Remember Me

by Roxanne Tully

  Matt handed Liz her glass. He was about to say something when an older gentleman approached them. The unfamiliar man wore a gray, well-tailored suit, a remarkable watch, and shiny cufflinks. Liz suspected him to be one of the honored guests or host.

  “Counselman O’Reilly,” Matt acknowledged.

  “Matthew,” the man acknowledged with a nod. “Liz, how are you? Great to see you both again. I just saw your parents, Matt. Always a pleasure.”

  Matt nodded. Clearly not a mutual feeling. Matt didn’t seem to be a pretender. Liz could be it for him.

  She reached her hand to touch the Counselman. “Equally a pleasure, Counselman. These events really do get better every year.” She gave her warmest smile.

  The white-haired man appeared very pleased with the compliment. “Thank you, thank you.” He looked around, admiring the crowd and decoration. “We do try to keep it up to scale.” He seemed to have spotted other guests nearby. “Thanks again for your support,” he patted Matt on the arm before disappearing.

  Matt leaned in and mumbled into the top of her head. “You are good at this. If you keep it up, I might put you to the test with a difficult crowd.”

  “I’m game, but you wouldn’t,” she challenged.

  “You know me too well.”

  Chapter 33

  MATT

  It was as though she’d never left. Her grace, her attention; she was ready for anything, for anyone. She was doing more than just covering the effects of her injury. She was charming the crowd and enjoying herself. Enjoying being free of the looks of concern, and people tip toeing around her. He hadn’t been blind to how much that annoyed her, but now saw how much she yearned to be normal.

  Whatever that meant to her.

  Liz seemed to feed off him pretty well when it came to how much a particular person or couple were liked by them. The Millers for example, weren’t their favorite couple. The few dinners and encounters with them in the past had been unbearable. The couple praised each other more in one night than you’d hear at the Academy Awards.

  And Matt particularly approved of Liz’s aversion of the “children” question from the Wyatt’s. She touched Erica Wyatt’s arm and insisted, “You will be the first to know! But tell me about yours.” Sure, it wasn’t difficult to assess that those asking about your plans for kids, already have their own, but to cleverly phrase the question without implying they have multiple—was genius.

  He swapped out her near-empty glass for a full one and smiled at her. “You need a break.”

  She relaxed her shoulders, “Ugh, you’re right. Do we sit yet?”

  “No, let’s get some air,” Matt led her past the crowd of guests toward the back terrace of the venue. He couldn’t have anymore “friends” popping up before they could be seated. And Liz needed a break from all the smiling, small chatter, and faking. But more than that, he was worried about her overexerting her brain, if that was even a thing. Perhaps he’d know, if he bothered to call Dr. Tai back. Still, some fresh air, a quiet moment for just the two of them, and having her all to himself for a moment, sounded phenomenal.

  Ben appeared before them, just as they got to the double doors of the back terrace. “Hey guys, how’s it going? Liz, you alright?”

  Matt mentally shook his head at the nerve of his brother being so casual with them. He wasn’t letting it go. Ben was always overprotective of his sister-in-law, which Matt always appreciated, but now that he’d been caught up on their lie, he was just offended by it.

  “Hey Ben,” she glanced cautiously at Matt. “I’m great, Matt and I were just taking a break from the crowded room.”

  “Yeah, no, I noticed you’ve been making some rounds.” He glared at Matt, “you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “You heard her; she’s having a great time.”

  Ben didn’t alter, he glared at Matt. “You don’t think this is a little too much for her right now?”

  Liz opened her mouth to speak but Matt couldn’t help himself, “I would know if something was too much for her to handle; clearly, I have more faith in her than you do.”

  Liz put a hand on Matt’s chest instead of questioning the aggression. Another sign that she trusted him. She turned to Ben and was about to say something but was interrupted by someone from a few feet away.

  “What do we have here,” called a voice Matt unfortunately recognized. “It’s the Owen brothers wrapped up in a not so discrete heated discussion.” Clyde O’Reilly approached them with a devilish smile.

