myself. I’ll tell him the truth. You’re right. If he’s as good a man as I think he is, he’ll understand. If not, he wasn’t meant for me.”

“That’s my girl. If things don’t go the way you expect, I’m here, Princess. I can have Daddy’s plane there in a few hours to pick you up.”

Katie told her mom she loved her and hung up. She reflected on their talk. Throughout that conversation, her mother never once commented that Katie had a head injury. She smiled to herself because that meant her mother was learning to trust her to take care of her own health.

The tap of Sage’s shoes coming up the stairs meant food was here. She’d need to be fortified to face Bowie.

“I’m back.” She rushed in the door with her red curls shooting out like flames around her head. “Dalton said to eat it all, he thinks you’re too skinny. He added extras.”

Katie swung her legs from the couch to the floor. “Dalton is a cook. He thinks everyone is too skinny. Skinny people don’t pay his bills.”

Sage plopped onto the center cushion of the couch. She spread out a feast on the coffee table in front of them. “Don’t get mad at me. Dalton said the grilled cheese went great with tomato soup. That the fruit was better with real whipped cream and the whipped cream was lonely without his mother’s famous cherry pie.”

Katie looked at the buffet set before her and knew she’d eat every bite.

“Ran into Bowie and told him I was feeding you. He said he’d be up after he made his supply order.” Sage opened her to-go box, which held a burger and fries. “He’s worried about you. Said he thinks the hit on the head is more serious because you don’t laugh or smile as much.” Sage opened her container of ketchup and drowned an unsuspecting French fry in the cup. “I’ve seen it, too. Do you think we should take you to Copper Creek to get an MRI? Maybe you have a TBI.”

Katie laughed at her use of acronyms. Sage used them all the time, and if Katie hadn’t spent a lifetime in the hospital, she’d never know what her friend was talking about. “I don’t have a traumatic brain injury. I’ve got a lot on my mind.” Katie wondered if she should tell Sage first. It might be a good idea to practice her speech on her best friend.

“You want to talk about it? Is there something wrong between you and Bowie?” Her vivid green eyes showed concern.

“Yes … I mean, no.” Katie dropped her head. “What I mean is, I need to talk, but what I have to say should be said to Bowie first, except I fear that once I say it, he’ll take off and never return.”

Sage pulled her food box into her lap and turned to face Katie. “That boy loves you. You’re the reason he’s still here.”

Katie slowly lifted her chin. “I may be the reason he leaves. I want to tell you because I need your ‘Sage’ advice, but you have to promise not to say a word until I talk to Bowie.”

Sage chewed on a fry. “When are you going to tell him whatever this is?”

“Soon.”

Sage set her food on the table and reached for Katie’s hands. “I don’t like to keep secrets, but I want to be here for you.”

Katie took in three cleansing breaths. She stood up and pulled her sweatshirt to her neck. “I have this scar.” Katie had hoped that with Sage’s nursing background, she wouldn’t have to say any more, that Sage would put the pieces together, but she sat in silence while Katie dropped her shirt into place and took her seat.

“Wow, that’s a doozy. Heart? Lungs? Car accident?”

“Heart. A childhood illness that weakened my heart.”

Sage smiled. “And look at you now.”

“Remember how we sat in the bakery and tried to figure out Bea’s connection to me? How she said I had a good heart?”

Katie knew the second Sage figured it out.

“Oh, shit.” Her hand came to her mouth. “You couldn’t figure it out then?”

Her mouth went Sahara desert dry. “No. I thought it was because I volunteered at the children's hospital. I knew I didn’t have Bea’s heart. I had no idea Bea had a daughter. Then when I found out about Brandy, everyone kept using a decade as the timeline for her death.” She pounded against her chest. “I got this heart eight years ago.” Katie pulled her hands to her face. “Eight years isn’t a decade. It’s eight damn years.”

“Oh, shit,” Sage repeated. “When did you find out?”

“When you gave me the flowers and told me to go get my man from the cemetery.”

“Oh, shit. This is my fault.”

Katie shook her head. “No. No, it’s not. Whether or not I took the flowers doesn’t change the fact that I have Brandy’s heart in my chest. I found Bowie at the gravesite that day. I walked up to him. He had changed. He’d let her go so he could be with me. I was so happy.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Stop ‘oh, shitting’ me. I had the flowers, and he walked me to the grave so I could pay tribute to Bea. I saw the date. Brandy died three days after Cannon and Bowie’s mother because Bea kept her on life support until they found matches for her donated organs. She told no one she’d donated them. When I saw the date was the same day I got my heart, I fainted.”

“Oh … honey.” Sage leaned in and pulled Katie in for a hug. When she leaned back, she smiled. “It’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“Or the creepiest.” Katie pulled free. “What the heck will he do when he finds out he’s dating the girl who has his first love’s heart? I even had a silly string of thoughts wondering if her heart recognized him, and that’s why I fell in love with him.”

“You love him on your own. Brandy’s heart has nothing to do with it.” She said the words, but there was a moment when Sage looked unsure. “I don’t know what he’ll do. I don’t know what I’d do.”

“You’re no help. Right now I need your ‘Sage’ advice.” She sat there and looked at her friend, hoping she’d be able to offer wise counsel in a difficult situation.

“You have to tell him. Bowie has a right to know.”

The already open door swung wider to accommodate his body. “Tell me what?” Bowie stood in front of Katie, looking for answers.