Page 11 of Make You Love Me
“She’ll do it,” Sydney says, and my eyes shoot daggers at her. She hadn’t moved from her seat, but with this betrayal, she might as well be standing beside Josie.
“Good. I’ll leave her in your hands.” Josie turns to me and points a slender, unpainted fingernail at me. “You better not do anything to make this worse.”
“Worse? How can it possibly get any worse?” I say as she storms across the room and lets the door shut in her wake. “What the hell, Sydney?”
“Sit down.”
“That’s the third time you’ve told me what to do since I walked through that door. I don’t want to sit. I want you to tell me what’s going on before I lose my shit right here.”
“Jordan was in an accident,” she begins, staring me down. She’s adored Jordan since we all met at the Marine Marathon and tells me all too often how I feel when I can’t admit it to myself. Sometimes I wish she didn’t know me so well. “It nearly killed him. Josie said his heart stopped several times.”
My weakened body lowers to the seat despite my stubborn pride. The thought of losing him, whether I want a relationship or not, is more than I can bear. He’s an amazing man. I’ve never thought or said otherwise, but having a future with him isn’t possible for many reasons. Not to mention my steadfast refusal to give my heart to a man of the military.
I saw first-hand what that did to Sydney. Her future bliss was all planned out with her Marine. After watching his absence rip her to pieces repeatedly and supporting her each time, I can’t subject myself to the same torture. I won’t.
“The last thing I want is for anything to happen to him,” I say, still shaking from hearing the news. “But what does this have to do with me? And why did Josie say I have to pretend nothing over the last year ever happened?”
“In addition to his physical injuries, he has post-concussion syndrome and lost part of his memory.”
“Which part?”
“The last year. He thinks you two are in the middle of the six months you were actually dating in your five-year on again off again relationship.”
“Well, that explains a lot.” I stalk to the large window and stare out at the mid-September morning, seeing none of its beauty. Fall is usually my favorite time of year, but under the weight of what Sydney and Josie expect me to do…
“Why can’t she tell him we’re not?”
“Doctors recommended letting him remember things on his own time frame to keep his stress low.” She crosses the room to sit on the window seat in front of me and takes my hand.Josie shouldn’t have left Sydney to bear the brunt of delivering this news alone. None of this involves her—other than being my punching bag or support system during this farce I want no part in.
“The trauma of knowing something happened and not remembering it,” she continues, “and all the resulting questions could impede his progress or cause more strain than his healing body can handle. Until he can remember…”
“We all have to pretend I didn’t break his heart?”
“Appears so.”
My gaze drops to her. “This is fucked up, Sydney.”
“It is. And it’s going to be hardest on you. Would you rather put him through the alternative?”
“Of course not.” My legs waver under me, and I sit beside her. With my head on her shoulder, she gathers me closer. “How long do they think it will take?”
“There’s no way of knowing. The brain is a curious beast.”
“Curious beast?” I glance at her with full-blown skepticism. “Have you switched your romance novels with nonfiction textbooks? That doesn’t sound like the romantic I know and love.”
“Since when do you acknowledge my romantic side?”
“You just didn’t sound like you.”
“What would have sounded like me?” Sydney asks, laughing.
“I don’t know. Something over-the-top hopeless, like in a Hallmark movie or like Emily.”
Sydney scoffs. “Nothing comes close to Emily’s romantic side. Even I look at her like she’s crazy sometimes.”
“Can’t blame her, though. Jackson is stupidly hot.”
Ignoring me because she’s happily engaged to her own beautiful veteran, and Jackson is her son’s godfather, Sydney circles back to Jordan. “So, you’ll do it?”
