What She Forgot

by Tammy Falkner

  Then Will was there. He stood in the doorway. He wore a black hoodie and a black stocking cap, and he stood braced in the doorway as he lifted the gun toward Megan.

  Megan sat down in a chair and crossed her legs. “So nice of you to join us,” she said, her voice droll. “We were just getting to know one another.” She kicked a chair across the room toward him. “Please join us.”

  Instead, Will walked sideways toward me, his gun still aimed at Megan. “Are you all right?” he asked me.

  “I’m fine.” And I was. It could have been a lot worse. I could have been like the guy who’d just stumbled through the doorway. Will stood next to me, blocking me from Megan’s vision. He kicked his leg in my direction. It was almost imperceptible, but I did see it. I reached out, lifted the edge of his pant leg, and I retrieved the Glock 42 that rested there in an ankle holster. I palmed it in my grip and waited.

  “I missed you,” Will said. Then he smiled at me. It was a devastatingly handsome smile, the kind that would make a normal woman swoon. But I was not a normal woman. I didn’t swoon. “One day, after we get married, do you think you could stop getting into scrapes long enough to pop out some babies?” he asked absently.

  This time, it was me who snorted. “I’d make a terrible mother.”

  “I think you’d be an amazing mother.” He stared hard into my eyes.

  “You might not think so in a few minutes,” I warned.

  His eyes narrowed but he didn’t reply. I got to my feet, his gun held in my hand.

  “I need for you to trust me,” I said to him. “I’m a perfect shot, okay? I never miss.”

  Megan jumped to her feet. “Wait just a minute.”

  “Don’t worry, Megan. You’re safe.” I placated her. I looked at Will. “I know we never had time to go to the range together, but you have to trust me.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry, Will,” I said. I lifted his gun, braced myself, and then I shot him. He looked down at his hip, where the bullet had grazed him. It was freely bleeding, just like I’d known it would.

  “What?” He looked down, pressing his hand against the flow of blood. “Why?” he asked, his eyes glazing over with pain as his brow furrowed.

  “It had to be done.” I bit back the cry that was lodged in my throat and blinked back my tears. “I had no other choice.”

  He looked down again. “You shot me.”

  It wasn’t me who tried to stanch the flow of blood. It was her. The syringe that Megan had been holding clattered to the floor. And I saw it. I watched as she changed. I saw the look on her face when she ran straight to him. “Will!” she cried. “You’ve been shot!”

  Will stared down into the eyes of the woman he’d once loved so fiercely. “Marley?” he asked.

  “Yes, Will. It’s me. What happened? Where are we?” She looked around, confused.

  “Is it really you?” Will asked. He finally sank down in the chair that Megan had kicked toward him.

  And then Marley fell against him, resting between his splayed legs, her cheek against the chest that I knew was solid as a rock. He palmed the back of her head and stared at me while he held her.

  “What have you done?” he asked me.

  This time, I didn’t even try to stop the tears that scalded my cheeks. I let them flow. I didn’t wipe them away. I let them fall, tasting the briny saltiness of my own regrets. “I did what was right.” I laid his weapon on the table behind him. “You’ll thank me for it later.”

  “I don’t understand,” he replied. His face was white with shock, so I called 9-1-1 and walked outside. Marley was back, and he would want to hold her and love her and kiss her. He would want to be with Marley. I didn’t want to intrude on their moment.

  So I sat down on the steps and I waited for the ambulance. I waited for the only man I’d ever loved to leave with the woman he loved. And he did. He left in an ambulance, with Marley holding his hand the whole way.

  I’d been through a lot in my life, and I’d done a lot in my life, but I’d never felt a pain so severe as when I watched them leave together in the back of that ambulance. It was sharp. It was brutal. And it was final.

  My time with Will was finished, and it was my own fault. I’d brought her back. Now someone would get a happily-ever-after, but it wouldn’t be me.

  Chapter 39

  Clark

  John Spanner looked at me from his chair next to my bed at the hospital. “I’ve never seen such a colossal fuck-up as when you’re involved.” He snorted and rubbed a weary hand down his face. He had barely left me the whole time I’d been here. I’d arrived by ambulance twelve hours before, with Marley clutching tightly to my hand. She’d refused to let me go. It was both disconcerting and right all at the same time. I was just as hesitant to let her go. I was afraid that if I did, I’d lose her again. I knew she’d vanish right before my eyes. She’d still be there, but not.

  I’d once loved Marley desperately, but I realized now that the love I still felt for Marley was more like that of a friend. I knew that because now I knew how real love felt. I knew how it felt to think fondly of someone, and now I knew how it felt to be in love. I loved Shelly. I had loved her from the beginning, when she’d let herself into my office and buried her bare feet in my carpet. I’d loved her when she was driving me crazy. And I’d loved her when she was out-thinking the fuck out of me. I’d loved her, and nothing would ever compare with that kind of love. My feelings for Marley were in the past, mainly because Shelly took up all of my present.

  “I’m ready to go home,” I said.

  John stared at me and shook his head. “She’s not there.”

  I jerked my gaze up to meet his. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know. Her sister came and picked her up from the station this morning after they finished questioning her.”

