Page 37 of Zane

Kelsey gave a soft laugh. “My feet definitely feel like I have.”

“Let me come and get you so you don’t have to walk all the way back.”

“I’m not ready to leave the park just yet,” Kelsey said.

“That’s fine. Give me a call when you’re ready.”

There was a moment of silence before she said, “I don’t want to interrupt the dinner.”

“You won’t be. It’s not that formal of a thing.”

“Okay. I’ll call in a little bit.”

“Sounds good.”

“One thing,” Kelsey said. “Could you bring me a bottle of water when you come? I’m parched.”

Rori laughed. “Sure thing. I can do that.”

After she hung up, she leaned into Lee, and he wrapped his arms around her, placing a kiss on the top of her head. Zane had to look away. Any time he saw the closeness of the couples in his family, his mind would go one of two places. He’d think about how he and Sarah had been as a couple. Or he’d wonder how he and Kelsey had interacted.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lee and Rori leave the kitchen, leaving him alone. Staring at the icon for the app that would open his pictures, he knew he just had to pull the trigger.

Perhaps looking at the photos he’d taken would give him a glimpse of how he’d felt about Kelsey before the accident. He’d already considered doing that, but it had been easier to just procrastinate.

Maybe this was the push he needed to view the situation with Kelsey differently.

There was a shaking deep inside him that made Zane want to put his phone away. But if he was going to take the step forward that he’d told Lee he would, this was a good place to start. The pictures might give him a glimpse into who he’d been before the car accident that had robbed him of his memories.

He took a deep breath, then focused on the picture on the screen of his phone. It was the last picture he’d taken before his accident, just a couple of hours prior, according to the photo info, had been of food. Not a real surprise. Food had been his life, and it seemed that was still true.

Scrolling back, he found three more pictures of food. Finally, he found one that wasn’t food. It was a picture of him and Kelsey laying together. She was kissing his cheek as he smiled at the camera. Their shoulders were bare, though they were covered by a blanket, giving it a very intimate feel. He looked… happy.

The next picture was of Kelsey sitting across the table from him. She had a forkful of pasta and was beaming at him. Was he smiling back at her with the same expression of love?

Zane soon discovered that his photo roll was filled with pictures of food, but more than that he had plenty of photos of Kelsey by herself, Kelsey with him, Kelsey eating. Every expression she wore was underpinned by the love in her eyes. There was no doubt that Kelsey had been important to him. And that he’d been important to her.

When he got to pictures of their wedding, he slowed, pausing on each one. Zooming in on his face. Zooming in on hers. Looking for something that might trigger a memory.

But there was nothing there. No memory, at least.

What he’d gained, however, was a curiosity. He’d clearly loved Kelsey. Zane could see that in his expression in the pictures. However, it was like he was looking at two strangers, one of whom looked like him. He couldn’t reconcile the emotion he saw on his face for Kelsey with how he currently felt about Sarah.

His ribs gave a pulse of pain, reminding him that he was standing in the middle of the kitchen on his crutches. Tucking his phone into his pocket, he maneuvered himself over to the breakfast nook and sat down.

Alongside his photo app, the other things he hadn’t opened on his phone were his social media accounts and text messages.Since he was alone in the kitchen, he tapped on the icon of the social media he remembered using the most.

It took a couple of minutes to sort out the password situation, but soon he had access to his account. He was slowly working his way through the levels of connection. The last thing he’d check would be the messages he and Kelsey had shared back and forth.

He’d put off doing all of that, and not just because of Kelsey. He had hoped that his memory would return on its own, especially the ones about his marriage. It was why he hadn’t asked Kelsey for many details.

But after thinking it over, he’d realized that there was an innate connection to the memories he had that was lacking in what he was being told. So he’d know whether something in his mind was a real memory or one someone had told him.

Now, he just wanted to get his memory back however he could, and maybe the pictures and messages would help with that. He’d also put off looking through them because there was a fear that if he went through everything and it didn’t trigger any memories, there would be nothing else to help him.

So he’d resisted taking that step, wanting to have it if all else failed. But now he was doing it for the sake of a woman and a relationship he couldn’t remember.

After logging into one of his social media accounts, he scrolled through his posts. He’d posted something once every couple of days, and once again, a lot of the posts were of food. But then he saw one that was written a few days after their wedding.

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