Chapter 12 #3
Gosh, this guy was persistent. Well, he’d just have to wait.
Josie put the phone on silent, then quickly dressed in the black jeans and gray sweater and headed downstairs. Some kids’ TV program was blaring away in the living room.
“Hey,” she said weakly, walking into the spacious kitchen, where Suzie was at the large wooden table with a laptop.
Her friend beamed, running her red-nailed fingers through her dark pixie-cut hair. “You’re alive. I wanted to check on you again, but I didn’t want to disturb. How are you feeling? Want some lunch?”
“Not yet, thanks. My stomach is pretty dodgy. I’m otherwise okay, I think. Physically. Only . . .”
She sat down at the table, unable to finish her sentence.
“Only what?” Suzie’s brow creased.
“I . . . don’t remember stuff. Where I live. My job. I’m really confused.”
Suzie’s frown deepened. “Wait, Jose! You don’t remember anything?”
“Well, I know who I am, I know you, this house, and Donald . . . I remember my family, and moving to New York, living in Murray Hill, and working at Crain’s. But after that—”
“After that, what?”
It was no use — she would have to tell Suzie the truth. About her real life, her real memories.
Josie drew in a deep breath and recounted an abridged version of her life: meeting and marrying Rob, her brokerage job, their wedding, and the helicopter crash that killed her brother and cousin.
“Our grief has been hard on our marriage, but Rob and I have been making it work,” she continued. “And you and Rob are friends, you get on really well — Don too. So . . . that’s what I remember from the past three years. But I don’t think that’s what you remember.”
Suzie had been shaking her head the entire time. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, Suze. I’m totally serious. I get that for you, events were different, I live somewhere in Brooklyn, I’ve never married — or even dated — a guy named Rob, and David is alive.
Which, to me, is a freakin’ miracle, because I was at his memorial in London, wailing like a baby.
But now, I’m in a world where he’s alive and we texted each other this morning.
It’s totally impossible . . . literally incredible.
” Josie grabbed some kitchen paper from the counter and blew her nose.
“What about the twins?” Suzie nodded her head toward the living-room door, through which two-year-old Euan and Isla were giggling.
“Rob and I came over and gave them giant plushies, just after they were born, and we told you about our engagement. You were trying to decide whether to bring the whole family to Hawaii or leave Donald alone with the babies. In the end, you all came. Your six-month-old babies were at our wedding, and you and Don missed half the ceremony because Euan was crying nonstop.”
“Shit. Josie, this is unbelievable. I mean ACTUALLY NOT BELIEVABLE. I’ve never been to Hawaii.
You’ve never been married. You got your radio show a couple of months after the Crain’s layoff.
You love it. Then you bought your place in Williamsburg.
And you’ve been single for years, although I know you’ve been crushing on that guy in your choir, Peter.
” Suze was talking so quickly it was hard to keep up.
“You’ve no memory of your Williamsburg place at all? What about Peter?”
“No.” Josie turned down the corners of her mouth. “That’s . . . not what happened to me.”
“Fuck!” Suzie ran her hands through her hair, grabbing a tuft. “This is really bad. We have to get you checked out. There’s something really screwy going on. You might be concussed, have some kind of brain injury. I’ll call Don to come home for the kids, and take you to the hospital, yeah?”
Josie shook her head. “I’m sure it’s not so urgent I have to go right now. The thing is, it’s not like these are weird, screwy memories. These are my actual memories. The hospital won’t be able to help with that.”
“But last night the doctors didn’t know you had these memories, Jose! And they are screwy.” Suzie put her hand on Josie’s, squeezing so hard Josie winced. “What if you’ve got some . . . some swelling of the brain or something? Some head trauma that could be getting worse? We need to be sure.”
“Suze, I just want to get back to London and see David. It’s all I can think about. I lost my brother two years ago, in the most brutal way, and now he’s alive again? I have to go to him. I’ve already changed my flight to the UK. I’m going next week.”
Suzie frowned. “Okay, flying doesn’t sound like an awesome idea when we have no clue what’s going on in your brain.
I guess I can’t make you go to the hospital, but I’m keeping you here with me for a while.
You can rest and I’ll keep an eye on you.
Then, if you really can’t remember your place when I take you home, you’re booking an appointment for a scan to get checked out before you leave. Deal?”
Josie nodded, truly exhausted. “Deal.” She slumped her head into her arms on the table.
“Right, back upstairs to bed with you. And if you slip into a coma, I’ll kill you.”