Nurse's Date with a Billionaire

by Amelia Addler

  This time Craig was ready for the joke and responded with a laugh.

  “Dad,” Kali said, rubbing her forehead, “Don’t you think it’s time to retire that joke?”

  “No!” He shook his head. “Every time I meet someone new, I get to use it. That’s the rule. Right girls?”

  Ella and Marcy almost simultaneously rolled their eyes. It was like the teenager olympics of eye rolling. Craig tried to suppress a smile. Kali’s family was everything he hoped they’d be and more.

  “Craig,” Marcy stepped forward. “Let me take you on a tour of the house.”

  “Sure, sounds lovely.”

  There wasn’t much to tour; the house had three rather tight bedrooms, one bathroom, and a finished basement.

  “This was my brother’s room before he went to college,” Marcy said of the basement, “but now I’m pretty much exclusively using it as my studio.”

  “Ah, very nice,” Craig replied, looking around admiringly.

  “Would you like to hear a song?” she asked, picking up her guitar.

  Ella appeared in the doorway. “I’m sure he didn’t come all this way to listen to you play.”

  Craig smiled. “That’d be nice.”

  Marcy didn’t miss a beat. “What kind of music do you like? British stuff? I know a lot of British rock,” she said confidently.

  “Well, to be honest – I don’t remember much of what music I like.”

  “Oh, right. The amnesia.” She nodded. “Mom told me about that.”

  “I’m sure I’ll like anything you play.”

  Marcy brightened. “Alright, tell me if you know this one.”

  She started into a rather unpleasant sounding string of notes, followed by some low, melancholy lyrics. It went on for what Craig thought may have been an hour or two, but it was likely only a few minutes. He forced himself to nod intently.

  When she hit the last note, he clapped and said, “Bravo!”

  “Did you recognize it?” she asked.

  He frowned. “I can’t say that I did, but that’s not personal, I assure you. I don’t even know my own last name.”

  “But you thought you could have heard it, like, on the radio?”

  It slowly dawned on him what she was getting at. “Yes,” he said quickly, “definitely.”

  Ella let out a loud sigh from the doorway.

  “See,” Marcy said. “I told you it was good enough to be on the radio.”

  There was some commotion upstairs and Candice yelled that “the birthday boy” arrived and that they needed to come and help set the table. Craig followed them upstairs, and after saying a brief hello to Kali’s brother Cody, he spent a painful few minutes hovering around the kitchen. He wanted to help with something, but ended up just being a nuisance as Candice tried to check some things on the stove and the girls went back and forth to grab things for the table.

  Unable to figure out how to help, he removed himself from the kitchen and instead decided to talk to Cody.

  “Long drive in?” he asked.

  “No, not too bad. I go to school in Milwaukee.”

  “Ah,” Craig said, pretending he knew where Milwaukee was in relation to Madison. “Do you like it there?”

  “Yeah, so far so good.”

  “And you’re studying…?”

  “Engineering,” Cody said with a shrug. “It’s alright. A lot of math. How long have you and Kali been together?”

  Craig scratched his head and laughed. Clearly Cody was not as up to date on Kali’s life as her twin sisters were. Probably a function of living away from home – and of being a guy.

  Kali stepped in and gave Cody a hug. “Hey bro, happy birthday.” She looked at Craig. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my…tenant.”

  “Oh!” Cody said. “Sorry. It’s just my sister hasn’t had a boyfriend since – well, since Luke.”

  “Ooh,” Craig cooed, turning toward Kali. “Luke was it?”

  Kali’s face turned red. Without saying a word, she immediately left the room.

  Craig had the urge to go after her, but Cody started talking again. “Uh – sorry. I assumed you knew.”

  Craig lowered his voice. “Knew what?”

  “About her fiancé.”

  Craig shook his head. “She never mentioned it.”

  “Oh. Well – she – maybe you should just ask her later.”

  “Alright.”

