by Carmen Faye
The nurse and her group of workers came in and escorted the woman who’d just brought him so much pleasure out the door. She still had the look of shock on her face, and it was almost painful to watch. He didn’t know what was going on between him and the beautiful woman, but he was going to find out.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
He didn’t remember her.
Emily “Emmy” Roth couldn’t remember ever being so shocked and surprised in her life. She’d just pulled up her skirt and had an orgasm for a man who didn’t know who in the hell she was. It should have been par with the have sex with a stranger, but for some reason it wasn’t. Did Matt think she was a slut or that she was just a person who liked men in the hospital? It hadn’t taken that long for them to scoot her out the door, but she planned on getting back in there as soon as possible. She wanted nothing more than for him to clear the cobwebs away so that he could be back to the smart, witty, funny man he was before all of this.
Her mind was blown, and she couldn’t do anything with the swirl of emotions that were beating her up inside. She was elated that he was awake, proud that he found her attractive, and humiliated that she’d done such scandalous things with a man who didn’t know her. Well, he did know her, but he didn’t remember knowing her. What must he think of her? Maybe he thought she was a prostitute… but she didn’t take any money. Maybe he thought she was a dumb prostitute. Her mind was going in too many different directions. Her head hurt and she felt like she could have thrown up if there was anything on her stomach, which there wasn’t.
She walked to the lobby and watched all the people going here and there. People who probably had a right to be there. There were rows of chairs, and she figured that she’d sit and wait, but not before she told the woman at the front desk to let her know when she could go back in with Matt.
“Excuse me,” Emmy said to the woman who looked like she was busy with papers and other things.
“Yes, dear.” The woman set aside her papers and gave her full attention to Emmy.
“I was in with Matt Perrier and they are looking at him now. Could you tell me when they are done with him so I can go back?” Emmy was encouraged that the woman had a sunny smile on and she thought that she’d be helpful.
“Are you family?” Katie was the name written on the woman’s badge.
“No, but I was brought in with him, and I’ve been helping take care of him.”
“Oh.” Katie didn’t look like that was something she was familiar with. “Let me talk to the charge nurse and I’ll see what we can do. For now take a seat over there in the waiting room and I’ll get someone to get back to you.”
“Alright, thank you,” Emmy gave her the biggest smile she could muster, but it was probably more like a grimace. This is the reason she never left his room. She’d known the rules of the hospital, but she figured that most of the people just let her stay in there because she had always been there.
The case worker had been in to see her a few times, and she’d talked to him about Matt. She’d talked to him about her plight, and he said that there was no problem with her being there and that he would vouch for her, but she’d not seen him in a good long while. When she looked for him, she’d been told that he had to leave for an emergency and would be back next week. Emmy had wondered what would have happened if they didn’t believe she was who she said she was, but now it looked like she didn’t even have the case manager there to vouch for her. The thought of just walking away from him caused her stomach to knot up and she feared she was going to be sick. Not that anything would have come up because she’d not eaten much of anything. She decided that she would just see how this played out, but there was no way she was going anywhere unless Matt specifically told her to get lost. That would hurt, but the man had saved her life more than once, and she would do as he asked, but she prayed that he’d not ask that of her.
There was too much that had just gone on, and her body felt like it was going to shut down. Who would notice if she just disappeared for a few minutes? She did her best thinking when she was asleep, so maybe the answer would just come to her. Her eyes felt so heavy; it was like there was too much going on inside her brain and it needed to shut down. She’d close them for a quick second, but then she was going to ask the slim dynamo at the front desk what was going on; she needed a little rest so she could put up a fight if she had to.
***
“Hey?” There was a soft female voice talking, and for a second, Emmy wondered if she was home in her bed with one of her brother’s girlfriends trying to wake her up. She sunk back into sleep maybe the person would just go away.
Emmy felt someone shaking her a little and she startled. Squinting up into the bright lights of the hospital lobby, she looked at her watch to see what time it was…nine in the morning. How in the world had she slept that long? Looking at the woman who was standing over her, she now knew why she thought about her brother’s girlfriends, but this woman looked a bit older than they would have been. She almost looked familiar with her pretty blue eyes and light brown hair, but the strange look on this woman’s face threw her off.
“Are you the woman who was helping Matt?” A pretty woman who was probably in her fifties was asking the question, but Emmy’s mouth was so dry that she didn’t think she’d be able to answer so she just nodded.
“I’ll get her a drink of water.” There was the voice of another woman that Emmy hadn’t seen before she talked about the water, but that woman had already walked away by the time she’d straightened up in her chair, but she returned fairly quickly. Emmy knew she had to look as crazy as she sounded gulping down that water, but for some reason, it was like she was dehydrated like never before.
