Page 17 of My Almost Ex

“You,” I say, not even really sure if I’m referring to Adam or my mom.

Adam glances back at Hank and he nods, hiding a small smile.

My mom points at herself. “What? Did you remember something?”

I swallow past the dry lump in my throat. “You hate him,” I say more to myself than her. “That’s why.”

She puts her hand on my arm, but I shrug off her touch.

“You were purposely trying to keep me from remembering Adam.” I step back.

“No. That’s not it.” She looks over her shoulder. “This is ridiculous. Your family thinks they own this town because there’s so many of you.” She turns back my way.

This entire time, I trusted her. I trusted that she wanted what I wanted. To remember who I was and to get back to being that person. But then all the doctor’s visits flash in my head. The ones where she said it would be okay, that we’d try to get my memories back, but if I couldn’t, I could still live a fulfilling life, meet someone.

“You were trying to hide me,” I say. My heart races and I bend forward to catch my breath.

“Lucy,” my mom says.

I shake my head. “Don’t talk to me.” I stand up straight and walk by her toward Adam. He steps back at my approach. My stomach knots, hating where we’re at. “Tell me more.”

He shrugs. “There isn’t much else to say. She was never okay with us, and because of that, your family wasn’t at our wedding.”

“I wasn’t…” My hand hovers over my stomach. “Pregnant?”

“No.” His gaze falls to my mom over my shoulder, speaking directly to her. “We married out of love…” His gaze shifts back to me. “At least I thought we did.”

“And they couldn’t accept that?”

He shakes his head.

“Stop listening to them.” My mom comes up behind me.

“Why?” I yell and turn around. “He’s the only one who’s telling me anything. He’s the one who keeps spurring new memories for me. Not like you, who’s hiding things from me, hiding my past because you didn’t approve of us. This is my life.”

“We’re going back to Idaho, let’s go.” She tries for my arm again, and again I yank it out of her hold.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I say.

Mom sighs. “And where will you go, Lucy? You have no job, no money.”

“This is where I need to be.” I have tears in my eyes.

“You need to be with people you can trust.” She holds out her hand, and I back away from her. “You’re being foolish. All he wants is for you to come back so he can break your heart again. You don’t even know what happened to make you leave. You probably found out some secret, since all of them have one, and left him.”

“Stop!” Ethel screams, stepping between my mom and me. “Enough about my family. Do you understand me?”

My eyes grow wide, but my mom’s stance grows more agitated.

“Did I have a history with both the Greene brothers? I did. But I loved my husband, and we made a family together. Let’s remember that Jeff Greene ruined his marriage all on his own before Hank was even in the picture.” She turns around. “Sorry, Mandi.”

Mandi shakes her head and waves it off.

“He didn’t appreciate Marla and didn’t honor their marriage,” Ethel says. “So please step down from the high horse you’re on and look around. These two kids fell in love a long time ago. Now I don’t know what made Lucy leave. Unfortunately, we might never find out, but they both deserve to do everything in their power to bring back that memory and find peace. But if I hear one more bad word about my family out of your mouth, you will be sorry.”

“Yeah, she will,” Dori says.

“Dori.” Hank shakes his head, but he and Mandi snicker.

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