Three Little Wishes

Chapter Seven

Cami woke up in the hospital bed for the second day in a row. The previous day was a blur. She’d slept through most of it but there were a couple of things that stood out. She lifted the sheet. She hadn’t been dreaming. She had boobs. Big boobs! She remembered thinking they didn’t feel like normal boobs. She’d touched them to make sure. She thought about touching them again, just to make sure they were still there and it wasn’t just that the sheet had bunched up.

She peeked over the sheet to make sure she was alone, groaning when she spotted the dark-haired woman sitting in the chair across from her hospital bed. She was on her… Cami searched her brain for what she’d called it. Then it came to her, an iPad. Whatever the heck an iPad was. All Cami knew was that it was in Gail’s hands. All. The. Time.

That was the woman’s name, and she’d been there since Cami had first woken up in the hospital. She’d told Cami she was her PA. Cami hadn’t known what a PA was, but she’d figured out later it must be a short form for pain in the ass. She felt sort of bad for thinking about Gail as a pain in the ass. She was mostly nice, and she seemed upset Cami didn’t have a freaking clue who she was, but she wouldn’t let Cami call her family. Who did that? A PA, that was who.

Cami’s mother and sisters would be worried sick about her. Angry too. At least her mother would be when she got a load of the cast on Cami’s right arm. Cami wouldn’t be waiting tables for a while. Her sisters would have her back, though. They always did. They were the best. She loved her sisters more than anything. She loved her mother too, but she could be a PA. Even more of a PA than Gail.

Cami’s mother was strict, way stricter with her than she’d been with her sisters. Her sisters said it was because Cami pushed their mother’s buttons and no one knew what she’d get up to next. According to them, she’d been precocious as a child and was wild as a teenager. Cami conceded that she’d been a little out of control in her early teens but that had changed when she started dating Flynn.

She glanced at her cast, imagining her mother’s reaction when she found out what had happened. Cami never should’ve taken a running leap off the dunes on a dare, especially in the dark. She wouldn’t have if she hadn’t been drinking with her friends. If her mother found out she’d been drinking, she’d probably ground her for the rest of her life.

It was Flynn’s fault. Not the drinking too much or the jumping off the dunes in the dark, but why she’d been in the mood to drink. He’d been her boyfriend for two years, and now she didn’t know what he was to her. Things hadn’t been the same between them since he’d gone away to college, and the other night, she’d made them worse. He’d been mad at her for flirting and drinking, but what had he expected? She’d missed him like crazy when he was away, and she’d thought she’d have him home for the whole summer.

But on their way to the party at the dunes, he’d told her he’d decided to take a summer class and was going back in two days. So of course she’d acted out and flirted. Who wouldn’t when her boyfriend decided he’d rather take a course at his fancy new school with his fancy new friends than spend the summer with her?

He’d be gone by now. He might not even know she’d been hurt. He’d left the party early. It was the guy she’d been flirting with who had taken care of her while they waited for the ambulance.

A dull ache spread behind her eyes as she tried to remember his name. He was hot, as hot as Flynn, but his good looks were more in your face. He knew it too. He was cocky and a little wild. She rubbed her fingers between her eyes as she searched her brain for his name. The dull ache morphed into a sharp, blinding pain, and she whimpered.

“Cami, are you all right?”

As the pain subsided, Cami opened her eyes to see Gail looking concerned and rising from the chair. “I’m okay. I just want to go home.”

“The doctor will be in shortly. If he okays your release, you can go home today,” Gail said, walking toward the bed. The door to Cami’s hospital room opened before Gail reached her, and she turned.

A woman walked in. She hesitated and then gave Cami and Gail a nervous smile while leaning back and motioning for someone they couldn’t see beyond the door. Cami didn’t recognize the woman but she looked a little like Cami herself, only a lot older. She wondered if they were related somehow, and the thought made her chest tighten. Was her mother so mad at her that she’d sent a relative Cami didn’t know to come get her?

Cami wouldn’t be surprised if she had. A few months earlier, her mother had disowned Cami’s oldest sister just because she’d gotten married. It had been awful, and Flynn being away at school had made it worse. The backs of Cami’s eyes began stinging. She hated that her mother and sister weren’t talking. She hated that her sister had moved away, just like Flynn. Nothing was the same anymore. She wanted Flynn back, and she wanted her family back the way it used to be.

As Cami was thinking this, struggling not to cry, a man walked up behind the woman. Cami’s mouth dropped open. What the heck were they giving her for pain medication? The man looked like the guy she’d been flirting with at the dunes, only he was way older, and his hair was dark, not fair.

The ache behind Cami’s eyes came back, and she rubbed her fingers up and down the bridge of her nose in an attempt to take the pain away.

Gail didn’t notice. She was too busy smiling and walking toward the man and woman with her hand extended. “Willow. I’m so glad you could come. They’re releasing Cami today. She wants to go home.”

What a weird name, Cami thought, wondering what would possess someone to name their kid Willow.

“That’s great,” Willow said, giving Cami a tentative smile as she gestured to the man behind her. “This is Noah, and this…”—she reached around the man and drew a girl from behind him—“is Riley. Noah’s sister.”

Cami’s chest loosened when she saw someone close to her age. Riley had shoulder-length dark hair, big hazel eyes, and freckles sprinkled on her nose and cheeks. She looked nice, and Cami decided to test this theory by smiling at Riley and giving her a finger wave.

Riley returned her smile and waved.

Cami opened her mouth to tell Riley she could come sit on the bed with her if she wanted but got distracted when Gail said, “She wants to go home to Sunshine Bay, Willow.”

Gail made it sound as if she were giving away state secrets. Cami supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. Gail had been saying weird things in weird ways since Cami opened her eyes the day before.

