“Right. Well, that seems to have disappeared and he’s still kind of nice, like he was this morning.”
There’s a beat before she says, “It won’t last.”
My insides collapse as if she’s right, but part of me wants to think maybe thiswilllast—at least a little longer.
“Coco.” Cristina’s voice is stern. “He needs the antidote. What if he never remembers? Ever? Even if no one finds out what we did, this is still bad.” She sighs. “I’m not even sure how it happened.”
I am. I’m sure how and why. Because the same power that’s stoking the land somehow stoked something inside me. So if my secret gets out—which, once Stone remembers who he is, it will because he’ll keep his promise and tell everyone about me—I’m done for.
“He has remembered some. Pane called.”
“No! What happened?”
“Stone didn’t tell him about his memory. He doesn’t want anyone to know.”
There’s a long pause as my friend considers this new information. “All this does is buy us time. It doesn’t change anything. We still need the flower. I mean, how would you sleep at night if he never got his memory back?”
“And I got to keep this version of him?”
“I’m serious.”
“I know you are. Yeah, I’d feel awful. I couldn’t do that.”
And I can’t. Even though I love that he wants to change the resort, Stone Maddox needs his memory. With any luck, it’ll return when he’s so far into the new construction there’s no way to back out. He’ll be a hero. Once he sees how people love that he respected the ley lines and the town, how could he be angry with me?
He’ll be pleased. In fact, I bet he’ll wind up thanking me for giving him temporary amnesia.
And maybe piggycorns will learn to fly.
Yeah, it’s pretty much a long shot.
“Run, Hercules,” Stone calls to the lambicorn, who kicks his body sideways as he leaps toward the tennis ball.
“I’ve got to go,” I tell my friend. “But I’ll see if I can find out anything about the flower, too. What’s it called again?”
Cristina tells me and I make a mental note about the spelling. Then we hang up and I turn to Stone. He’s scooped Hercules under one arm and is making his way over to me.
“Little Hercules is picking up fetch quickly.” I scratch the lambi behind the ear, but he leans away from my touch, clearly annoyed that I’m petting him. Could he be mad at me?
Don’t be ridiculous, Coco. He’s a baby. He’s not mad that you hurt his daddy.
Probably.
“Looks like you’re gonna have a wide receiver on your hands in no time.”
Stone laughs and then snaps his fingers. “Football. I like football.”
He beams, focusing on me in a way that suggests I’m the most important thing in this moment. Instead of the attention making me feel big, it does the reverse and makes me feel small.
I look off as he says, “I know what a wide receiver is.”
“Just like you know how to read blueprints. Everything about you is trapped in here.” I tap my temple. “We’ve just got to get it out.”
Hercules squirms and Stone puts him down. The lambicorn runs off, finds a patch of grass, and begins munching on it.
Stone’s gaze flicks to the trailer. “I guess that’s where I sleep. There’s a shower in the bathroom, and I’m thinking the couch folds out into a bed.”
He sounds uneasy. The man just lost his memory. Should he be alone? No, probably not.
