“Her symptoms seem better. She’s back to her normal schedule.”
“True.”
Neither of them said it, but they were both thinking it. Everything was back to normal—except her memory.
“I’m actually glad you stopped by. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.”
Her tone warned him it wasn’t good news. He sank into his mom’s desk chair. “That sounds foreboding and I don’t know if I can take more bad news.”
“I’m sorry. I know this has been hard. This might not be news to you at all.”
“Is it about Lauren?”
“Yes.”
Oh, what the heck. How much worse could things get? A lot, if the adrenaline pumping through his veins was anything to go by. “Why not? Lay it on me.”
“She said something in passing yesterday when I mentioned her memory loss. She—she implied she didn’t want her memories back. That she’d rather forget what happened over the summer and move on with her life.”
The words were a sucker punch. She didn’t want to remember him? Rememberthem? It was the ultimate rejection.God, why is this happening? We were in love. We were about to be engaged. She’s the love of my life.
“I’m sorry, but I felt you should know what you’re up against.”
“For all the good it does me! She won’t even talk to me. As far as she’s concerned we’re over, and that’s the way she prefers it. I feel like I’m in waiting mode—and we both know that’s not exactly my specialty. I’m just sitting around waiting for her to get her memory back.”
“This must be so hard.”
“If I don’t do something, I might as well throw her a farewell party.” The thought of saying good-bye to her made his stomach twist. They’d been about to start a life together, and now it was all gone because of that freak fall. One stupid accident and she was gone to him forever?
His gaze sharpened on his sister. “I have to do something. I can’t lose her, Meg.”
“I can only imagine how hard this is, honey. But Lauren’s not one to be pushed. You should know that better than anyone.”
He pounded his fist on his thigh. “Then what the heck am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she’ll get her memory back soon and this whole problem will go away.”
“But what if she never gets it back?” The question hung in the silence between them.
Fifteen minutes later the conversation still plagued Jonah as he dribbled the basketball on the concrete pad attached to the old garage that now served as the laundry facility. He put up a shot and the ball swished through the net. He collected the ball and took it back to the invisible foul line. Shot again. All net. His body went through the motions as he recalled his discussion with Meg.
He felt stuck. He couldn’t just do nothing while Lauren moved on with her life alone. But she clearly wanted nothing to do with him, and pressuring her would get him nowhere.
Stuck.
He was gonna lose her.
Memories flittered through his mind. Lauren smiling at him as he rowed them to the cove the first day they’d gone swimming together. The shy way she bit her lip when she was thinking about kissing him but didn’t want him to know. The way she sometimes burrowed into his side like she wished she could climb inside him.
He missed the way she felt, her back pressed against his chest as they watched the sun sink below the horizon. He missed her passionate kisses and her contagious laughter. The way she’d quirk a brow at him when he teased her about her shoe collection or the rainbow assortment of nail polish on her bathroom windowsill.
That heat flushed his skin again and the back of his eyes burned. And still he put up a shot. And another. And another.
***
As luck would have it, the laundry building was clear on the other side of the property. When Lauren had arrived at Pinehaven, Ping-Pong and foosball tables had been crowded in with the washers and dryers.
But Lauren had suggested converting the upstairs of the boathouse into a game room for the teen guests. And at some point over the summer, the Landrys had implemented that idea. Meg had taken her up to the hideout and raved about how popular it had been over the summer. They’d spent over an hour up there playing games that day until they’d laughed themselves silly over their lack of coordination.
