Page 19 of Wanted

“The floor looks very uncomfortable. Don’t think I’m going to sit there with you,” Catherine jokes. She’s dressed in green pants and a blouse with big white dots, and heels so high, I would never dare to wear them. My lips tug up slightly, although mine is a sad smile. “Take my hand,” she says as she extends it out to me and somehow I find the strength to do what she tells me to do.

I’m standing, but my spirit is still on the ground. I feel overcome by deception.

Shattered.

“Let’s go for coffee,” she says, taking my arm for me to move because I’m still an immovable object.

“I don’t want anything,” I whisper. “I want my life back.”

That’s the truth in a nutshell. I want to go back to a time when I was happy.

“All in good time,” she replies, as she pushes me to walk down the long hallway with her.

She doesn’t take me to the cafeteria, but to a private waiting room where I’ve been waiting for hours. Who could say that such a small woman would have so much determination inside her? Anyone who doesn’t know her might think she’s a delicate and sweet girl, but in the few days I’ve known her, I can easily say that Catherine has a firm determination and a will of steel. Right now, I envy her.

I feel like a tree that has been left to fend for itself in the midst of a tornado.

I tell Catherine everything that’s happened since Lionel woke up, or as much as I can because the tears silence me at times. From her elegant purse, she takes out a bottle of water and passes it to me, along with a small package of tissues.

I wipe my eyes and nose, then take a few sips from the bottle as she looks at me with compassion in her eyes.

“I think he’s confused. Didn’t the doctor say the hit caused some swelling in his brain? I’m sure that’s it.”

I wish I had her optimism. But she wasn’t there, witnessing the way Lionel spoke to me.

“I don’t know, the way he looked at me, he looked so different. It was like being in front of another person. Like being in front of a stranger.”

She smiles at me and pats my leg gently. “Don’t be silly, he isn’t a stranger. He’s your husband. But you’ll see, as soon as he gets some rest, everything will be fine. It’s impossible for a man to forget the woman he married.”

“Amnesia? Wow, that’s a pretty convenient way to get off the hook.”

She laughs a little. “No, not amnesia, but what happened to him was traumatic, maybe some things are still a little fuzzy.”

Again, that seems like a poor excuse to me.

How is it possible to forget about the last six months of your life?

What we’ve been through together.

I can’t answer, because a male voice behind me does it first.

“He’s resting now,” Jackson states as he sets foot in the room. “He’s confused and some things are fuzzy right now,” he says and Catherine looks at me raising her eyebrows like she’s saying, See? I told you. “He asked me to take you wherever you want so you can rest, it’s quite late and it has been a long day.”

No. No, I don’t want to move from here. Regardless of the circumstances of our reunion, this is the place I need to be.

“I don’t know…”

“Listen, Stella,” Jackson interrupts me. “The press already knows you’re here. As expected, there has been an uproar, so we had to do damage control. Lionel needs to rest, to clear his head and you do, too. You haven’t left this place in three days and the lack of sleep isn’t good. If you don’t want to go home, I can arrange for you to stay at a hotel nearby. Just give me a few minutes to make a couple of calls. I have to make reservations and organize security.”

That makes me frown, I understand about reservations, but security?

“I don’t need a security team or anything like that and don’t bother making hotel reservations.” I look for my phone in my bag and open up my email, to find the hotel’s information my friend Alison got me. “I’ve already arranged a place to stay. I can go in a taxi, no biggie. Look, this is where I’ll be.” I pass my phone over to Jackson, so he can look over the information.

Jackson looks at me. Somehow he makes me feel like a little girl his father is about to scold.

“Lionel would cut my balls off if I took you to that place,” he tells me. “And security is very necessary, believe me.”

I turn to Catherine looking for support, but she seems to have sided with her husband, since she only shrugs and gives me a look that says there’s no point in arguing.

---