“Oh,” Willow said, looking as if Gail had told her Cami wanted to walk on the moon. “I thought she’d want to go to LA.”

Of course Cami wanted to go to LA. Who didn’t? She wanted to be an actress. Maybe her mother had shared that with this Willow person. “I can’t go to LA. I’m only seventeen,” she said in case her mother had forgotten to mention her age.

They stared at her, and Willow looked as if she was about to hurl. The man dipped his head to Willow’s ear and said something. She closed her eyes and nodded, murmuring, “I’m okay.”

Why was he worried about her? She wasn’t the one lying in a hospital bed with a broken arm and a headache. A doctor came into the room, followed by Cami’s nurse from the previous day. Cami wasn’t a fan of the nurse. Every time Cami asked to call her mother or her sisters, she deferred to PA Gail, and every time Cami asked for a mirror, she ignored her. She wouldn’t even let Cami get up to go to the bathroom. She had to use a freaking bedpan. Cami couldn’t wait to get out of there, which was why, when the doctor smiled and asked how she was feeling, Cami said, “Great!”

“No headaches or dizziness?”

“Nope,” Cami said, shaking her head. She immediately stopped shaking it. She felt as if she were on a ride at the fair, and now she probably looked as if she wanted to hurl.

“Good. Now, I just have a few questions for you,” the doctor said, pulling a stool to the bed. He had one of those iPad things too. “Cami, do you know who the president is?”

This again? Seriously? “Bill Clinton.” She sighed, sharing a duh look with Riley, who was standing beside her brother. Riley pressed her lips together as if she was trying not to laugh. “And before you ask, it’s July 12, 1994. I’m seventeen. My mother is Carmen Rosetti, and my sisters are Gia and Eva. Our family owns La Dolce Vita, an Italian restaurant on Sunshine Bay.” She smiled at the doctor. “Now can I go home?”

He patted her hand and then turned to Willow, who’d come to stand at the foot of the bed. “You’re Ms. Monroe’s niece?”

Who the heck was Ms. Monroe? And what did she have to do with Cami?

Willow glanced at Cami, bit her bottom lip, and nodded. “I am.”

“I’ll be releasing your aunt into your care, but I’ll need to go over a few things with you before she’s discharged,” the doctor said, and stood up.

Willow didn’t look as if she was going to hurl anymore. She looked as if she was having a panic attack. “Can you, uh, give me a second, please?” She whirled around before the doctor answered and grabbed the Noah guy’s hand, dragging him out the door.

“While Willow’s talking to Noah, we should get you dressed, Cami,” Gail said. She walked to the chair, picked up a suitcase Cami hadn’t noticed, and then returned to her side. Setting the suitcase on the foot of the bed, Gail opened it.

Cami stared at the underwear, dress, and high heels Gail held out to her. How old did she think she was, forty? “Whose clothes are those?”

Gail glanced at the nurse, who nodded. “They’re yours.”

Cami made big eyes at Riley and then said to Gail, “Ah, no they’re not. Look at them. Do I look like I’d wear something like that? Maybe you got Willow’s aunt’s suitcase.”

“You are Willow’s aunt, Cami,” Gail said carefully.

“No, I’m not. She’s old! Besides, her aunt’s name is Ms. Monroe.”

“You’re Ms. Monroe,” the nurse said in a calm, soothing voice. “You were hit by an e-bike and—”

Cami’s heart raced, and she strained to get the words out of her mouth. Her brain felt fuzzy. “No. I jumped off the sand dunes and broke my arm.”

The nurse nodded. “You’re right, you did. In July 1994.” She reached for Cami’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “It’s 2024, and you didn’t jump off a sand dune. You were hit by an e-bike.”

Cami’s gaze shot to Riley, seeking support from the only person in the room she trusted. She didn’t know why she trusted her to tell her the truth but she did.

Riley glanced at Gail and the nurse as she walked to the side of the bed. “It’s true. It’s 2024, and Joe Biden is president, not Bill Clinton.”

“But it can’t be true. That would mean I’m… I’d be…” Her eyes felt as if they were going to pop out of her head. “Forty-seven. Look at me. I can’t be forty-seven.” Frantic, she reached for Riley’s hand but half of Cami’s was in a cast. “Do I look like I’m forty-seven?”

Riley’s hand gently closed around the fingers that poked from Cami’s cast. “No.”

Cami let out the breath she’d been holding but sucked it back in when Riley continued. “You look like you’re in your early thirties. You’re really pretty,” Riley rushed on as if her heart was racing as fast as Cami’s. “I’ve seen one of your movies, and you’re a really good actress too.”

“I’m an actress?”

Riley nodded. “You were nominated for an Oscar.”

This time Cami’s heart raced from excitement, not panic. Of course she was still panicked but the news that her dream of winning an Oscar might’ve come true overrode the bad news that she’d slept through more than half her life. At least in that second it did. “Really? Did I win?”

The nurse chimed in before Riley could answer. “You suffered a blow to your head and have amnesia, Cami. It might take some time but the doctor is confident your memories will return.” She smiled. “I know this is difficult. But you’re lucky. Your injuries could’ve been much worse.”

“I need to go to the bathroom.” She needed to see for herself that she wasn’t seventeen. And this time they couldn’t stop her.

The nurse nodded and glanced at Gail. “Do you have a mirror?”

“Now you’re going to let me look at myself?”

“We were hoping your memory would’ve returned this morning, and we didn’t want to upset you if it wasn’t necessary,” Gail said, getting a bag out of the suitcase. She unzipped it, took out a compact, and handed it to Cami. “You aren’t wearing makeup, and you haven’t done your hair, but you’ll look more like yourself once—”

Cami opened the compact, held it up to her face, and screamed. The face in the mirror blurred in front of her eyes and then everything went black.