Page 19 of Remember Me

Mom’s voice rose upstairs, where I’d been lying down and napping.This pregnancy exhaustion had grown to epic proportions and I could not keep my eyes open at certain points of the day. It was good that I wasn’t working at the moment, because there was no way I’d be able to hold a job. I’d look for a job a bit later when I was nearly past the first trimester.

Another voice, feminine and lilting, accompanied hers, murmuring something I couldn’t quite make out. I laid the book down beside me and savored the sweet country twang in her voice, the one that turned ‘company’ into two syllables rather than three, before rising and moving to the staircase.

“Coming.”

The woman waiting at the bottom of the stairs was young, with golden brown skin, dark hair tipped in pink, and huge brown eyes. There were bags at her feet, shopping bags with handles, grocery sacks, and a floral print duffle. If I had met her on the street, I would have walked by her with only a glance to admire her style. That hair…I blinked. This woman was in some of the flashes of memory I kept having. She was someone to me. But who? Was she a friend? Co-worker? Someone completely unrelated?

I smiled politely. “Hi.”

The woman’s eyes dimmed a degree, but she rallied, approaching to hug me with a strength that belied her tiny frame. “Hell, Birdie. I know you don’t remember me right now, but that polite how-do-you-do shit doesn’t cut it with me. I’m Remington, your favorite person in the universe. You call me Remi.”

A friend, I decided, hugging her back. “I’m sorry —”

She cut me off with a sharp hand gesture. “No, no, none of that shit —”

“Remi, language!”

She laughed as my mom’s voice filtered in from the kitchen. “Yeah, yeah, Mrs. G.” To me, she added, “she’s been saying that for years now. This potty mouth is beyond salvaging.”

“I love Jesus, but I cuss a little.” The saying popped into my head and escaped my mouth, and Remi’s eyes filled with tears.

“I knew this was a good idea. That’s a memory, chica. I say that all the time, got it printed on a tee shirt.” Remi points to the bags. “Grab a bag. We’re having a girl’s night.”

It felt like my first sleepover as I helped her haul bags to my bedroom, and we started setting out snacks and a mountain of DVDs. I guess in the ways that mattered, it was my first sleepover. I don’t think I had attended any in high school.

“These movies...are they ones I liked or random offerings?” I flipped through the covers, seeing a varied assortment. Comedies, chick flicks, Monty Python, horror. All movie genres were represented, and I felt a headache coming on. If I liked all of this stuff, who the hell was I? There was nothing distinctive, nothing that told me I was a nerd or a tomboy or a girly-girl.

“I just brought a bunch of things. Figured you might not know what you like.” She pulled a bottle of wine from a bag. “I also brought alcohol.”

“Ah...I can’t drink that.”

“Why not? You’re totally legal, I assure you.”

“The baby isn’t.”

Was it wrong of me to enjoy the surprise that shocked her features into stillness? It made me want to laugh, so I did.

Remi dropped the unopened bottle onto the floor and climbed up on the bed beside me. “Are you for fuckin’ real? You’re prego?”

I nodded and she clutched my cheeks in her hands before kissing me soundly on the forehead.

“I can’t believe this! I have so many questions that your amnesiac ass can’t answer.” I snorted and we held each other tightly. “I’m gonna be an auntie! Auntie Ree!”

After several long minutes she released me and stuck a movie in the DVD player, turning the volume down until it was a quiet hum in the background. “Okay, so tell me everything you do know.”

“There’s not that much to tell. A standard blood test in the hospital revealed it and it’s been a bit of a shock. In some ways I feel like there’s this alien taking over my body, and I’m trying to hold on to who I am deep inside. Does that make sense?”

“None.” She chewed a handful of cheese puffs while I tried to explain this feeling that I had been struggling with.

“I have no clue who I am. And yet, I can feel myself inside, trying to get out.” She nodded. “It’s like this instinctual reaction to different things. I knew I’d like tomato soup, and how, before I fixed it. I knew we were close as soon as you opened your mouth. I’m pretty sure I’ve watched every film that actor has ever made.” I pointed to the television. “But now there’s this little creature in me, and she’s letting me know that she doesn’t care for eggs unless they’re slathered in hot sauce, when I’m pretty sure I’ve never eaten my eggs like that a day in my life. Because eww. And she’s saying that I like to sleep all the fucking time, which actually makes me crazy. I hate sleeping. Why do I hate sleeping?”

Remi laughed. “Because you’ve always been so damn busy all the time! You’ve needed every minute of every day, plus a few more. I can see where that would be nuts.”

“And her father...”

“Mr. Hayes Ellison...”

“I know nothing about him except the bare facts. He’s hot. He’s working on his doctorate. He’s an adjunct professor —” I paused. I’d already asked Hayes, but confirmation wouldn’t hurt. “Remi, I wasn’t one of those girls who has a professor thing, was I?”

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