“Baby, just let me take you home. We can’t trust any of the doctors here. They don’t know what they’re talking about. We’re going to go home and everything’s going to go back to normal.”
“To normal?” My heart was racing. What normal was he referring to? And how did it involve me?
He grabbed my hand. “Yes, baby. Tell him you want to go home.”
I pulled my hand away from him. “I want to go back to school. I have finals.”
“Penny.” His voice broke. “You’re not in school anymore. You know that. I know you remember. You have to remember.” He lifted up my hand again, tilting it toward me.
I stared down at my hand. There was a tan line on my ring finger. A line that would have formed from years of wearing an engagement ring. Or a wedding ring. Or both. I looked back at the man on his knees, with the desperation on his face. There were small crinkles around the corners of his eyes. Lines that came with age. He was…old. Not old like my parents. But certainly older than me. Too old for me.
“I need you to remember.” His Adam’s apple rose and fell. “I need you.”
I felt like I was going to throw up. How many times had I wished Austin would look at me the way this stranger did? So why did his gaze just make me feel sick to my stomach? I pulled my hand out of his grasp and shifted away from him on the bed.
“Mom, Dad. Can’t you just take me home? Please?”
“Penny, the doctor thinks it’s best if you just go back to your normal routine,” my mom said.
“Then take me back to school…”
“Your normal routine with James. And Scarlett. Here in New York.”
“But not for a few days,” my doctor interjected. “We’d like to monitor your progress. Despite what your husband thinks, not every doctor affiliated with this hospital is out to get you. You’re safe here. And hopefully your memory will come back before you even head back to your apartment.”
I barely heard him. I was completely focused on one word he said. Husband. I glanced down at the tan line on my finger. I was married? I looked at the man on his knees again. To him?
“Does that sound good?” the doctor asked. “In the meantime, there are a bunch of people in the waiting room ready to help jog your memory. Familiar faces and stories will be good.” He cleared his throat. “Not angry, harsh moments. Pleasant fun ones.” He was staring at…my husband.
I swallowed hard. “You’re not a doctor?” I asked him.
For a moment it looked like he was going to cry. But then he lowered both his eyebrows. He stared at me in a way that no one ever had before. Like he hated me and loved me at the same time. Goosebumps rose on my skin.
“No. I’m not a doctor,” he said.
“What’s your name?”
“James.” He pressed his lips together and stared at me for a moment, like he was willing me to remember. “James Hunter.” He looked at me expectantly, like his name alone would trigger a memory.
But I didn’t feel like I had anything to remember. I felt like everyone here was wrong. The doctor. My parents. This man kneeling beside my bed. This beautiful, broken man. I didn’t need to know anything more about him to know that he was so broken. And even though I didn’t know him, I hoped to God it wasn’t my fault that he was like this. Because I had no clue how to fix him. I had no idea who he was. And as soon as I was out of this hospital I was going back to school. I had finals to take. School was my number one priority.
Chapter 3
Tuesday
One couple at a time came into my room and pretended to know me. A me that didn’t exist. A fabrication in their minds. I knew who I was. And I didn’t belong in this hospital bed surrounded by strangers.
They told me story after story, all which sounded made up. And almost all the stories featured the man standing in the corner of the room, staring too intently at me. James. My make-believe husband. Not once did a smile cross his face at hearing any of the funny memories. Not once did his scowl disappear.
I tore my eyes away from him and stared back at the couple in front of me. A blonde with a kind smile and a man with dark eyes and dark hair. They both looked tan like they had just been on the beach. And they definitely looked older than me. Cleary I wasn’t really friends with all these old people. If this was some sort of prank, they should have hired younger actors.
The woman glanced nervously at the man and both their smiles disappeared. I had been tuning them out. Had they said something funny? Something I should have laughed at or remembered?
“First you two ruined my proposal and now my honeymoon too? What am I going to do with you?” The guy named Mason winked at me.
That explained why they were so tan. They had been on their honeymoon. But it didn’t explain anything else he said. Or who he was. Or why I was friends with either of them in this fantasy world.
“You just got married?” I asked. “Congratulations.” How the hell can I get out of here?