“If my fiancée disappeared, got hurt, lost her memory, and months later, I finally found her again, I’m not gonna swing by her workplace and play coy,” Ollie growls. “I’m gonna sweep her up and tell her who I am. Remind her what we are.”
“It’s not the best first impression,” Ramone concedes. “But humans are inherently flawed. If he saw her on the news and heard about her memory loss, it’s entirely reasonable he’d walk by just to see how she responded.”
“That’s bullshit! Love isn’twandering by and moving on. Love isn’t waiting three fucking months before you show your face again.”
“W-what do you want me to do?” I swipe my nose with my sleeve. “What should I do?”
“Whateveryouwant to do,” Ollie insists. “You don’t know that man, and just because hesaysyou were engaged doesn’t make it true. You weren’t wearing a ring when you ended up in the ER. You don’t recognize his face. You don’t?—”
“I said his name.” I tilt my head back and close my eyes, groaning like Darcy’s presence is an actual, physical pain. “You said I said his name that time.”
“It wasonetime. You were talking in your sleep and didn’t even remember it when you woke up.”
“But she knows him,” Ramone presses. “Fiancé or not, he has proof they were close.”
“And she’s not freaking out,” Cliff adds.
In response, I sniffle and peel my eyes open again.
“Like, you’re not handling itwell,” he amends, dragging his fingers through his hair. “But this is not the same reaction you have when you’re terrified of someone. When a smell sets you off, you lose your shit. When a memory hits that scares you, weknowyou’re scared.” He lowers his hand again, shaking his head. “This is not the same.”
“We’ve talked to him.” Billy closes the file and strolls across the room. Stopping right in front of me, he lowers into a crouch. “We’ve run through his past as thoroughly as we can, Rose. We’ve got feelers out to see if anyone else has something to add. But in the meantime, he seems legit. He has no history of violence and hasn’t thrown out any red flags since we put him in that room. He’s staying at a bed and breakfast across town, so I called Camille, the owner, and asked her about him. She said he’s been polite. Clean. Respectful. Normal.” He rests his elbows on his knees, his hand and the file dangling between his legs. “That’s the word she used.Normal. She said he joined them for dinner last night, and like she always does with her guests, she asks about them. About their life. And everything he told her is lining up with what we already know: civil engineering, business owner, no kids, not yet married. When she askedwhyhe was traveling, he said it was personal and left it at that. He didn’t ask her about you, even though there isn’t a soul in town who hasn’t talked about you in some way or another. He went off to his room a little before nine, and didn’t stir again until six.”
I clamp my lips shut and grit my jaw, if only to still the way it trembles. I sniffle again, loathing the weakness, and because she whines, I scratch the back of Poppy’s ear.
“So I guess the next move is yours.” Billy’s lips crinkle carefully to the side. It’s a smile… ish. “Since the start, this has always been about finding answers for you. It’s about helping you rediscover what you lost.”
“You want me to talk to him?” I swipe the fresh tears from my eyes, my breath coming out on a shuddering exhale as I glance past him and stop on Ollie. Silent. Stoic. Devastated.
“I think he’s worth talking to,” Billy counters. “For you. Not for him.”
“He has the answers you’ve been looking for.” Ramone rolls his bottom lip between his thumb and finger. His back, still pressed to the glass. “He knows things you’ve forgotten, and he’s given us no reason to doubt him so far.”
“Except that he came skulking around yesterday,” Cliff growls. “That’s not a normal thing to do!”
“Would you prefer if he walked in and threw himself at her?” Ramone counters. “Gets eyes on her, knows about her memory loss, but doesn’t give a shit about how it affects her, so he grabs on and acts like nothing has changed. Fiancés kiss. They hug. They touch. He could’ve snatched her hand and pulled her in, like this is some Disney movie and all she needs toget betteris a kiss.”
Ollie lifts his arms and links his hands behind his head, his eyes burning with emotion he tries so hard to lock inside. His chest, growing with adrenaline he keeps bottled up.
“It’s your call,” Billy murmurs. “But I think sending him away without talking to him would be a mistake.”
ROUND FORTY-FIVE
OLLIE
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” I take her hand in mine as the others file out and close the door. Tugging her to her feet and setting the kitten back on the floor, I cup her cheeks and wipe the incessant tears from beneath her eyes.
Each time I clear the moisture away, more falls.
“You’re in charge, Rose. Everything that happens from here on out is your choice.”
Not mine.
Notours.
Which means I’m fucked, trapped on this ride that might send me to the depths of hell, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it.
“I’m not sure.” She wraps her hands around my wrists, sniffling and looking anywhere but into my eyes. “I’m not sure at all. But it’s therightthing to do, isn’t it?”
