Page 17 of The Soul Never Forgets

The coma.

My life as Augustina Adele Lebeau Harrison.

His life as William Franklin Harrison.

Change of history.

I tell him everything about the last year of my life and exactly what events led to me making an appointment with him. Every event, big or small, for the last twelve months has been one domino after another falling into place. He and I coming together is the final move of the domino effect.

“Say something. Anything.”

He’s sitting on the floor with outstretched legs, his arms crossed and resting over his abdomen. “I’m at a loss. I don’t know what to say.”

Come on, Dr. Wes. I’m dying here. “Can you at least tell me if you plan to have me committed?”

“No,” he says, his tone flat.

I’m not sure what he’s saying no to. “You can’t tell me or you aren’t committing me?”

“I’m not going to have you committed.”

Thank God for that but he also isn’t throwing himself into my arms, saying that he’s been waiting a lifetime for me.

“You believe what I’m telling you, right?” He must. That’s what a true soul mate would do.

“That is one hell of a… I don’t know what.” His fingers lace together and he rests his open palms on the crown of his head. “Whew. I need a moment to gather my thoughts. To absorb and sort out whatever this is.”

The worst mistake I could make right now is to let him back away from this and allow doubt to set in. “You feel what’s happening between us. I know you do. I see it in your eyes and in the way you react to me.”

“There’s something going on, and I can’t begin to explain it. That much I admit.”

Okay. It’s not the response I was hoping to hear, but it’s a start.

“I’ve spent the last twelve months waiting for you. I’ve been searching faces in the crowd, at the grocery store, at bars and concerts, wondering when you were finally going to come into my life.”

True misery is knowing that your soul mate is out there walking around, and you just aren’t able to make the connection.

I point to the fishing-trip photo on the wall. “When we met, I was standing right over there, looking at you in that photograph, trying to figure out why you seemed so familiar to me. And then you came into the room and called out my name. I stopped breathing the moment I heard your voice. I knew without a doubt that we’d finally found each other.”

Pausing for a moment, I wait for him to say something. But he doesn’t.

“I turned around and you captured my soul with just one look. The world stopped turning and a silent conversation started between our souls. An intense déjà vu pulsated through my veins when I looked into your eyes for the first time, yet it felt as though I’d stared into them a million times before. Something deep within me recognized something deep within you. I saw my destiny. Because that’s what it feels like when you connect with your soul mate.”

Dr. Wes swallows and his Adam’s apple bobs. But still, he expresses nothing.

“Say something. Anything. Please.” So I’ll know that I’m not so desperate to find my soul mate that I’m fabricating the connection I feel.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you for a single second since we met. I close my eyes and you’re in my head. You’re in my dreams when I fall asleep.” He looks away and shakes his head. “It’s wrong of me to say that to you. Completely unprofessional. Yet I can’t stop myself from saying it.”

“It isn’t wrong to tell me how you feel. I’m your soul mate. With me, you can say anything. Never doubt that.”

He inhales, his chest expanding, and he releases his breath through pursed lips. “Asking you to come back today was impetuous. I did it because I’m a moth and you’re my flame. I’m drawn to you in a way that I can’t shake. I’m supposed to be stronger than this, but the pull between us is too powerful for me to resist. I’m weak when it comes to you.”

“What you’re feeling for me doesn’t make you weak. The bond between us is beyond our control. There is no fighting it. There is no denying it.”

“But I’m a therapist and you’ve come to me as a patient. This isn’t acceptable.”

“Therapist-patient relationship be damned. What we share isn’t wrong, and no one can tell us any different. It’s the most powerful relationship that can exist between two people.”

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