Under the Boardwalk Read Online Free Page B

buy the doctor's explanation. "I still think there's something I'm missing, Dr. Lil. I think this is all wrong, somehow."
    The doctor nodded. "The confusion is normal after the concussion and loss of memory."
    Hallie gripped the chair arms and leaned back. "But I do remember. I know my name. I know what day this is. I know everything but how I ended up driving the Little Guy into a ditch."
    Dr. Lil put a hand on one of Hallie's scarred wrists, and Hallie jerked away, folding her hands in her lap again.
    "Let me explain it this way, Hallie. When something traumatic happens—a hit in the head, a car accident, even a serious illness—your brain tries to protect itself. Think of it like a computer that restarts after a crash. You might lose the files you were working on at the time, but everything that was previously saved is okay."
    "I thought you didn't touch computers, Dr. Lil."
    "I don't. The explanation comes care of my former apprentice." Dr. Lil looked over at Kyle with a fond smile.
    Hallie remembered something Kyle had said about being pre-med before his parents died, and wondered if that was what he'd meant when he'd talked all that garbage about having a mission in life. But she returned her focus to the current conversation.
    "So I might never remember what happened today?"
    "Uh huh. Or it might come back. Or part of it might come back and part of it might be lost." She looked down at Hallie's hands. "The mind is a mysterious and powerful thing, Hallie. We can't always predict how we react to injury." Her expression grew serious. "Now, about your hands—"
    "—It's nothing." Hallie cut her off and turned her head away.
    "None of that nonsense, young lady."
    "I got hurt. It's been...," she thought back. "15 months now since it happened."
    "Since what happened?"
    "The details don't matter."
    "They do if you're not using your hands."
    "I'm using them. They just don't work well."
    "Did your doctor give you exercises to do?"
    She watched Kyle, talking easily with the two cops. He seemed to know them well. He probably knew everybody in town well. That's what happened when your family lived in one place for generations.
    "Hallie?"
    She looked back at Dr. Lil, whose kind expression just annoyed her, for some reason. "Exercises. Right. I did 'em."
    "No." The doctor stated it as a fact, not questioning or accusing, but just denying that she could have done all those stupid exercises that hurt and accomplished nothing.
    "It's not your job to tell me—"
    Dr. Lil held up one hand. "Yes, it is my job." She spoke softly, and her compassion just made Hallie more angry.
    "It's none of your business."
    The doctor continued as if Hallie hadn't spoken. "The exercises will ease the tightness of the skin over the scars. And your muscles will get stronger and your flexibility will improve, expanding the range of motion. You can have much more use of your hands than you currently enjoy."
    "Enjoy?" Hallie shook her head. "It doesn't matter. They're as good as they're going to get. The doctors told me I'd never get back to a hundred percent."
    "So you've decided to settle for fifty? When I was a kid, we used to call that cutting off your nose to spite your face."
    Despite herself, Hallie laughed. "That's stupid."
    "You can't have a hundred percent so you refuse to try for ninety. What do you call that?"
    "Facing reality. If I can't have a hundred it doesn't matter...," she whispered and turned her head.
    Kyle cleared his throat, and they both looked up at him. One of the cops was with him. Kyle introduced him as Deputy Serrano.
    "We've found some gray primer paint on the car's rear bumper, and on one of the front fenders," the deputy said. "Higher up. Probably an SUV or pickup, something like that."
    Everyone looked at her like this should make her remember something, but it didn't.
    So the deputy continued: "Definitely looks like you were rear-ended or sideswiped by another car. But it's not much to go on."
    "Gray primer?" she said.
    "Does