“Thank you,” Emmy said to the pair when she was through. They were both beautiful women, and the looks on their faces seemed like pity. “Yes. I’m the woman who was helping Matt.”
“Well, that’s very nice of you, but now that we’re here we can take over his care. It’s so good to know that strangers will step in to help with there is a disaster.” The older woman said with a thankful look on her face.
“Oh, well, you’re right. There are a lot of people that step in, but I’m Matt’s girlfriend.” Emmy watched the women look at each other in a way that told her a few things one that they didn’t believe her and two they’d heard similar claims before.
“Matt doesn’t really do ‘girlfriends,’” said the beautiful red-haired woman who looked like she’d stepped off the pages of a high-end magazine. “I’ve known him all my life, and although there have been several women who thought they had that title, they were mistaken. He’s more of a fun-for-now type of guy.”
Emmy was about to be dismissed, and it felt like she was Alice and had fallen down the rabbit hole. “Who are you, exactly?” she asked, hoping that these two women weren’t in charge of anything, but she had a feeling she was going to be given the bums rush out of there.
“I’m Matt’s mother, and this is one of his best friends, Candy. They called and told us that he’d been hurt, but his girlfriend was by his side. I was on my way to make sure he was alright and find out who the woman was who was claiming him now.” His mother had a smile on her face, but she didn’t look like she wanted to play any games when her son was involved.
“I know that he doesn’t like to get involved because he is aware of the danger of his job and doesn’t want to leave someone the way you and he were left by his father. We spent time together in Hawaii and ended up here when I had a layover, and then the military was forced to house us, and he made sure I got the medication I needed. I’m not saying we were going to get married but I thought we were going to work on it.”
“We went in to see Matt as soon as we got here and heard all about how helpful you were with him, but when we asked him about you, he didn’t even know your name.” Matt’s friend Candy said, looking at Emmy with a sad expression. The woman probably did this often. Softening the blow to women who got the wrong idea in their head
, but that wasn’t the case with her.
“I’d like to talk to him.” Emmy wasn’t going to try to talk to them about this; she could tell they were trying to get her to go.
“We talked to the doctor, and they say he is having some short-term memory loss. He shouldn’t be pushed to remember anything right now. They are hopeful that this won’t last long, so we are hoping that you will just disappear quietly. If he wants to see you he’ll give you a call.” The mother was standing and gave a look to Candy, apparently letting her know they were done here. “Please don’t bother us as we try to get Matt back to his regular self. We know that you did a lot to get him to this point, and we appreciate you sitting with him so he wasn’t alone.”
“If I could just—” Emmy felt like she was being railroaded, but there wasn’t anything she could do. It was enough that they’d let her stay there as long as they had—with her not being family. However, now that his real family had shown up, she was out on her ass.
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be. We’ve said thank you and you got whatever you got from playing nursemaid to my son, but it ends here and now.” The woman looked impatient to get back to her son, and Emmy knew the feeling. Candy followed along behind Matt’s mother, and Emmy followed the movements of both of the woman until the door closed silently behind them.
Emmy was exhausted. It probably wasn’t good that she’d gotten released from the hospital and then went straight to Matt’s bedside. She was hungry and tired but it was like her body didn’t want any food until she found out that Matt was going to be alright. Now he was going to be fine, but since he didn’t remember her and his family wanted her to leave them alone, she just sat there in the lobby of the intensive care unit like a used rag… limp, dirty, and discarded.
She’d left a few of her things in the room before she’d gotten kicked out and needed them if she was going to get going. Too tired to figure out her next move, she knew that she needed a good night’s sleep and a hot meal. Standing up from the seat she’d been in for the last few hours, her body felt like she’d been in a fight and in some ways she had been.
Walking over to the woman who sat at the desk, she couldn’t help but notice the look of pity on her face. This wasn’t going well. It wasn’t the same woman who was there earlier either.
“I’m sorry, but is there any way you could get my purse and jacket from Matt Perrier’s room?” If she didn’t need it, she probably would have just let them keep it, but it was all she had in the world right now. She couldn’t even call anyone to get more money without her phone.
“I’ll let you back to get your things.” The woman smiled, and she was grateful that she was allowed to do that, but she didn’t think the family would have appreciated that.
Emmy guessed the nurse didn’t hear the conversation, and it was a bit humiliating, but she was going to have to tell her why she couldn’t go back.
“The family doesn’t want me to see Matt because he has some short-term memory loss and they don’t want me to upset him. Is it possible for you to go back or have someone collect my things?”
The look of pity intensified, and it made Emmy want to sink into the floor, but she stood there with her back straight and her head high. She’d done as much as she was going to be able to do for the moment. They kept being thrown together so maybe something would happen that would make it happen again.
“I’ll call back to the room and see if the family will bring it out.” The woman looked like she didn’t know what to do in this situation, but Emmy couldn’t help her because she had no idea of what to do either.
