Page 19 of Running to You

How embarrassing. What must he think of her, throwing herself into his arms? Staying the night in his house.

“Hey, hey.” Sam’s voice was low, closer than she’d expected. Then, his fingers wrapped around her wrist. “Come on, sweetheart. It’s okay. Look at me.”

Sweetheart. But she wasn’t his sweetheart. Not anymore,

“What happened?” Her voice was shaky, but she forced herself to look at him. She needed to see his face. “Why would you—?”

“You ended it,” he said. “Not me.”

“That can’t be true. I would never… I love you.”

“I think maybe you loved me. But like a bad virus, you got over it.” His lips quirked at the corners, but she didn’t see amusement in his eyes.

“That doesn’t make sense. Is that why I didn’t recognize your house? You moved here after? I’m so confused.”

“I know. I know you are. You’ve lost… You have amnesia.”

It sounded so bizarre, but it must be true. If she and Sam had broken up, and she didn’t remember…

Was that the dark thing hovering at the edge of her consciousness? She tested the idea, tried to make it fit. But it didn’t.

There was something else. Though what could be darker than losing the man of her dreams?

“Tell me what happened.” She had to know.

He returned to his chair. “We don’t need to get into that. You’ll remember when—”

“But maybe it explains what happened last night. Maybe you broke up with me, and I freaked out or something. And maybe that’s why…” Her voice trailed when Sam looked at Daniel and Camilla. “What?”

Daniel cleared his throat. “It’s been a while since you two broke up. I can’t see how what happened last night could be related.”

“How long?”

Daniel let Sam answer that.

He met her eyes and held her gaze. “Five years.”

“Five…?” No. No. That couldn’t be.

Five years?

Five years?

How? Where had she been? What…?

Her head pounded. She squeezed it, trying to make it stop, swallowing against the nausea that churned her stomach.

The words floated around in there, trying to find a place to land. But there was no place that made sense.

Five years.

Gone. Just like that.

The sofa shifted, and arms snaked around her and pulled her close. Not the strong arms she craved.

Camilla said, “It’s okay, honey. It’s going to be okay.”

But how could it be?