  “Here to support my father for another term,” he said matter-of-factly, “very appreciated, of course.” He turned to Liz. “Lizzy, always good to see you. You don’t look like you were in any accident.” His head-to-toe observation of Matt’s wife was irritating him to no end. The bastard had some nerve.

  Liz just held the man’s stare, unamused. “I recover quickly.”

  “So little, yet so strong. Good for you Matt, well done.”

  Matt felt Ben’s hand on his shoulder—Ben knew Matt was about to lose his cool and wanted him to think better of it.

  Clyde was in every sense of the word, a dick. One might expect the guy to use his family name and money to get ahead and go into politics himself, even. But no, the guy married some arm candy idiot, and spent his days making problems for people in town. Starting with his job at the Board of Ed years ago, when he’d initiated a “cleaning house” on his second year, causing a major uproar with the PTA and school officials. He was removed from office shortly after and had since then become the sleazebag of the town.

  Saying the Owens disrespected the guy, would be an understatement. They hated the guy.

  “Hey Clyde. And where’s your better half?” Matt muttered.

  “That she is,” Clyde agreed. “She couldn’t make it today, unfortunately. Conflicting event.”

  Megan appeared from nowhere. “Liz, hey, why don’t we go have a drink with Angel and... the others.”

  Liz shot Matt a confused look and let Megan drag her away. Matt sneered at Clyde who watched the woman disappear into the crowd.

  “Nice seeing you again Clyde,” Ben said through gritted teeth.

  “I appreciate the lie. See you kids around.” One thing Matt respected about Clyde—emphasis on one—was that the guy called out bullshit when he heard it. Not that Matt cared.

  “Hopefully not too soon,” Ben muttered before he turned to Matt. “Can I talk to you outside?”

  “Why?”

  “It’s about Liz.”

  “Is that why Megan dragged her away?”

  Ben held his hands up. “I’m not picking a fight with you. I just want to help.”

  Matt swallowed, glanced over at a distracted Liz with Megan, and walked out to the terrace. He stormed to the far end and held the rail, facing the pier, away from the accusing stare from his betraying brother.

  “What are you doing?” Ben finally asked.

  Matt breathed deep and turned to stare back at his brother with no intention of responding.

  “Just tell her the truth. You two are better than this.”

  “Don’t lecture me about my marriage.”

  “You can get through it.”

  “What do you suppose I do? I just tell her what happened? That’ll confuse the hell out her and set her so far I won’t be able to bring her back.”

  “Or you make her face the reason she’s hiding,” Ben snapped.

  “You really are a cruel human being.”

  “I know it sounds awful, but I think the mind is a powerful thing and she needs to face this.”

  With all his force and anger, Matt pressed both hands on his brother’s chest and pushed him. “It’s your fault she’s in this. You screwed with her mind. You took advantage of her when she was hurting and now she’s too afraid to face...her life,” he paused. He turned away from Ben and focused on a blurry cluster of lights on a yacht floating a good mile from the pier.

  Any other day, Ben would have fought back. But not this time. This t
ime he stood silently behind him. Matt could hear his breathing. He could hear his brother’s mind going over what to say next. What he didn’t understand was that this wasn’t his to fix.

  “She’s afraid of losing you,” Ben finally said in nearly a whisper. “She doesn’t want a life without you.”

  “You think you know her so well.”

  “You know her better. You know why this is happening, the doctor told you this, didn’t he? He’s been asking you about her life. If anything traumatic happened recently that may be the cause of her memory loss?”

  Matt turned and stared at him in shock.

  “I’ve been reading,” Ben cocked his head and glanced away.

  “Why are you so interested?”

  “Someone needs to figure out how to help her, Matt. I’m not going to let your jealousy and anger ruin both your lives.”

  Matt’s temper boiled, and he gripped Ben’s shirt.

