I cringe. “Sorry. That came out wrong.”
“It’s okay. I’ve had almost an entire week to get used tonotremembering, and surprisingly, it offers a clarity that most people never have.”
“Does it?”
“I have no idea, but it sounds good.”
We laugh and our gazes catch for a breath. I look away first.
“However,” he continues, “if I don’t get into my computer soon, I’ll have to pay someone to break in. I’m sure it’s full of emails. But at the moment, they can wait.”
We eye each other for a second before he cocks his head toward the lambicorn. “Hercules is hungry, and I figured you might be, too. I made eggs and smoked salmon. Not together.”
“That sounds amazing, but I’ve got about ten pounds of potato salad to make and I’m out of potatoes.”
He pulls a face. “Ten pounds? Are you secretly a squirrel? Where can you hide that much potato salad in your tiny body?”
I toss a pillow at him and he catches it to his stomach. “It’s not all for me, dummy. There’s this thing at my parents’ house. A get-together for my sister. She’s been out of town for a while.”
He cocks a brow. “A get-together for your sister?”
“Yeah.” I pick at a loose thread in my duvet.
Silence engulfs us and I know he’s reading my disinterest.
“And does your family realize how amazingyouare?”
My breath staggers. “That’s very nice of you to say.”
“It’s not nice at all. It’s the truth. Without you, I would’ve been lost this week.”
Also without me, none of this would have happened and you would have your memory and blackmail me.
I nod slowly.
“Say it,” he coaxes.
“I am amazing.”
“There. How did that feel?”
Dishonest, because he doesn’t know the deep parts of me, the truths I hide. “Pretty good,” I lie.
“Prettygood?” Stone scoffs. “You can do better than that, but I won’t push. Unless I also work part-time as a self-help coach, which is completely possible.”
I laugh. “I don’t think so.”
“Me neither.” Hercules jumps off the bed and trots toward Stone, who bends down and scratches the lambicorn behind the ear. Hercules closes his eyes and leans in to the scratch. For a second, this feels so easy.
So normal.
Too normal.
A tiny flicker of worry nudges the back of my mind, but I push it aside.
“So this get-together with your family,” he says, “is it big?”
Oh, God. He wants to come. Stone wants to meet my family. I’ve never gone to one of these things with a guy before, and definitely not with one who might remember he hates me at any moment.
