She smacked the back of his head. “Hey, you liked the one I made you read.”
“Itoleratedit.”
“You saidliked. I have it right here in a text if you’d like to fact-check me.”
“Fine, fine. I didn’t hate it. But back to the subject at hand—you have to admit it’s highly unlikely Ethan’s alive and wandering around Seabrook with amnesia.”
“You hear about it on the news sometimes—someone turns up with no idea who they are. And I actually looked it up—1 percent of men get amnesia from things ranging from strokes to traumatic or stressful experiences. And Ethan was in an explosion.”
“Okay... Are you saying maybe he was just knocked on the head instead of...?”
Being blown up.She winced. “Is it possible? An event like that would’ve created a lot of chaos and confusion on the base. Maybe they couldn’t find him and only assumed he’d died in the explosion. They didn’t give us any details.” She couldn’t believe she was allowing herself to go there.
“And then what? He wandered off base to the nearest airport and flew back here, to Seabrook?”
The words released a gush of air from her balloon. “I guess that doesn’t make much sense.” And if he’d lost his memory, how would he even know where to go? “But he’s here in Seabrook, not Fayetteville. What if he didn’t have his recent memories but only his very old ones? Then he’d just remember living here.”
“That’s true.”
It would also mean he might not remember her. “That doesn’t solve the issue of how he got off the base without the military knowing he was alive.”
He glanced her way. Then he fixed his gaze on the whirling carousel, his brows furrowing.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. And while we’re throwing out far-fetched ideas, you might as well add to it.”
He returned Zoey’s wave. Then his expression sobered again. “What if they know he’s not dead?”
Maggie frowned. Why would the military tell them he’d died if he hadn’t? She shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but the military is government run, and who really trusts the government? Maybe there’s more going on than we know.”
“Like what?”
“No idea. I’m talking nonsense at this point.”
“Did Ethan say something to you? Did you sense something was off?”
“No, not at all. He seemed completely normal the last time I spoke with him.”
“Me too.” She thought back to the last video call. She’d reviewed those moments a thousand times: the low rumble of his voice, the new fine lines at the corners of his eyes, the smile that tipped slightly crooked. He’d told her he loved her like crazy. Reminded her she was growing a human being and to make sure she was getting proper rest. Being a medic, he wanted to review every word her OB had said at her last visit.
“He got to see the baby move. He was so excited to be a daddy.” Her throat tightened. He’d never even gotten to see Zoey’s precious face or touch her delicate newborn skin.
Josh gave her shoulder a squeeze. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
The ride began to slow. Maggie checked her watch. It was closing time and the carny wasn’t sticking around one extra minute. But her feet hurt and she’d kill for a glass of sweet tea.
However, she wasn’t finished discussing the topic at hand. She hated to ask. Josh had a sunrise cruise tomorrow with a youth group. But neither of them would get much sleep tonight without some kind of plan. “Can you come over?”
He nodded. “We’ll both feel better if we have some kind of strategy in place.”
***
Josh reclined next to Zoey, readingAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Dayfor the fourth time. Two songs and three books. Her eyes were now closed, she clutched Bunny in her arms, and her chest rose and fell slowly beneath her Elsa blanket.