That wasn’t what she wanted to happen, but she didn’t have a voice here so she’d take what she could get. What she wanted was to see Matt again. She had been there to watch him sleep restlessly—and then restfully—but she’d not been there to see much of him when he woke up.
After a few moments, the door opened, and the beautiful Candy stepped out the door, but she was empty handed. What? Are they not going to give me the things I came in with? The look on her face was apologetic and guilt ridden. What else could she possibly go through today? It was like she was stuck in a bad dream or a crazy movie that just got worse and worse.
“I know Marcia can get a bit high-handed when she’s talking about her son. It was only the two of them for a long time, and she’d very leery about new people getting close to Matt.” Candy had on a smile that looked like she really wanted her to understand what everyone was going through, and while she was normally a very understanding, it had been an unusually trying day. No one looked like they were thinking about her. She had been on a pleasure trip with the hottest man she’d ever met who treated her like a love goddess, and now he didn’t even remember who she was… she was going to be kicked out of his life, and it was looking a bit sketchy on whether she was going to get her things returned to her.
Emmy didn’t know how to respond to what Candy was saying, especially since she kind of got lost in her own world of misery, but she vowed to pay more attention to what the woman was trying to say.
“It’s hard to walk away, but I have no leg to stand on, and he doesn’t even know who I am. I’m also really hungry and tired so I don’t have the mental ammunition to argue my case. I’m sure it was hard to see someone she didn’t know claim to care for her son. I’d like to stay around to see that he’s okay. He saved my life by sheltering me with his body.”
“Always the hero,” Candy said with a smirk. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you about Marcia; she’s a tough nut to crack, but I will say that Matt isn’t giving your purse to anyone but you. That man knows how to raise hell when he wants something, and at this moment, that something is you.”
Emmy was so happy that she was holding back tears. She wasn’t sure what side of the battle line Candy stood, but for now, she’d just be happy to be led back into the room with her stuff and the lover who didn’t know who in the hell she was.
“It’s been tough for you, too, I know. Thanks for sticking around for Matt. This place is a mad house. You’ve taken such good care of him; people don’t come around to help him out much. That’s a good thing, but also a bad thing because Marcia and I don’t know anything medical and the wires and tubes are a little intimidating.” Candy had her hand on Emmy’s back, and she guided her back to the room. “Here we are.”
Matt looked a bit panicked, and Emmy couldn’t remember ever seeing that look on his face. “There you are… where did you go?”
Matt’s mother watched her warily, and it was like the woman was afraid that her ‘get the fuck out of here’ speech would be repeated to her son. Emmy may have been tired, hungry, and rundown, but she wasn’t that type of person.
“I think they were just sorting out who could be here and who couldn’t. It’s supposed to be family only—so now that your family is here they may not let me back as much as they did before.” Emmy tried not to throw anyone under the bus, but she did want him to know that if she wasn’t in the room it wasn’t because she didn’t want to be.
Matt appeared to think about this. His eyes closed, and he frowned like he was trying to find something that he’d lost.
“Honey, you shouldn’t be trying to think so hard. The doctor said that your memory should come back soon. Do you want me to give this woman back her things so she can get going?” Marcia sounded hopeful even though she was trying make herself sound harmless.
“I’d like her to stay. She was telling me about our trip to Hawaii, and I’d like to hear more.” He put his hand out towards Emmy, and she moved closer but was a bit skeptical about grabbing onto his hand. The mother looked a bit rabid, and she’d hate for the woman to snap.
“She could tell you anything, Matt. You don’t remember what happened.” His mother took a step toward the bed.
The look he gave her shut her right down. He may not have known what had happened in the last few weeks, but he seemed to still be in charge of himself and his surroundings. “I believe what she
has told me so far, and there is no reason that she would lie. What is she gaining? She’s here of her own volition and hasn’t been rewarded with money or gifts. She looks tired, and from what I’ve heard, she was wiping me down and turning me so often the nurses just let her run with my care.” He reached out further and pulled Emmy toward him before he folded her hand in his and patted it.
He must really be observant, or maybe he just knew his mother. Emmy had been rung out, but she wasn’t going to let these people see it. She was just trying to hold her own against these people who had some ill thoughts about her for some reason.
“They told me they were giving me base housing for a while since I’m good enough to go home tomorrow, but they want to watch my progress. The house is ready with rations and furniture. How about you go there to get some rest tonight, and you can come back in the morning.” Matt said looking at her, even though they could both hear his mother fighting to keep her words back.
“If it’s going to make your mother uncomfortable, I have no problem going to a hotel. I’ll come back tomorrow and help get you settled.” Emmy looked at the mother and saw her one eyebrow cock up like she was still skeptical. “Is that acceptable to you?”