Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Mary was sitting on the couch watching the first season of Stranger Things on Netflix.
She couldn’t wait for Truck to get home to watch it with her.
Of course, she wasn’t going to wait for him to get home to watch it herself.
She’d be more than happy to see it again and catch all the things she was sure she was missing this time around.
She was still binging on it when there was a knock on the door.
Surprised, Mary paused the show and headed for the door. Truck’s apartment felt more like home than her own did at this point. Of course, without Truck there, it simply felt empty…much like her own apartment.
Looking through the peephole, she saw Hollywood standing there.
Internally freaking out, Mary quickly unlocked the door and took the chain off. She whipped the door open and before Hollywood could say anything, she blurted, “Is Kassie okay? Kate?”
Hollywood nodded and said, “Yes. They’re both fine.”
“Thank God,” Mary said, resting a hand on her chest in relief. Opening the door wider, she gestured for him to enter. “Come on in.”
“Thanks.”
Mary followed Hollywood inside and locked the door behind them as Truck had taught her. She never used to worry about locking up when she was home, but since living with Truck, and watching him constantly worry about her safety, it had become a habit.
Hollywood stopped just inside the living room and turned to her. “I have some bad news.”
Mary’s legs nearly collapsed under her. Her eyes got wide and she heard a ringing in her ears. “Truck?” she asked.
Hollywood nodded.
The room spun and Mary wavered on her feet.
Not Truck. No. Not when she was finally ready to open up to him and tell him that she cared about him and wanted to be his wife for real.
Seeing her sway, Hollywood swore under his breath and put a hand on her elbow, and led her to the couch.
As soon as she was sitting, he pulled the coffee table closer and sat on it.
He reached forward and took her cold hands in his large warm ones and squeezed.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. Truck is alive. He’s okay.”
When Mary didn’t respond, but simply stared at him with wide eyes, he said, “Did you hear me, Mary? Truck is okay. He was injured, but he’s alive.”
Mary’s breath left her in a rush. She’d been so scared that Truck had been killed she hadn’t been able to think about anything else. At Hollywood’s words, she relaxed a fraction. “Where is he? Can we go and see him?”
The man in front of her shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”
Mary’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean? He’s at a hospital, right? Is he in Germany? I know that’s where a lot of soldiers go when they’re injured overseas.”
“Yeah, he’s in Germany at the moment.”
Mary tried to stand. “Then let’s go. I’ll pack a bag real quick.”
Hollywood’s fingers squeezed hers once more, preventing her from standing. “You can’t go and see him, Mary. I’m sorry.”
“Why not? I’m his wife. The Army can’t keep me from him!
” She knew she sounded hysterical, but she was feeling extremely shaky and off-kilter.
The possibility of Truck or one of the other guys being hurt or killed was always there when they went on a mission, but experiencing it firsthand was a hundred times more horrible than she’d ever thought.
“Was he hurt worse than what you’re saying?
Is he dying? Dammit, Hollywood, tell me! ”
“He has amnesia,” Hollywood said sadly without beating around the bush. “He doesn’t remember who you are…much less that he’s married.”
Mary stared at the handsome soldier in shock. “Amnesia?”
“Yeah. He hit his head really hard on the mission and it rattled his brain something awful.”
Tears formed in Mary’s eyes, but she blinked them away. “What does he remember?”
“Basically, he’s lost the last three years of his life. He knows me and the guys. Knows he’s in the Army. He knows everything up until one of our missions in Iraq about three years ago. When he woke up, he thought that’s where he was.”
“But he’s okay otherwise?”
“Yeah, Mare. A doctor in Germany has checked him out and said other than the concussion, a few cracked ribs,—and the amnesia, of course—he’s fine.”
“Maybe seeing me will jog his memory,” she said somewhat lamely.
The compassion in Hollywood’s eyes nearly did her in.
“I talked to Ghost today, he and the others are staying with Truck in Germany until he’s released…
and he said that Truck got extremely agitated when Fletch told him he was married.
He refused to believe him, thought the guys were playing a joke.
The doctor’s recommending, for now, to bring him home but to limit his interactions with others for a while.