  At that moment, Candice shooed everyone towards the dining room. “We’re going to have cake first,” she said. “Just the way you like it Cody!”

  They all made their way to the table, Craig feeling exceptionally awkward and bad. He was about to get up and find Kali when she appeared at the end of the table.

  “Is everything okay?” Craig asked quietly. She looked totally recovered – perhaps he’d imagined that she was upset.

  “Yeah, why?” she gave him a puzzled look. She was a good actress, but she wasn't that good. Craig could tell she was hiding something. Whatever it was, she wasn’t going to discuss it in front of everyone. He decided to drop it.

  Candice came in carrying a large, homemade cake that was wonderfully on fire with twenty candles. They sang happy birthday, cut the cake, and then Cody opened a few presents. The twins got him a hooded sweatshirt; Kali got him a new tablet to use for school.

  Craig felt a bit sheepish for not bringing anything. He was supposed to be paid at the end of his second week, so he was still technically broke. He didn’t get a chance to delve too deeply into his embarrassment, though, because Marcy thought of a fun game to play before dinner was served.

  “Alright, so we’re going to do a word association game. I’m going to say a word, and you’ll say the first thing that comes to your mind. It might help unbury some of your memories!”

  It seemed like a decent idea to Craig. “Okay.”

  “Alright, are you ready? No thinking, just say what comes into your head.”

  “Got it.”

  “Okay – city!”

  Craig paused. “Landscape?”

  She waved a hand. “That took too long. Just say what comes into your head.”

  “Right, sorry.” He leaned forward to improve his focus.

  “It’s okay,” Marcy said. “Ready? Food!”

  He didn’t hesitate this time. “Pancakes.”

  The table erupted into laughter. He looked around. “What’s so funny?”

  “You just said that really seriously,” Kali said. “Have you even had pancakes before?”

  “Well, not that I know of,” responded Craig. “But I saw an advertisement for them on TV and I thought they looked quite good.”

  More laughter. Ella decided she wanted to get in on the fun. “Let me ask some! Craig, look at me. Focus, okay?”

  He tried to stop smiling and look at her. “Ready.”

  “Car!”

  “Driver.”

  “House!”

  “Home.”

  “Mom!”

  “Maggie.”

  Ella paused for a moment and narrowed her eyes. “Is that your mom’s name?”

  Craig stopped for a moment. “It is. My mum’s name is Maggie!”

  “It worked!” Marcy said triumphantly.

  “Craig,” Kali said, staring at him, “What’s her last name?”

  He looked down, trying to refocus. Nothing came to him. “I don’t know,” he said finally.

  “That’s okay,” Marcy said, hands clasped. “We’re getting somewhere.”

  The questioning went on for another twenty minutes, everyone taking turns with asking. Craig didn’t have any more revelations. He was a bit distracted, actually, thinking the name Maggie over and over again. He hoped he could see his mother’s face, or catch some other detail about her. The harder he tried, the further away it seemed.

  Dinner was served not too long after the game started to lose its luster. Candice made Cody’s favorite meal, some sort of a pot roast that Craig thought was delicious. After dinner, Craig helped clear
the table, and then everyone went into the living room to play Pictionary.

  It took a few minutes to explain the rules to Craig, but once he figured it out, he felt rather competitive. Unfortunately, every other member of the family was better at the game than he was, and he discovered that he was also terrible at drawing pictures.

  At one point, Fred held up Craig’s sad drawing of a classroom and said, “Craig, I think you’re going to need to bring this to your doctor.”

  “What! It’s clearly a classroom.”

  “Why did you make all of these little tombstones…” Fred said, pointing. “I think a psychiatrist needs to take a look at this.”

  “Those are desks,” Craig insisted.

  Kali agreed. “I’ll make sure it gets in his file.”

  Craig laughed so hard that night that his face hurt. He was exhausted by the time everyone went to bed for the night and he settled onto the couch. It was so comically small that he either had to have his legs stick off a few feet or curl up like a small dog. It didn’t bother him, though. For some reason, these people welcomed him like he was a member of the family, not like the bizarre house guest that he was.