  “She’s like a sister to me, Matt. She was never anything more,” he paused and locked eyes with Matt. “What happened three years ago was a mistake we’ve both been regretting; I can promise you that.”

  Matt let his brother go in a forceful push and turned to head back to find Liz. His heart sank when he saw who was standing at the doorway.

  Clyde stood peering at them, partially concealed by the shadow of the doorframe. The snide expression that would send chills through Matt if he weren’t so heated at the moment.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Clyde offered. “Thought you boys could use a beer to cool off out here,” his lips stretching on one end before he held up his hands with a bottle of beer in one and two of the same in the other.

  Matt forced himself to relax his shoulders in an effort to disguise the tension built up in him the moment he noticed the devious man. He wouldn’t ask how much he’d heard. He wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Matt glanced down at the beers. “I’ll take one,” he offered, ignoring Ben’s sneer.

  Clyde handed Matt a bottle, who nearly winced at the temperature. Not because it was cold. But because it wasn’t cold enough. This wasn’t a bottle pulled out of a cooler in the last five minutes.

  “On second thought. I’m good. I’ll see you around Clyde.” Matt stalked out of the room to search for his wife and call it a night.

  Chapter 34

  LIZ

  Liz stretched out her arms in acceptance of the morning sun shining through their bedroom window. She shivered a little and went to turn down the air conditioning. She followed with turning the knob of the large window, letting it unfold until it was a nearly perfect ninety-degree angle. She heard her husband shift his weight and felt his admiring eyes on her.

  “That’s cruel,” he murmured.

  “Well, maybe I would have slept in longer if we stayed at the party last night.”

  “What’s the point? We had dinner, a few drinks. What did you want to stay for, the speeches? It’s the same one every year. I could recite it to you, if you’d like.”

  “No, thank you.” She blinked and then turned to face him. “I’d prefer you telling me the truth.”

  He fell back in bed, dramatically. “Okay, it was me. Goodnight.”

  She bounced next to him on the bed, barely causing him to move. “Tell me about Clyde.”

  Matt stayed silent under the covers for a moment, long enough for her to wonder if he’d truly fallen asleep. Until he pulled down the cover and looked thoughtfully and, dare she think, cautiously into her eyes. “Why do you want to know about him?”

  “Who is he? Why don’t you and your brother like him? Did he do anything to you?”

  “No, he didn’t do anything,” he paused. “He’s just a...he’s a long-time family...friend. He can be a dick sometimes, but he’s nothing to worry about.”

  She waited for more, but there didn’t seem to be any. She decided to accept his lacking response and offered a small smile. “What are you doing today?”

  “I’m going to go talk to Dr. Tai. Would you like to come?”

  “Don’t I have to?”

  “Not necessarily. The doctor did want to speak with me alone at some point about your progress. He suggested it would be less pressure to be honest if you weren’t in the room.”

  “I could see that,” she smirked.

  “No one is going to kick you out of the room, but we just want to discuss ways to…bring you back.”

  Her heart sank. You mean bring her back.

  “You alright?” Matt’s eyebrows furred.

  “Of course. Getting my memory back is...what I want.”

  “What you need,” he corrected almost in a question.

  Suddenly Matt didn’t seem sleepy anymore, but concerned. He gave her a long, tender look before lifting himself off the bed. With nothing but his briefs on, he sat on the edge, holding her waist. His eyes searching hers as if looking for the truth behind them.

  “Liz, you were practically begging me every day to take you back to the hospital. To get more evaluations done, try new things,” he reminded. “You’re hesitant now,” he accurately observed. “What are you afraid of?”

  She bit the side of her lip as her eyes wandered around the room. “I guess I just don’t want you to be disappointed…if you’re stuck with me.”

