“Okay,” I agree because I can’t think of the alternative.
“Son, you’re a college student. You stole a guy’s car and totaled it. You live with your girlfriend.”
“The chick with the ugly pants?”
I smile. At least one thing hasn’t changed.
“I see you are back to your cheery-self, son.”
If Killian says anything back, I don’t hear him.
Entering the room, I am afraid to meet his eyes. What if he isn’t attracted to me anymore? What if he decides he doesn’t want to date the girl with ugly leggings? Then what? What if he never remembers that he loves me? The tension that was between Killian and his father the first time I was in the same room with them has returned. Conrad’s face is etched in pain. The man is grieving the foundation that has been washed away and destroyed. They were getting along great until the accident happened, and his son woke up having lost two years of his life.
Killian scowls at all three of us. He’s painted me an enemy along with them.
I stare at my shoes. Unable to meet his gaze head on I s
tudy the little dark flecks on the white tile flooring until they blur together.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Susie starts fussing over him, and he pushes her away.
“I don’t need you here pretending you give a shit about me.”
I glance up when I hear his venomous tone.
Those dark eyes burn straight into me, and I find myself staring at a complete stranger who doesn’t give a damn that we love him. That I love him more than life.
“You don’t have to be so rude, Killian. You may not remember the past two years, but we all care about you more than you know,” I snap at him. “You don’t get a free pass to be a jerk to the people who care about you.”
“It’s okay, Liri. You didn’t know him before.”
The nurse comes in to check him over, and I step back into the hall with Conrad and Susie.
The door is still open, and we can hear their conversation. “You know that pretty girl waiting in the hall for you hasn’t left your side. She’s spent the past two weeks in that chair right there. I thought I was going to have to hose her down,” Josephine jokes, and Conrad smiles at me.
“He’s lucky to have you. He’ll remember that.”
“I hope so. He seems so different.”
“He’s back to who he was before you changed him, Liri. Don’t give up on him. If anyone can turn him around it’s you and if not, then he’s a damn idiot. He’s my son, and I love him, but you are the single greatest thing that ever happened to him.”
My throat is clogged with emotion and I have no reply. They don’t know it, but Killian is the one who saved me. I was drowning and didn’t even realize it. He woke me up and opened my eyes. He’s everything to me. I feel like I’m caught in a bad dream that I can’t wake up from.
Josephine steps out of the room. “You can go back in now. The doctor will be around this evening around seven to make his rounds and discuss his care with you. If his scans are good, he could go home in a few days.”
Hope blooms in my chest. Maybe once we go home being back in our apartment will jar his memory, because right now I don’t like this version of the man I love.
Chapter 5
Liri
“So…this is it. Welcome home. Some of your friends wanted to be here. Some of the guys from the frat house, but I thought maybe it’d be better to give you time to settle into a routine or something first. I made tacos.” I stand awkwardly by the kitchen counter daring to hope that being here will spark something inside my boyfriend and give him his memories back. He’s lost two years and we don’t know if he will get them back.
If he doesn’t what does that mean for us?
Will he leave me?