  He closed his eyes. All he could see was Kali’s laughing face. No matter what he tried to think about – his mother’s name, his job, where he came from – all he could think of was Kali. Part of him wished that he’d never remember who he was. Maybe he could rent the basement from Kali for the rest of his life. That wouldn't be so bad.

  He felt guilty, though. Surely he had people who cared about him – people who were looking for him. What if he had a girlfriend? A wife? And he was off falling in love with another woman?

  Surely he’d remember if he were in love with someone else. No – Craig was sure that the only woman in his heart was Kali. Seeing her with her family only made him feel more mad in his adoration of her. There was no denying it.

  He decided it was at least worth finding out who he was so he could then offer Kali the full truth. Perhaps it’d even tempt her into accepting him. He drifted into sleep, her face weaving in and out of his dreams.

  Chapter 11

  Her mom made an embarrassing show of saying goodbye on Sunday and telling Craig that he was “always welcome to visit.” Even her dad, who rarely commented on anything seriously, told Craig that it was “nice to have someone else with a sense of humor” around. Kali tried not to roll her eyes. Later, on the ride home, she told Craig that he must have children in his real life.

  “Really?” He seemed a bit stunned. “I didn’t even think of that.”

  “I’m just saying because you seem to have Dad Jokes pretty much down.”

  Craig smiled. “Oh.”

  Kali felt bad – he seemed lost in thought after her comment. She didn’t mean to suggest that he actually had children, who he’d subsequently abandoned during his amnesia. Kali decided to leave the jokes to him.

  He spoke up after a few minutes. “Your family – ”

  “Is nuts?” she said, cutting him off.

  He shook his head. “I was going to say lovely.”

  “Ha, thanks,” she replied. She wasn’t used to serious Craig. “Well – that’s nice of you to say.”

  “I wonder if I have a family. And if they’re looking for me.”

  She offered him a pained smile. “I’m sure they are. You remembered your mom’s name, that was good!”

  “Yeah,” he brightened a bit. “Thanks to Marcy.”

  They rode in silence for a few more minutes before Craig spoke again.

  “I want to apologize for asking about Luke.”

  “It’s okay, you didn’t know.” She had time to process it now, too. She was just surprised when Cody brought it up. “His birthday is coming up. In two weeks.”

  “Yeah?”

  She nodded, keeping her eyes straight on the road. “I always take a day off. I visit his parents, and I visit his grave.”

  Craig looked at her but said nothing.

  “We were high school sweethearts,” she continued. “And in our last year of school, he found out he had cancer. Leukemia.”

  “How terrible,” Craig said quietly.

  Kali swallowed. It was terrible. She didn’t know why she was telling him all of this. “He proposed to me – he made me promise we’d get married as soon as he beat the cancer. But he never did.”

  Craig turned to her. “Kali, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “It was a long time ago.” She avoided looking at him – she didn’t want him to see the tears in her eyes. It was a long time ago, but Luke was the only man she’d ever loved. He was the only man she ever would love. That much she knew. There was no room for anyone else in her heart.

  They arrived home shortly afterwards. Kali busied herself with running errands – bringing the animals over from her neighbor’s house, running to the grocery store, packing lunches. Craig insisted on helping her as much as he could, but she only allowed him to help her with lunches. She wanted some time away from him. She was afraid he’d ask more about Luke – rather, she was afraid she’d blab more about Luke. It’d been so long since he passed away that no one asked about him anymore…even though she was always thinking of him.

  Craig didn’t bring it up again. Instead he asked her how to hard boil eggs; apparently, he felt guilty he wasn’t able to pack her a decent lunch the other day. Kali thought it was more than decent – it’d been years since someone else packed a lunch for her. Somehow it always tasted better when someone else made it for you. She didn’t tell him that, though; instead, she showed him the egg timer.

