Page 30 of One of Those Amnesia Stories

Dr. Reed and the nurses had spent the afternoon checking that I remained neurologically stable. They’d repeated parts of my neurological examination, checked my pupils and strength, monitored my vital signs, and asked the same orientation questions they’d asked earlier. My answers were still consistent. I knew where I was, who I was, and what day it was. I could hold a conversation and remember everything that had happened since waking.

The problem remained everything before the accident.

I hated how reasonable everything sounded.

It would have been much easier if somebody had simply admitted this was an elaborate prank.

Before Dr. Reed left, he paused at the doorway and glanced down at his lab coat, his expression still faintly wounded. “Just so you know, my mentor gave me this. It’s very special.”

I’d really hit a nerve.

I made a mental note to tell Naija to send him flowers.

She hadn’t been able to come in yet. She’d been handling things at my company while I was stuck in the hospital, but we’d managed to FaceTime earlier. The second her face appeared on the screen, the professional composure she’d been trying to maintain had cracked. She’d looked relieved to see me awake and talking, even if she had spent most of the call asking whether I was following the doctor’s instructions.

After we ended the call, Felicity handed me a bowl of cut fruit, told me I needed to eat, and then stepped into the hallway when her phone started ringing.

And suddenly, I was all alone with him.

“Did you blackmail me or something?” I asked, breaking the silence that had been hanging between us. I took a bite of the apple in my hand, chewing slowly as I watched him.

He didn’t react.

To get me to marry you hung unspoken between us.

He let out a long sigh. “No.”

My brows shot up. “Black magic, then?”

He tipped his head back, closed his eyes, and shook his head slowly, the sheer disbelief on his face making it clear he couldn’t believe this was a conversation he was actually having.

See?

There was simply no way this man was my husband. Not with an attitude like that.

“Stop looking at me like that,” he finally muttered, lowering his gaze back to mine.

I frowned. “Like what?”

“Like I’m some creature you can’t stand.”

“Lizard.”

His forehead creased. “What?”

“The creature I can’t stand.”

His mouth twitched, amusement slipping through before he could hide it. “Really? I would’ve guessed cockroach.”

I shook my head. “Nah. I can kill a cockroach. There are tools for that. Spray, shoes, strategically placed household objects. A lizard?” A shudder ran through me. “How do you even kill one of those? They move too fast. They climb walls. They vanish behind furniture and then have the audacity to show up again when you’ve finally convinced yourself they’re gone. At that point, the house belongs to them. I’m just paying rent.”

That pulled a laugh from him. It was brief, but unmistakable, and the sight of it caught me off guard.

I used the moment to let my gaze wander around the room before circling back to the question that had been burning a hole through my mind. “So…” My voice dipped as I gestured vaguely toward my battered body. “How did this happen?”

Whatever amusement had been lingering in his face disappeared.

His jaw tightened. His gaze dropped to my injuries, lingering there for a moment before he looked away. Guilt flickered across his features, followed by a flash of regret, both quickly buried beneath a grim, unreadable expression.