Vivi joined the hug, wrapping her arms around both of us. “I didn’t make any promises about crying.”
We stood there for a long moment, three women crying softly in a small apartment, clinging to each other because it felt right. My heart recognized them even without the memories
Finally we pulled apart, wiping our eyes and laughing at ourselves.
“Okay, enough of that,” Mika said firmly, her voice only slightly wobbly. “We have work to do. Operation Get Lina’s Memories Back starts now.”
“I made cookies,” Vivi added brightly. “Memory cookies.”
“That’s not a thing,” Mika said.
“It is now. I invented them. They’re chocolate chip with a hint of cinnamon, which is your favorite combination.” She pointed at me. “Your taste buds might remember even if your brain doesn’t.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Worth a shot.”
They led me to the couch and Vivi disappeared into the kitchen to get the cookies while Mika pulled out several boxes from a closet.
“I gathered everything I could think of,” she explained, setting the boxes on the coffee table. “Photos, ticket stubs, old letters, your favorite books. Anything that might trigger a memory.”
Vivi returned with a plate of cookies and three glasses of wine. “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”
“It’s three in the afternoon,” I pointed out.
“And it’s five o’clock somewhere,” she repeated, handing me a glass. “Drink up.”
The wine was sweet and fruity. The cookies were incredible. And slowly, as I ate and drank and looked through the boxes, I started to relax.
There were photos of me with the twins as babies, tiny bundles wrapped in blankets. Photos of me at the coffee shop, behind the counter, covered in flour. Photos of me with Mika and Vivi, arms around each other, drunk and laughing at what looked like a Halloween party.
“You were a witch that year,” Vivi said, pointing at my costume in the photo. “And Mika was a vampire.”
“And you were a sexy ghost,” Mika added. “Which made no sense.”
“Ghosts can be sexy!”
“They really can’t.”
I laughed at their bickering. This felt familiar. Not the memories themselves, but the dynamic. The easy back and forth. The comfort of being around people who knew you completely.
There were ticket stubs from movies I’d apparently loved. Concert tickets from bands I didn’t recognize. Drawings that mykids had made, crayon scribbles that spelled out “I love mommy” in wobbly letters.
And then there were the books.
“Your spicy romance collection,” Mika announced, pulling out a stack of paperbacks with shirtless men on the covers. “You have truly questionable taste.”
“I do not!”
“There’s a book here about a woman who falls in love with a tentacle monster.”
“It’s about connection and overcoming differences!”
“It’s about tentacles, Lina-” Mika’s words stopped abruptly as what I’d said sank in.
I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth.
Everyone went silent. Mika and Vivi stared at me with huge eyes, frozen in place.
“Did you...” Mika started, her voice barely above a whisper. “Did you really remember that?”