They want to see if coming back to his apartment will trigger his memories naturally.
It can be extremely jarring for someone in his situation to be confronted with people who know him, but who he doesn’t remember. ”
“But he will remember, won’t he?” Mary whispered.
Hollywood’s lips pressed together before he said, “They just don’t know, Mary.
Sometimes patients like him get their memories back all at once.
Other times they remember bits and pieces, but not everything.
And there are also cases when the person never remembers what they lost. They just forge a new life from the time the injury happened. ”
Mary ripped her hands out of Hollywood’s grip to cover her mouth in horror. “He might not ever remember me? Everything we’ve been through?”
“I’m sorry…but it’s possible that he’ll never remember.”
“Oh, God.”
Mary felt Hollywood’s hand on her shoulder, but she couldn’t process what was happening.
She’d assumed Truck would get home, she’d tell him that she wanted to make their marriage work, and they’d live happily ever after.
But if he didn’t know her, didn’t know anything about her fight with cancer, their marriage, or that he’d sworn to love her forever…
how in the hell would they live happily ever after?
She had no idea what she’d done to make him love her in the first place. No clue how to get him to do it a second time.
“I’ve lost him,” Mary said in a barely there whisper. “The only reason I caught his eye was because of Rayne. If he doesn’t know any of us, how can I make him love me again?”
Hollywood moved to the couch next to her and took Mary into his arms. For the first time since she’d heard the second diagnosis of cancer, Mary felt completely discouraged.
“He loved you from the first moment he saw you,” Hollywood told her. “And I have every confidence that he’ll get through this. He’ll remember.”
“You don’t know that,” Mary said.
“I do. Truck is stubborn, but so are you. And the rest of the team.”
“But if you aren’t supposed to expose him to people who might agitate him, how are you going to get him to remember?”
“I don’t know. We’re as shocked by this as you are, Mary. But I swear to you, we’re gonna figure this out.”
Something else Hollywood said finally settled in her brain. “If he’s supposed to come back here to his apartment, I’m going to have to move out, aren’t I?”
Hollywood sighed. “I’m sorry, but…yeah. Just for the short term. We’re hoping when he gets back here, his subconscious will kick in and he’ll remember all the time he spent with you here, and the rest of his memory will return.”
Mary looked around and winced. Over the last few months, she’d slowly moved most of her things here.
There were pictures of her and Rayne on the walls.
Her favorite books on the shelves. Her sheets were on their bed.
Her hair stuff was in the shower. Even her favorite foods were in the cupboards.
Thinking about removing every single thing from Truck’s apartment was extremely painful.
Removing her very presence felt like a permanent step. An extremely agonizing one.
Hollywood went on, unaware of the blow he’d inadvertently dealt her. “The girls are going to come over to help later today. We don’t know when Truck and the others will return but we thought it’d be better to be prepared. Emily said you could stay at her place if you wanted.”
Mary shook her head, feeling numb. “No, I still have my apartment.”
She didn’t tell Hollywood that she’d planned to call her landlord and officially end her lease after she talked to Truck when he got home. It was silly to keep it when she was living with Truck full-time.
No need to do that now.
Hollywood’s phone vibrated in his pocket and Mary pulled back, giving him room to pull it out. He read the text and winced. “I have to go, Mare. That’s Kassie. She’s freaking out because she thinks Kate is making weird noises.”
Mary nodded. “Go. It’s fine.”
“I don’t want to leave you. Come with me.”
She immediately shook her head. Mary didn’t want to be around anyone. Especially not Kassie, who was blissfully happy with her new daughter. She loved the woman, but she couldn’t deal with that right now. Not when her own world was crumbling around her. “I’ll be fine.”
“Mary,” Hollywood chastised.
Mary didn’t like the note of pity she heard in his tone and straightened her spine, pulling the old Mary up from somewhere deep inside.
“I’m fine. Seriously. Go. You have more things to worry about than me.
You did your duty and told me what you had to.
I’m sorry you got the short end of the stick on that, Hollywood.
Sucks that you were here and not in Germany with the guys.
I’ll just pack up my shit and get out of here.
We both knew this was too good to last anyway. Truck deserves better than me.”