Page 42 of Love Sick

As Kyle prepares us some coffee, I stand in the kitchen doorway, unable to move as I take everything in.

Again, things feel familiar, but then they don’t at the same time.

If I focus hard enough, sparks of light, or flickers of a memory will flash before my eyes, but nothing solid—yet.

However, just being here, I know it won’t be long until I remember.

Kyle can sense this is all a little too much for me, so he hasn’t bombarded me with information, which I am thankful for. He places a cup of coffee on the kitchen counter and smiles.

I enter slowly, my boots pounding against the spotless floor. “Was I well off?” I ask because this house is gorgeous and in what seems to be a very expensive neighborhood.

“I guess both our families did all right for themselves.”

“What did I do for work?”

“You worked for a men’s magazine…one you used to model for,” he replies, his cheeks turning red. “You were a centerfold girl. A very popular one.”

I suddenly remember glitter and high heels. “Before that, though, I used to be a stripper, wasn’t I?”

Kyle nods.

“Can you tell me who I was?”

Kyle takes a sip of his coffee. “Where do I start?”

“From the beginning?”

So for the next hour, Kyle details my life from when he can remember—who I was to him, his mom, and to Misha. He tells me how I helped Joy financially and how I helped pay for his college tuition so he could attend school with Misha.

He tells me how he watched Misha change before his eyes—once his best friend who slowly became a stranger. He says this is because he believes Misha was messed up with a bad crowd. I can read between the lines, however, because it’s what he doesn’t say that matters.

“How could I not see this?” I ask, shaking my head.

“Misha was very good at keeping secrets, Luna. Don’t beat yourself up over this.”

“Was he involved in drugs?”

Kyle sighs, only interlacing our fingers as he reaches for my hand over the counter. “You were the best mom to him. He loved you so much and I know whatever he was messed up in, he didn’t want to worry you.

“He pretended like everything was okay because he wanted to protect you.”

“It was my job to protect him,” I reply, my lower lip trembling.

“And you did. His whole life, that’s all you did. He told me this all the time. Accidents happen. And it sucks, but Misha would hate to see you this way because of him.”

“It wasn’t an accident…”a voice suddenly whispers into my left ear.

It’s Misha.

The moment I saw Dutch in that room, I knew something sinister lurked and it all had to do with Alanna.

Dutch told me there was more.

He knows what happened and he’s the only one I trust to tell me the truth, no matter how badly it’ll hurt.

“So I signed everything over to Joy?”

“Yes. She was taking care of your affairs until you were better. But she has been acting…strange for a long time now. I thought it was the stress of what happened to Misha and you, but there’s something else. I know there is.”

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