Chapter 5
All the words the doctor had said this morning swirled around Lauren’s head like debris in a hurricane. The woman came in
just after six, awakening Lauren from a dead sleep. She hadn’t had time to orient herself, much less have coffee, before the
talking started. The only thing she knew for sure was that she’d be discharged soon.
She inclined her bed, sat up, and turned until her feet hung over the side. Were those her socks? Her nails still looked like
someone else’s. The headache was better at least. But her thoughts were still fuzzy. If she’d been awake and coherent, she
would’ve asked the doctor how long that would last.
She glanced out the window that faced the parking lot and the woods beyond. It was almost six thirty and the sun was barely
up. The trees held autumnal tinges of yellow and orange.
September, not April. Even with visual proof, it seemed impossible.
She recalled Tom and Tammy’s visit last night. Odd to have her employers in the room while she swam in a hospital gown and
felt mentally vulnerable. They were good people. Tammy was a warm, motherly woman. Tom had a gruff exterior, but she suspected
he was as soft as fresh fudge on the inside.
Did she already know that for a fact but had only forgotten it? The thought flittered away.
She spied the bag of things she assumed Tammy had gathered for her. Lauren wanted to get out of this gown and start feeling like herself again. She wanted to return to her cabin where strangers weren’t telling her what to do and when to do it. It was her childhood all over again.
Why could she remember her miserable childhood and not what had happened two days ago?
She came to her feet and hesitated until she was certain the room wouldn’t spin. Then she grabbed the bag off the corner chair
and rooted through it. Toothbrush, toothpaste, a change of clothes, her hairbrush. She wanted to weep at all the familiar
things. She wanted to hug the entire bag.
And that was before she found her phone in the side pocket. She needed a lifeline. She needed her best friend. Sydney would
be up torturing herself in the gym at this early hour. Lauren found her number and tapped the Call button.
The woman answered on the third ring with a breathless, “Hey, what’s up?” The whir of a treadmill and the rhythmic thumping
of footsteps carried across the distance.
Lauren sank into the chair. “I am so glad to hear your voice. You have no idea.”
“What’s wrong?” Beeps sounded and the background noises silenced. “What happened?”
“I fell yesterday and hit my head. I’m in the hospital.”
“Lauren! Are you all right?”
“My head hurts and I can’t remember stuff, like entire months, and my thoughts are all disconnected and fuzzy.”
“Oh no. What did the doctors say? Wait, did you say you can’t remember months ?”
“I have a concussion. But yes, I have no memory of the last—” April to September would be... She couldn’t even do basic math! “My last memory is in late April. I have no idea what’s happened since, and I’m not sure I even want to know.
“Jonah was here when I woke up in the ER—you know, the Landrys’ son. And he was being all nice and weird. I think he said
I was his girlfriend at one point? But I was having some kind of panic attack at the time, so maybe I misheard. Please tell
me I’m just confused.” She closed her eyes tightly. Her pulse throbbed in her head.
“Oh, you poor thing. Will you get them back?”
“I don’t know. They don’t know. Maybe in weeks or months. Or maybe not at all.”
“Oh, Lauren, that’s just awful. I’m so sorry. You’re gonna have to be careful. You’re supposed to limit stimulation—I got
a concussion playing soccer in high school. No internet, no TV. You’re supposed to be resting. You really don’t remember anything
that happened the past four months? Nothing?”
“I seriously feel like it’s springtime right now, but the leaves are already starting to turn. I missed the entire summer.”
“Well, you didn’t miss it, really. It did happen... You just don’t remember it.”
Something about her tone sent a tremor of fear through Lauren’s system. “My brain might not be working right, but I’m pretty
sure you haven’t answered my question about Jonah.”
A pause ensued. Then, “You know what? I’m coming up there. My flight isn’t until tomorrow morning. I can be back in plenty
of time.”
“Flight...?” September. Something teased the tattered fringes of her brain.
The wedding. Last Lauren had checked, Syd’s brother’s wedding was still months away. Now it was this weekend. “No, don’t do
that. You’d no sooner get here than you’d have to turn around and head back. I’m fine. I’ll just be resting in my cabin. The
Landrys will make sure I have what I need.”
“I’m your best friend. You need me.”
“Please don’t. You should be getting ready for your trip. Your brother’s big day. If you want to help me, just tell me the
truth. I’m going back to the cabin in a bit, and I need to know what I’ll be facing.”
“Right. Um, have you looked at your phone, at your photos and texts and stuff?”
She hadn’t even thought of that. “My brain’s like a tangled skein of yarn right now, Syd. I’m dating him, aren’t I? He somehow
charmed me like he does everyone else and I’m dating him.”
“Um... yes? Sort of?”
She flopped back in the chair, careful with her head. “Oh. My. Gosh. I’m so humiliated.”
“Humiliated?”
“I don’t even like him! I made that very clear to him and to you.”
“Honey, it’s not as bad as you think. In fact, you guys seem great together, though I don’t entirely like that—”
“How do you know we’re great together?”
“That’s right. You don’t remember. This is so weird. I came up in early August for a weekend and got to know him a bit.”
“He worked his charm on you too.”
“He worked it on you first, my friend.”
Lauren groaned. “This is not happening. Were we serious? We can’t have been serious, right? Not in only four months.”
“Um, well...”
The pause continued so long that Lauren pressed her hand to her thudding heart. “Syd?”
“The last couple months you guys have gotten pretty serious. The last time we spoke you even mentioned not returning to Boston
at all.”
Lauren gaped. That couldn’t be true.
“You were in pretty deep, Lauren.”
It was just talk. There was no way she would’ve given up her dream job. She moved her hand to her throbbing temple.
“Listen, you shouldn’t be worrying about all this right now. You need to focus on your recovery. Resting is job number one.”
“Oh, sure, I’m so great at that.”
“They might have to tie you down. I’m coming up there, just for today.”
“No, you aren’t. You’re packing for your trip and... doing whatever sisters of the groom should be doing.” Her brain was
a sieve. “I’ll be furious if you drive up here today, and the emotion drain would be terrible for my concussion.”
“You don’t play fair.”
“Finish your zillionth mile on the treadmill and start packing—you probably haven’t even started.”
“Guilty as charged. Okay, but promise me you’ll rest. And stay off your phone—unless you need to talk, in which case you should
call me, day or night.”
After promising, Lauren ended the call and stared at the phone for a full minute. Some of the answers she sought were housed
in this thing. The photos, the texts. But the thought of taxing her already overloaded brain had her dropping the device into
the bag.
The mystery of how Jonah Landry had wormed his way into her heart would have to wait.