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Tara’s cell vibrated in her pocket. She slid it out and saw Lucy’s text to the group with Lucy, Kate and Tara. Tara would answer her friends later.
Lucy and Kate were closer to Tara than any sisters could be. Together, the three volunteered at and ran a grief counseling center a few evenings a month. Each of them had suffered her own loss in one form or another, but recently her friends had each found their much-deserved happily-ever-after. Lucy and Kate were happier than Tara had seen them in years.
Lucy had met Noah Spencer when he came into town to take a position at the police department. When Lucy met Emma, his little girl, and heard their tragic story, she had fallen even more in love.
In a not-so-surprising move, Kate and her best guy friend, Gray, had married and were expecting their first baby. Of course the whole falling-in-love thing had been a surprise to Kate, but anyone else looking in their direction could’ve told her where she’d end up.
Kate and Lucy had been messaging her and checking in since Marley’s accident. She knew her friends worried, so she’d have to call each of them later to ease their minds. Marley was home and healing; that was the positive. The drawback? Sam was home, too.
First, though, she needed to put her sole focus on explaining to Marley what was going on...or at least as much as she could say and still obey the doctor’s orders.
Sam had already taken a seat next to their daughter, so Tara sat on the other side. She reached for Marley’s little hand and squeezed, offering silent comfort.
“Your dad and I are here for you, so we don’t want you scared,” Tara began. Marley’s bright blue eyes widened. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have started out that way.”
Sam patted Marley’s knee. “What your mother meant to say is, you had a bad fall. The doctors want us to watch you closely and make sure you don’t have any stress or worries. We need you to be a happy kid until your head heals the way it should.”
Was he not going to use the term amnesia? Shouldn’t they at least tell her that much? Tara met his gaze over top of Marley. Sam shook his head and held her eyes until she nodded in agreement.
Perhaps they shouldn’t say anything too upsetting because Marley wouldn’t completely understand the ramifications of memory loss. It wasn’t as if amnesia was an everyday term they tossed around.
Regaining the past year’s memories on her own was the best way for Marley to heal, according to the professionals. Letting everything happen in a natural way would be less traumatizing...or so her doctor said.
Still, Tara had endured enough lies to last a lifetime and keeping this to herself was like a knife to her heart. She loathed lies and liars...yet here she was.
Marley’s eyes darted between them. “Does that mean I can ask for something and you guys will get it for me?”
“Excuse me?” Tara asked.
“I’m supposed to be happy, right? Can I get a pet iguana? They’re scaly, which kinda reminds me of a mermaid. I’ll name him Ralph and he can sleep in my room.”
Sam laughed and the low, familiar sound had Tara shifting in her seat. She’d missed that laugh and suddenly realized it had been too long since she’d heard it—and even longer since they’d sat like this as a family.
Pretending was most likely going to be their new norm.
“Don’t press your luck,” Sam told Marley as he tickled her belly. “But, seriously, if you start hurting more than usual, if you feel dizzy or nauseous or anything feels weird, you need to tell your mom or me so we can help. Got it?”
Marley nodded. “So if Ralph is a no, then maybe I could have ice cream? I ate my breakfast.”
The no was on the tip of Tara’s tongue, but Sam piped up. “Sure,” he said. “If there was ever a time for breakfast dessert, I’d say it’s today. In fact, I’ll get three bowls of it. You ladies stay right here.”
He was up and gone, leaving Tara speechless. This was the most interaction she’d had with him in person since she’d kicked him out. Though kicked him out was such a harsh term for what had actually happened. There had been tears, there had been pleading, there had been words said neither of them meant along with a broken back door. Ultimately Sam had walked out with one small bag of clothes.
