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“Drink?”
“Na, thanks though.”
We sat, and I hated the tension that hung between us. We’d always been so relaxed around each other, but I realized like a punch to the gut that she wasn’tmyNee anymore. To her, I was a stranger.
Twisting in my seat, I tried to push some more space between us before I spoke. “I’m sorry about running out on you last night. It was a lot.”
“I know. Try living with it,” she laughed softly.
“Sorry…”
“I’m joking, Archer. I can still do that. Apparently I used to be funny, right?”
“Right. But… how do you know that? That’s what I don’t understand.”
She didn’t say anything but pointed to a beautiful wooden box on the coffee table, nodding when I reached out to open it. Inside there was a battered notebook, the corners curled and obviously well thumbed.
Afraid to touch something that was important to her, my hand hovered.
“It’s okay. I want you to read it. All of it.”
Lifting it carefully, I flicked through the pages until I realized what was in front of me.
“You wrote this for yourself?”
“Old me was a smart girl,” she murmured.
My eyes fixed on the words. “Did it help? Did it make things easier?”
“I don’t think I could have recovered as well as I have without it. It makes me feel like I’m whole and not just this empty vacuum. Like I kind of know who I am.”
Reaching the last page, I came across my photo with the message to never contact me written below. Pain sliced through my chest as I realized that she’d cut me out of her memories completely.
“I can see why you thought I was a bad memory.”
Her brown eyes blazed. “I’ve been thinking about it all night… why would I miss you out of my past? Why didn’t I include anything about us?” She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. “Did you hurt me? Is that how I ended up in the hospital?”
Hearing her words, I couldn’t keep from touching her. I reached out, taking her hand and wrapping both of mine around it. “Never. Not in a million years. You were my everything. I’d rather rip out my heart than see you hurt. I need you to believe that.”
She rolled her lips while she considered my words. “But you said we were in a park, there was a crowd… why would there be a crowd? What did they want?”
I couldn’t contain my smile. “You never did have a clue who I was. I’m glad that’s not changed.”
Her head tilted in a silent question.
“I’m in a band. Alchemy Myth. You’ve not seen me on TV? Heard me on the radio?”
“Since my op I get overwhelmed by things—TV, music. I mean, I don’t even own a TV.”
I glanced around, noticing that her sofa faced the ocean, which I guessed was a much nicer thing to watch all day.
“We’re pretty well known around the world and we’re here on a mini PR tour. We’re playing a gig tomorrow night at Hard Rock Live and then we leave first thing the next day.”
“You’re leaving that soon?” she exclaimed.
“’Fraid so. We’re playing a few more places before we head back to the UK in a couple of weeks.
She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but then closed it again.
