Three weeks later Lucy was Daniel London’s girlfriend.
28
“I can’t believe I forgot about the lime,” I said. But I hadn’t forgotten-forgotten, like the way I’d forgotten I liked eating meat and my parents were separated and Matt was my boyfriend. This particular detail—so small and insignificant in the grand scheme—had been pushed aside. Easily retrievable with a little reminiscence therapy, which was what Daniel and I were up to tonight.
There was a brief flit of guilt in my belly as I thought about Matt and his reaction when I asked for extra lime in my drink at Jake’s party, and the tequila shots from the other night (this must have been what I was remembering about the lime), but I pushed it aside.
“I shouldn’t be surprised, though. My brain is a bit of a mess.” I tried to laugh, but it got caught in my throat.
“You okay, Lucy?” Daniel asked gently. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought up the lime thing? Let you live in blissful denial?” He was trying to make me smile, and it worked.
“It’s not the lime thing,” I said, my smile fading. “I got blindsided by something today, and, well...” I held up my drink. “Let’s say I needed this Dark and Stormy tonight.”
“So what happened?” Daniel asked, holding up two fingers for the bartender before turning his gaze back on me. I saw his ring then, and my head was spinning and I felt unpleasantly warm. I looked away from his hand, from the ring and what it meant.
“I found out my parents are separating. Or are already separated, months ago.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. You didn’t have any idea?”
“I guess Idid,” I said. “But I don’t remember, and they’ve been keeping up this whole ‘we’re still happy and together’ charade since I got out of the hospital. My mom is evendatingapparently.” I shuddered, and Daniel laughed.
“This is not funny,” I said, though the smile crept back onto my face.
“The nerve of our parents, doing things we don’t like,” he quipped, and I laughed. “My parents should have split years ago. Neither of them is happy, but after Nan left Gramps it created such a mess within the family my mom once made the comment being unhappy was part of being married. A ‘suck it up, buttercup’ arrangement.” He raised one eyebrow, smirked. “Nice, right?”
“That’s sad,” I said.
“It is sad. But my grandparents got back together and now they act like newlyweds, so who the hell knows.”
“They got back together? Huh. Maybe there’s hope for my parents yet.”
“Nan and Gramps married when they were seventeen,” Daniel said. “Nan said she needed to ‘know’ another man, aside from my grandfather. It was apparently on her bucket list.” He cringed and I chuckled. “Look, I’m sorry you’re going through this with your parents, Luce. They always seemed so solid.”
“I know. And it sucks. But the worst was finding out they’ve been lying about it. Plus, everyone else knew and kept it from me, too.” I picked up my third Dark and Stormy, which had magically appeared in front of me. “There’s nothing worse than being the last to find out.”
“I bet,” he said, draining his glass. I wasn’t sure if he was ahead of me or not at this point, but he definitely seemed less intoxicated than I was.
“You want to know the shitty truth?” I asked.
“Always,” Daniel said. “Hit me.”
“I have no idea what other secrets are locked inside my brain. They could be big. Important, life-changing secrets. And what if I never remember?” I said. “What if I can never trust my memory again?”
He sighed, shook his head. “I don’t know, Lucy.”
I held up my glass a bit sloppily, and some of the drink spilled over its edge. “And the award for the most honest reply yet goes to Daniel London!”
Daniel chuckled as he watched me try to mop up the spill with a tiny napkin. “I think you need another drink,” he said.
“Ha! That’s probably the last thing I need. But why the hell not?” I said, slurring a little now. “One more couldn’t hurt.”
“That’s the spirit,” Daniel said, and soon we had another round going and I was sucking it back like it was water.
The rum had loosened my tongue and so my curiosity finally won out. “Where’s Margot tonight?” I asked when there was a lull in our conversation. I hoped my tone sounded light and nonloaded, even though I was quivering slightly on my stool.
“She’s out,” he said. “Girls’ night.” He was saying something else, about someone’s birthday or something, but I was fixated on his lips. I had the sense everything would be all right if I moved closer...closer again...
“Easy, Lucy.” Daniel laughed as he helped me right myself after I nearly slid off my stool. “As much as I’m enjoying this, maybe it’s time to call it a night?”
