Page 21 of Love You, Mean It

“That doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me afterward.”

“I panicked, alright? Is that what you want to hear?” I rolled my eyes as hard as I could,Well done, jerk,you caught me.“You were confused, the nurses all thought that’s who I was, then that woman came in, Sam? And the nurse toldherI was the fiancée…Which reminds me, who was she, even?”

“Sam’s my ex.” Of course he had an ex like that.

“Right, so…not the easiest audience. The point is, before I even had a chance to clear things up, they were getting complicated, so I just…went with it. I figured it could wait until you felt slightly better. And in case you didn’t notice, I’ve been trying all morning to find a moment to tell you what happened.”

“Fair.”

I blinked, stopped short. I’d been expecting him to escalate things. We sat for a moment in silence. When it got awkward, I asked him for his address and typed it into the GPS. We were pulling out of the parking lot before Theo spoke again.

“Could you…tell me what happened yesterday morning?” Theo’s gaze was fixed out the passenger window. He was clearly uncomfortable showing even this tiny sliver of underbelly. I bit my lip, staring briefly at his forehead, as though I could see what was going on inside.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“A loud noise?” Theo’s face scrunched with concentration. “We were talking in that room off to the side, there was a crash…” He sighed, shaking his head. “Then it’s a blank until I woke up in the hospital.”

“With six years of your life erased. Which is such a random amount of time—do you think there’s a reason you lost those years, specifically?” I glanced over, intrigued despite myself.

He attempted a shrug, but his neck was so tight the tendons showed. Clearly he didn’t want to discuss this further. I could press—a not small part of me really wanted to, after all, who getsamnesia?—but there was a more immediate concern.

“So your memory came back sometime overnight.” Theo nodded. “And the first thing you decided to do was play happy couple for the medical staff?”

“Actually, the first thing I did was plan ways to destroy your life.”

“Wow, scorched earth.” Not that I would have played itdifferently, but I made sure to pull my most appalled face. Theo might remember meeting me, but he didn’tknowme.

“You can’t blame me for being angry. I assumed you were trying to take advantage somehow.”

“Not everyone’s trying to take advantage of you, Theo.” Trying to make sure he was okay so he wouldn’t blame me unfairly for his head injury hardly counted. Besides, I’d made Jaime call the ambulance and everything. Even checked his pulse.

“Call it force of habit.” He flashed a wry look that felt somehow intimate. “Lucky for you, the nurses meant it when they said they wouldn’t let me out on my own.” His eyelids lowered in languid annoyance. “And since looking at my phone for more than thirty seconds made it feel like there was an ax in my head, calling around until I found a better option wasn’t going to be easy.”

“So what…your urge to murder me just evaporated?”

He broke out into a genuine grin.

“I didn’t saymurder. I’m a Taylor. We litigate.”

“Same difference,” I retorted, mirroring his smile in spite of myself. “Anyway, what changed? I don’t see any packs of lawyers.”

“I couldn’t get out on my own, and you were already planning to show up by noon, so I decided to use the morning to sort outwhyyou might make up this lie.”

“I just told you—”

“I’m simply explaining my thought process. Unless you’d rather not hear it?” He cocked an eyebrow, his entire arrogantOf course you’ll want to listen to whatIhave to sayexpression belying the words. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to nod.

“Like I was saying…”Oh for fuck’s sake.“I was trying to work through what you might get out of the setup. It certainly wasn’t the pleasure of my company.”

“I’ve never said—”

He flashed a knowing grin.

“Trust me, my ego can handle it. Suffice to say we’re both…strongpersonalities.” I shrugged acknowledgment. “Since thatwasn’t the likeliest motivation, it had to be something else. The answer I kept coming back to was Mangia.”

Oh. Shit.

“What do you mean?” I said, trying my best to channel Bella,I can’t evenfollowyour thinking it’s so far from what was actually going through my head.Theo’s smirk deepened.

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