Page 43 of The One She Can't Forget

A few weeks later,we went to the Fourth of July barbecue at Mark and Danielle Dawson’s house. It had become a bit of a tradition for them to host one, with all their closest friends and anyone else who wanted to come.

I was just glad I wasn’t working. The patriotic US holiday was always a busy one for the station. We paid volunteers to work full shifts the whole weekend because we knew we’d need them.

Between accidental ignitions and people being dumb with small explosives, the station typically didn’t quiet until well after midnight. Mark and Danielle’s party was lower-key, more about the food than the fanfare, and that was exactly how I liked it.

I found I enjoyed the event all the more because for the first time, Monica was on my arm. It felt like the first time we’d truly been together in public without trying to act like we weren’t involved.

Who could blame me for finding any excuse to place my hand on the small of her back? It wasn’t my fault I had to lean in to whisper in her ear to let her know that Chrissy was trying to get her attention across the lawn.

When we settled on our blanket to watch the fireworks, our fingers laced together in the dark. I’d be the first to admit that the fireworks show overhead had nothing on the sparks of our kisses over the last few weeks. Right now, that intensity had been replaced by the gentle hum of awareness inside me. It was a distractingly wonderful sizzle that came from knowing she was with me for everyone to see.

And I never wanted it to stop.

ChapterFifteen

MONICA

The headaches I could handle, especially when they were accompanied by flashes of memories. Jake and I were slowly realizing that the more he talked about our life before the accident, the more I was remembering. The memories were there, but I had lost the link to them. He was helping me rebuild those links, and sometimes just by his telling me something had happened, I was able to remember it.

He patiently answered all of my questions about our friendship before we kissed at the Super Bowl party, and our dating relationship afterward. With his help, I remembered our stolen conversations, my part in Krystal and Bryce’s reunion, and our plans for the auction.

If we worked on remembering for too long, the headaches got worse, but I could endure them.

The part I couldn’t handle was the boredom. Especially on days that Jake was on shift at the station, I found myself wandering aimlessly around my apartment. If I could have driven, I would have gone to the hospital. I’d been thinking about being there quite a bit, wondering if it might help my memory recovery. A few weeks after I moved back to my apartment, I finally broke down one quiet afternoon.

I texted Jake.

MS: Will you take me to the hospital tomorrow?

JB: What’s wrong? Do you need to go now?

Oops. I didn’t think that through.

My phone vibrated. No surprise, Jake was calling.

“Hey,” I said.

“We’re on our way,” he said.

I could hear the intensity in his tone, and I thought I even heard the car door slam.

I hurried to interrupt. “No, stop! It’s not an emergency. It’s not that.”

“What do you mean?”

I sighed. “There’s nothing wrong with me. Please get out of the ambulance. I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about how you’d read that request.”

“I’m so confused right now. Why are you asking me to take you to the hospital if you’re not hurt?”

How did I explain this without sounding insane? “I want to go spend some time in the emergency department to see if I can get any more of my memories from there back.”

Jake let out a huge sigh. “That was not at all where my head was, Monica. You can’t do that to me!”

I chuckled. “I know, I said I was sorry. What do you think?”

Jake thought about it for a second. “Yeah, I don’t mind doing that. What exactly do you think we’ll do? Just go camp out in the waiting room?”

I shrugged, though he couldn’t see it. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll find out. Even if I just sit at the nurse’s station and sort of… soak in what’s going on? I think it’ll be good, you know?”

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