Page 28 of Remember Me

“I don’t believe you. You know it’s not cool to mock amnesiacs, right?”

He cocked his head. “Is that a thing? Mocking amnesiacs?”

Shaking my head with a little huff of laughter, I turned my attention to the menu. “What’s good?”

“Everything. What’s wrong?”

His eyes, when they met mine, were assessing. “Nothing’s wrong. Why would anything be wrong?”

Flo came to take our order, interrupting whatever Levi was about to say. “What can I get for you?”

“Um...pancakes, please. And a side of fried apples and scrambled eggs. Oh, do you have hash browns?” She nodded. “Those, too. And bacon, of course. Can’t have breakfast without bacon.”

Flo’s eyebrows arched into her hairline and she looked at Levi. “You finally picked a girl who’s not afraid to eat. And I’m making you oatmeal and turkey bacon. You have practice later.”

“Yes, Ma.”

She ruffled his sandy hair and walked away, leaving me with my mouth agape. “Told you,” Levi teased.

I closed my mouth with a snap before picking up in what she’d said. “Practice? What sport do you play?”

“I can tell something’s wrong,” he answered instead. “What’s up?”

I pouted. “Apparently, I had a job no one knew about. Or if they didn’t know, they never bothered to tell me or call to tell my employer about my condition. He called this morning confused as to why I had not come to orientation yesterday.” I drummed my fingers on the table restlessly.

“Damn. That’s a bummer,” Levi said. “What were you going to be doing?”

I made a face. “I actually have no clue. I didn’t think to ask. The company is Toney and Associates — have you heard of them?”

“Heard of them? They’re a huge marketing firm in Knoxville. They handle a lot of UT’s promotion.”

“Oh, well, that’s just great.” I sat back in the booth, even more annoyed. “I wonder if I would have remembered my education once I started working for them? Or if I would have just been lost.”

Levi canted his head thoughtfully. “Your memory loss doesn’t affect rote activities or muscle memory tasks, right?”

“Right, but it does involve most of the near past. I’m assuming that would include my marketing coursework. I don’t really…feel anything…when I think about marketing. No special wisdom or affinity.”

“Then I think it’s safe to assume you did the right thing.” Flo returned with our plates and we were quiet as she set everything down. “Thanks, Ma.”

I started eating as soon as she turned to walk away. I had snacked on crackers before ever crawling from the bed, but I was officially starving now. My stomach had begun to gurgle uneasily, reminding me that I needed to eat. “No doubt. It’s just annoying, you know? I feel like I’ve lost so much, and to a stupid accident. Oh. I didn’t tell you. I found out yesterday that Hayes was there.”

“When you wrecked?’

“Yes. He said we argued over something, I ran out crying, and he followed me. I refused to answer my phone and he was right behind me when I lost control and went over the bank.” I stopped to chew. “These pancakes are incredible.”

“Birdie…that’s…”

“I know, right? What am I supposed to do with that information? The guy is killing himself with guilt. I can see that. I know he didn’t do anything intentionally. I know I must have been involved in our argument, too. That I was the idiot that went running off and crashed her car. But I can’t help thinking about everything our argument cost me.”

“What did you argue about?”

“He didn’t tell me. I’m not sure I want to know, to be honest.”

Levi nodded and took a bite of his oatmeal. I smirked at it. “Nice to have Mama around keeping tabs on your eating habits, huh?”

With a devilish glint in his eyes, he flicked oatmeal at me. “Brat.”

I’d finished my breakfast, or half of it, at least. It seemed I needed to eat more and more often and yet less in each sitting every day. I was full after a ridiculous number of bites.

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