  His brows furrowed. He stilled while he glared at her. As if she were a hologram that he could see right through. She immediately regretted uttering the words and refused to breathe again until he spoke. She wasn’t lying, part of her did wonder if he’d be disappointed if her memories never fully returned. She feared her memories more than she feared losing Matt. She knew it didn’t make sense; she’d still have him, but there was an undeniable gut feeling that pained her every time she thought of getting her memory back. She feared the truths, the lies, and the reality. It was as if a death to the life she knew and loved awaited her. Visible chills ran up her arms and she clutched them.

  Matt glanced down at them and then back into her eyes. “Liz?”

  He always called her Lizzy.

  “What if there is something I don’t want to remember?”

  He stared at her for a moment before answering. “Then we’ll face it together.”

  There was something. “Is it bad?” the lump thickening in her throat.

  He breathed out from his nose, swallowed and stepped close to kiss her on the forehead.

  “You’re going to be fine.” He turned away from her abruptly and went to put his clothes on with sudden urgency.

  She nodded nervously. “I want to get my memory back. I want to be the wife and woman you remember. I want our life back,” she added, desperate for another reaction. She didn’t exactly know what life she supposedly wanted back.

  Matt’s expression was unreadable as he buttoned his dark blue shirt. Once he was done, he sauntered up to her and put both hands on her shoulders.

  “You want honesty? I miss her. I don’t love who you are any less but I miss the woman I have history with. I miss the woman who trusts me, knows what I can do for her, knows my weaknesses and isn’t afraid to show me hers. I miss her knowing expressions, how she can tell what I’m feeling, regardless of what I’m saying,” he paused. She hoped it wasn’t to give her a chance to speak because at the moment, she could barely breathe.

  “I won’t lie to you,” he continued relentlessly. “I want my Lizzy back. I need to tell her how I feel. I remember her just the way she was, and what she means to me and I need to tell her it’s safe to come home.”

  He leaned down to kiss her on her cheek, as if she were the stranger, he implied she was. She swallowed the lump in her throat and struggled to get the words out, “Then go get her.”

  Chapter 35

  MATT

  Matt cringed in the elevator of the hospital as he remembered the pained look on Liz’s face before he left. He couldn’t believe it when he heard it. She was terrified of getting her memory back. And he knew why. She’d lose him. Deep inside she must feel Lizzy’s fear. That his wife was hiding within
her. And her double was protecting her. He knew it was harsh, but it wasn’t meant for her. It was meant for Lizzy. The love of his life needed to hear it. And if she didn’t, then that’s where the good doctor needed to come in.

  Matt was ready to listen.

  I should have done this weeks ago.

  The elevator door opened to the neuro floor that Matt painfully remembered. If not the bright rounded dove-painted open hall that triggered the memories of that horrendous week, but the undertone scents of bleach and rubbing alcohol sure would do it. Matt paced past the busy waiting area and immediately spotted Dr. Tai, who stood by the rounded reception desk signing papers.

  “Dr. Tai,” Matt exhausted. “I apologize, I’m late.”

  The doctor barely glanced up at him. He handed the papers back to a waiting receptionist and turned to face him. “Doesn’t matter, you’re here. Please sign in and follow me.” You would think this doctor wasn’t the same man trying to reach Matt for the past few weeks.

  Moments later, they were in a large private office. Matt immediately noted the bright blue floors, matching those paper-thin surgery shoe covers and caps. The rest of the room screamed hospital-white. Closed white shutters covered the windows at the back end of the room. One white, out-of-place file cabinet stood at the corner and a white table across it. There was nothing else but two white plastic chairs in the entire room. Seemed like a waste of perfectly good space in the crowded hospital.

  “Please take a seat.”

  “Thank you,” Matt nodded and sat across from the doctor. “I um, got all your voicemails.”

  “I assumed you would.”

  “I’m ready to discuss treatment plans.”

  “I’m happy to hear that. But I don’t have a plan.”

  Matt was puzzled but he just glared at the doctor.

  “I can’t treat someone I haven’t seen in nearly a month. I don’t know her progress, or regression, or what state she’s in,” he paused. “I don’t know who I’m treating,” the doctor emphasized, as if to get his point across.