  So she was with Lynn. At least I knew she was safe. “Okay,” I said on a heavy breath. I was bone-weary and didn’t know what would happen next. But it was okay. I would figure it out.

  “So she’s the one, huh?” he asked. He drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair.

  “Yep.” No doubt about it.

  “What about Marley?”

  “What about her?”

  “She’s going to a lock-down facility.”

  “I know.” Her alter egos had killed people. They couldn’t remain free. She would go to a special facility where she could live her life, but still be locked away for everyone’s safety. She would get therapy. Mason’s parents, who were specialists in the field of Dissociative Identity Disorder, were taking over her care. “I talked to her yesterday.” She had been so confused. She’d been gone for years. She had no idea what was going on. The doctors would have to decide how much they could tell her and when. “I can’t be more than a friend to her. I’m in love with someone else.”

  “Why Shelly?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Back when I first met her, I thought she was fucking nuts, but she’s not. She sees the world differently than other people do, and the way that she sees it is part of what I love about her. She’s kind, considerate, helpful, thoughtful, and she needs me as much as I need her. And I can’t imagine life without her.”

  Suddenly, the door banged open and slammed against the wall. I jumped, but my side hurt when I moved. MeeMaw stormed into the room. “I go away for a week and someone calls me and tells me that you’ve been shot!” she cried. She shook her finger at me. “How dare you get shot when I’m not even in the state!” Her voice quavered and I knew that anger wasn’t the only driving force behind her tirade. She was petrified with fear.

  “MeeMaw,” I said softly, and I opened my arms to her. She leaned over and very gently wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tenderly. “Next time I get shot, I’ll try to plan it for a time when you’re at home,” I said cheekily.

  She made a rude noise in my ear and pinched my upper arm. “Don’t ever go and get shot again,” she warned. “If you do
, I’ll have to kill you myself.” She pinched me again, and I rubbed my arm to take the sting away.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied. “Will you stop pinching me?”

  “I will when you stop getting shot.”

  I had never been shot before and she damn well knew it.

  She pointed her finger at me. “And when I get hold of that Shelly, she’ll wish she’d never shot you.”

  I grinned. “She’s a perfect shot, MeeMaw. She knew exactly what she was doing.” I pointed to my hip, where I hadn’t needed more than a stitch or two. “She didn’t even do much damage. I’m going home in a few minutes.”

  “You’re going home?” she asked, raising her brows at me.

  “As soon as I go and get Shelly.”

  She laid a hand on her chest and pretended to swoon. “Be still my heart. You’re going to pick up the person who shot you so you can live happily ever after with her. So romantic.”

  “MeeMaw,” I warned. “She did the only thing that she could. It was the right thing to do.”

  “She brought Marley back.” MeeMaw made a tsking sound in her throat. “That girl… Such a tragedy.”

  “Marley will get the help she needs.”

  “I wasn’t referring to Marley,” she said. “I mean Shelly. Everyone thinks she’s so bad. But she’s not. She’s just misunderstood.”

  I smiled. Leave it to MeeMaw to figure Shelly out.

  “You love her, right?” she asked.

  “I should probably tell her that before I tell you.” MeeMaw was such a sucker for a good love story.

  The nurse bustled in just then with my discharge papers, and it was time to go home. They told me to keep my wound clean and avoid any physical activity that could pull my stitches out.

  “Did you drive here, MeeMaw?” I asked.

  “Yes. Why?” She stared at me.

  “I’m going to need to borrow your car.”

  “And just where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’m going to get Shelly,” I said. There was no doubt in my mind where I needed to go.

  “Well, in that case, Mr. Spanner can give me a ride home.” She sniffed and looked at John beseechingly.

  “It’ll be my pleasure,” he replied.

  And with that, I checked out of the hospital and went to go find Shelly. I was pretty sure I knew exactly where she’d be.

  Shelly

  “So, why didn’t I ever know about this place?” Lynn asked as she stared at me from the couch on the other side of the room. She and Aubrey had picked me up at the police station after I’d been questioned, and we’d driven to get my car at the little cottage in the woods.

  I shrugged. “It was a secret.”

  “I didn’t know we had any secrets.” Lynn seemed almost hurt by the fact that I had a house she knew nothing about.

  “I got this place many, many years ago.”

  “For what?”

  It was time for the truth. “It was an out of the way place where I could keep Dad.”

  Her head jerked up and I heard Aubrey gasp. “Dad?” Lynn asked. “What do you mean, keep Dad?” She jumped to her feet and began to pace. “Please tell me that he’s not here.”

  “He’s here, but not in the way you think.”

  I pointed to the bars on the windows and the industrial locks on the doors. “I brought him here after he started harassing you, when he broke into your apartment. I wanted him to be out of the way.”

  “But Dad is dead.”

  “Well, he is now, but he wasn’t then. He stayed here for a short while.”

  She sat down, folding her legs beneath her. “I never believed you killed him.”

  I huffed out a breath. “I kind of did.” I swiped a hand down my face. I was exhausted, and the hours spent during questioning were finally starting to catch up to me.

  “What do you mean?” She leaned forward, waiting for me to tell her the story.

