Read Online Indelible by Kristen Heitzmann - Free Book Online Page A

don’t see how you climb and do all you do if it’s that sensitive.”
    “It’s not.” He spread his arms across the back. “I jacked it chasing the cougar.”
    “Should you have it looked at?”
    “No, believe me, there’s nothing more they can do.”
    “But you might have reinjured it.”
    “I’d know.”
    Rescuing Cody had cost him more than she’d realized. His gaze landed on her, but she didn’t return it, not directly.
    “So what’s it like having perfect recall?”
    “I don’t, really. Not like eidetic savants.”
    “Savants like Kim Peek?”
    He’d researched thoroughly.
    “What did you learn?”
    “Peek was missing a part that connects the two sides of the brain. Each of his eyes relayed independent information, so he read the left and right pages of a book simultaneously—and recalled over ninety-eight percent of the twelve thousand books he read.” He extended his pointer. “And Dustin Hoffman played him in Rain Man. ”
    “He was profoundly developmentally challenged.”
    “Your brain is obviously connected.”
    “Hyperconnected.” She crossed her arms to hide a shiver. In that heat he’d need the cool air. “An MRI resonance showed extraneous activity when I was flashed face cards. That excluded the autism spectrum, since autistics don’t recognize or interpret expressions until they’re taught to. But they had no likely alternative.”
    “So what you have is a fluke?”
    She considered how to answer that. “Every brain is different. Most share functional characteristics, but there are more anomalies than people think. Some cause disorders, others are considered gifts. Some brains are prodigious. And then there are the savants and super savants.”
    “Where are you?”
    “If I believed in labels, it would be prodigy.”
    He sipped his wine. She watched the rim reach his lips, but looked no farther up his face.
    “Sounds pretty cool.”
    “You haven’t seen me self-destruct.” She frowned. “Last night, all those faces made me physically ill. I couldn’t get them out fast enough.”
    “How did you?”
    “I sculpted a face mountain. Everyone who made an appearance.”
    “Really?” His reflection formed on the stilled surface as the jets turned off. “Can I see it?”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    She pressed her hands to her eyes. He’d caught her off guard to even mention it.
    “You do that a lot.”
    “What?”
    “Put up a shield.”
    He had no concept of the shields she put up.
    “Look at me.”
    Resigned, she lowered her hands.

    There it was again, the stare that in medieval superstition might have identified a seer. He’d wondered about her idiosyncrasies, never really looking at people, always shifting her view. Now he got it. Her prodigious brain held more than she wanted to retain. Given the difficulties she’d described, it took courage to interact at all.
    It was also, he hated to admit, uncomfortable to sit there in her view and wonder what she saw. “Knee’s good now. Thanks for letting me soak.” He closed the windows with the remote, stood, and dried off with a towel, then gave her a hand standing up, surprised that she seemed a little unsteady. Must be a lightweight. Her wineglass still held half an inch.
    “I’ll be right out.” He changed in his bedroom and met her in the hall. She had unclipped the hair that fell like brown gossamer strands over her collarbones, wreaking havoc with his convictions.
    They drove in silence, but he didn’t feel compelled to fill it. Neither, it seemed, did she. Jaz would have fit another thousand words in, proddingand provoking. Kirstin would have felt ignored. Of course, with her face turned away, he couldn’t really tell what Natalie thought or felt.
    He parked behind her studio and placed his hand on her headrest. “I’ll only ask once again, but I’d like to see what came out of last night.”
    Staring at her hands, she blew out a slow breath. “Okay.” She let him in through the back, worry