Page 13 of Love You, Mean It

The red-haired nurse bustled in just then, the picture of cheer as she crossed to check Theo’s monitors.

“Of course you do, silly. This is your fiancée!”

Theo turned to the nurse with an expression approaching horror. Which, c’mon. Likehe’sthe loser in this setup?

“My…Wait a second, I have afiancée? But how can it be…” His eyes darted between the nurse and me, doubt creeping in at the corners.

I stared at the nurse, mouth hanging open, stomach all slithering creatures, completely unsure how to play this, the moment they found me out. Was itillegalto lie about your relationship to a patient? Even if it wasn’t, it was highly sketchy, bordering on creepy-stalker. Was there any way I’d have a chance to explainwhyI wantedto be there when he woke up? I couldn’t even imagine a version of that going well…

But the nurse just turned her motherly smile on me.

“Don’t worry, memory loss isn’t uncommon after a head injury like his. Once the swelling goes down, things will start coming back to him.” She turned back to Theo. “Let me ask you a few questions. How old are you?”

“Twenty-four.” His eyes darted to me. “Right?”

I grimaced. This was worse than I thought.Dear lord, Ellie, get out while you still can.

“How old am I really?”

“Thirty,” I said. Which I wasn’t actually certain of, but he’d been a year above Bella, so two years above me. I had to beclose.

Theo’s face went slack with shock.

“Thirty? That’s…Is she serious?” He turned back to the nurse. She nodded.

“That’s right.”

“But…how can I forgetsix yearsof my life?” He jerked around to look at me again, wincing at the sudden motion.

“Easy, don’t go pulling out your IV.” The nurse fixed him with a scolding look and he sat back slightly, face still tight with something approaching terror. “Like I said, it’s not abnormal to experience memory loss after an accident like yours. But it’s only temporary. There’s no bleeding or extensive damage, just some swelling. You’re very lucky your fiancée was with you. Things might have gotten worse if she hadn’t brought you here so fast.”

“Thank you,” he murmured robotically, eyes going unfocused.

“I know it’s scary, but things will start coming back to you soon. They do for almost everyone. In the meantime, just try to rest.”

Almosteveryone? Jesus, way to bury the lede.

Theo took a deep breath, seeming to force himself back into his body, and looked straight at me.

“So…you’re really my fiancée?”

It felt like a drain had opened in the middle of my stomach and my entire physical being was being sucked down it. This was not agood idea, I should not stick to this, but the nurse was watching,what other choice did I have?I forced a weak smile.

“That’s right…babe.” Theo gave a confused frown at that. Apparently he was as much the “babe” type as I was.

The nurse was smiling pityingly at the two of us when the door whipped open and a woman pushed inside.

She was tall and slim, with long honey-blond hair that she’d either spent hours meticulously coaxing into gentle waves or that somehow just naturally had that made-for-reality-TV style. Her crimsoned lips were pinched tight, large brown eyes wide with anxiety, but somehow it just threw her pretty features into sharper relief, the lip purse pulling out the high cheekbones, the worry widening her eyes further. Though she looked a little rumpled, her tight high-waisted faux leather pants, shiny red heels, and airy white blouse were all obviously expensive. Especially the blouse; the stark simplicity of its lines signaled “luxury” more surely than any amount of ornament could (I should know—patterning shirts like that took twice the time of more intricate-seeming multipieced affairs). She was familiar, in that vague “Maybe I saw you grabbing coffee once” way, but I couldn’t place her.

I wished I could, though. She gave off the sort of high-proof, full-throttle energy that I always seemed to jibe with, a crisp confidence threaded through with a hint of sharpness that wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But I loved it. What use is a dull knife to anyone? I didn’t spot it very often—not that I’d been looking particularly hard for new people to slot into my life since I got back to Milborough—but when I did it was almost a guarantee that I’d at least respect a fellow human embodiment ofno bullshit,even if we didn’t wind up besties.

The pretty woman turned to me, offering a confused attempt at a smile.

“Sorry…I thought…” She licked her lips slowly, then her eyes hooked on Theo. He was sitting up straighter, mouth hanging open slightly.

“Sam? What are you doing here?”

“You’re welcome for racing all the way from Boston. Anyway, I could ask you the same thing.” She arched an eyebrow. “Most of the VPs I know manage to avoid massive concussions attheirdesk jobs.”

---