  “I kept him here for a few weeks. I wanted him where he couldn’t hurt anybody.”

  “Go on,” she encouraged.

  “He was here for about five weeks, but then one day when I came to bring him food and supplies, he overpowered me at the door. He ran. I chased him as far as the bridge a few miles away. Then he had this great idea to jump from the bridge into the water, but he hadn’t taken into account that it had been raining for days and the water was already high from the run-offs. He got caught in the current of the stream, and he didn’t make it.”

  “He didn’t make it?”

  “He didn’t make it to the shore. He hit his head on a rock. I found his body a few days later, floating face-down in the stream. I buried him in the woods.”

  “That was more than he deserved,” Lynn spat out.

  “Jesus, you people are cut-throat,” Aubrey said, her mouth hanging open.

  “He was evil,” Lynn countered. He’d done unspeakable things to Lynn, and he was the reason she had suffered so many years of her life. He was the reason her personalities had split. He had done it. He had caused it.

  Lynn came to sit next to me on the couch. “I’m sorry,” I said.

  She looked surprised. “I’ve never heard you say that before.”

  “I’ve never felt it before. But about him, I am truly sorry.”

  “I’m sorry you felt like you had to bury him all by yourself. I wish I’d been someone you could have asked for help.”

  I’d spent most of my life taking care of Lynn. It was my purpose. This wasn’t any different.

  “I wish I’d been stronger,” Lynn said.

  “You’re one of the strongest people I know,” I insisted. And I meant it.

  “One day, I might ask you to take me to his grave. Will you show it to me if I do?”

  I nodded. “Sure. I’ll take you now if you want to go.”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m not ready right now.”

  “Okay.” I would wait until she was ready. No more secrets, not about that. My soul felt lighter than it had in years.

  The crunch of gravel in the driveway made Lynn jump to her feet. She walked to the window and pulled the curtain back so she could peek outside. “He’s here,” she said. She got a dreamy look on her face, the kind where I could almost see little heart bubbles erupting around her eyes. She motioned for Aubrey to get up. “It’s time for us to go.”

  Aubrey got up, and they both hugged me, one after the other. Aubrey reached into her purse and pulled out a friendship bracelet. “I finished it for you,” she whispered. She winked at me and pulled me into another hug. I shoved it into my pocket just as they walked out the door.

  “Call me later!” Lynn yelled before she got into her car. And then they were gone.

  Will didn’t get out of his car right away. He sat there for a few minutes, just staring at me. I sat down on the top step and waited. I could wait all day. I rested my elbows on my knees and stared out at the vast emptiness that was the woods around the house. A person could get lost in there for days. I knew. I’d explored all of it.

  Finally, Will got out of the car and closed the door behind him. He wore a pair of sunglasses, and his head was shiny with the sun on it.

  “Hi,” I said, as he settled down next to me on the step.

  “Hi,” he replied. He rocked to the side so that he bumped his shoulder into mine. “I missed you.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked. I wanted to strip his clothes off and search for wounds, just to be sure I hadn’t genuinely hurt him.

  “I’m okay. They said I shouldn’t do any dishes or laundry for the next twelve years, but if I follow those rules, I’ll be just fine.” He chuckled.

  This time, I rocked into him, unable to bite back my grin. “MeeMaw won’t let you skip out on doing the dishes.”

  He said nothing else, and a comfortable silence settled around us.

  When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I asked, “How’s Marley?”

  “She’s in the hospital, but she’s fine. She’ll probably never b
e out again. Mason’s parents are treating her.”

  “They’re the best.”

  “She deserves the best.”

  “She was really happy to see you last night.”

  He nodded. “I was happy to see her too.”

  He waited a beat. I grew fidgety.

  “I want good things for Marley. She deserves a break. And some happiness. In that order.” He picked a piece of lint from his trousers. “She deserves to be happy.” He leaned close to me and raised his eyebrows comically. “But it won’t be with me.”

  My heart skittered in my chest. “I don’t understand.”

  “You did the right thing last night. You did what it took to save everyone. You could have killed Megan at least ten times over. Instead, you took the high road, and you brought Marley back. Thank you for that.”

  “Is this…is this goodbye?” I asked, my stomach dropping toward my toes.

  “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried, woman.” He bumped me again. “I love you and I hope that one day you’ll make me a bracelet. And I’m going to wait until you do.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “I’ll be right here until then.”

  I pointed to the steps we sat on. “Right here?” I teased.

  “Right next to you, wherever you go. If you want me there, that is…” He let the words hang in the air between us, waiting expectantly.

  “You made me forget for a while,” I said. The words tumbled past my lips before I could even think of pulling them back in.

  He turned to face me, tenderly pushing a lock of hair behind my ear. “What do you mean?”

  “You made me forget that I’m not made for that kind of life.”

  His brow furrowed. “What kind of life?”

  “The kind with hearts and flowers and romance. That’s not me.” I pressed my fist to my chest. “Deep down inside, I’m not made for all that. You made me forget who I am. And then last night, I remembered. I will always be the person who shoots you in the ass so I can save the other people in the room. I’ll do it safely, mind you. But I’ll still do it. I will never be anybody but who I am.”