  That evening, they watched Casino Royale on TV. Somehow, Craig knew not only the name of every Bond actor in the last fifteen years, he also knew the plots of all of the movies.

  “Clearly, Bond is stored in a different part of my brain than all of my friends, family and loved ones.”

  “You must love him very much,” Kali said with a smirk.

  “I do,” he replied, mockingly placing a hand over his heart.

  They stayed up a bit too late that night because Craig insisted that she see the ending of the movie. Craig also made Kali promise that they would watch some of his other favorites that week. She agreed, if only because she hoped those memories were tied to something else in his life.

  On Monday, they each returned to work and fell into a sort of routine where every evening, they’d sit down and watch a Bond movie. Craig was thrilled. Kali would never admit it, but she was happy to see him happy.

  By the end of the week, Kali was wiped out. Betsy asked her to pick up an extra shift, and though she didn’t say anything about Craig, Kali felt it was still implied that she was holding that over her head. How long could she do that, though? She’d have to find something new to bully her with eventually.

  That Friday night, she and Craig settled onto the couch, as was their new routine.

  “Alright, so do you want to watch Tomorrow Never Dies? Or do you want to pick something?”

  Kali shrugged. “Whatever.”

  “I feel like I’ve been quite the movie hog,” Craig said. “I’d like you to pick. I’m finished picking.”

  “It really doesn’t matter to me. I will probably fall asleep in a few minutes anyway.”

  Craig frowned. “Right. Well, rest up for tomorrow.”

  “Why?”

  “I have a surprise!”

  “Oh no,” Kali groaned.

  “Oh, come now. You’re going to like it,” he said.

  “What is it?”

  “Well,” he straightened up. “First of all, Steven paid me today. To be honest, I didn’t think he would pull through, but he did.”

  “Uh huh,” Kali said, too tired to tease him about his lack of faith in Steven.

  “So that’s the first good news. I can pay my rent for the last two weeks, and I can pick up the next grocery bill. And pay you back for the clothing.”

  Kali sighed. “That would probably take most of your first paycheck,
and I don’t need the money. It can wait a few weeks.”

  Craig crossed his arms. “I am good for it, you know.”

  She laughed. “I’m sure you are. I’m just saying, it’s totally fair for you to have the full month to pay me.”

  “Fine. ‘Til the end of the month, then.”

  “Deal,” she said, closing her eyes. The couch was so comfortable that she couldn’t resist.

  “That may be better then, so I have enough to pay for dinner tomorrow.”

  Kali opened her eyes. “Where are you going?”

  “We are going to Amalfi Corner.”

  “Are you serious?” Kali sat up. Her coworkers talked about that place all the time – it was the place to go for anniversaries and celebrations. Kali had never been, of course, because why would she spend all of that money on a fancy dinner just for herself?

  “Oh, so you’ve heard of it?” Craig said, brightening. “That’s good. I saw it one day when I went downtown on the bus and – ”

  “Craig, that place is really expensive. And you need a reservation like a month ahead of time.”

  He shrugged. “Well it’s a good thing that I made a reservation the first time I walked by, isn’t it?”

  Her jaw dropped. “You’re not serious.”

  “I am. And don’t worry about the money, I just got paid and rent isn’t due for another two weeks.” He winked at her.

  Kali laughed and shook her head. “I’m not going.”

  “It’s my treat. Please. Let me do one nice thing for you in return for all the nice things you’ve done for me.”

  Kali sighed. What if Betsy saw her out? Then again, what were the chances that Betsy would be at the same restaurant that night? She didn’t have anyone to go to dinner with either, that was for sure.

  “Otherwise,” Craig said, dropping his voice, “I’ll have to ask your dad to go with me and I don’t think he’d appreciate the ambiance.”

  “No, I don’t think he would,” she said. She bit her lip. What was the harm? It might be her only chance to go there for the foreseeable future. It’s not like she had any plans that weekend, either.