Don’t Forget to Remember Me (7 page)

I didn’t remember much after that; people
bustling around, coughing and getting sleepy. When I woke, I was
surrounded by my parents, Ellie and three others that I didn’t
recognize, but no sign of the gorgeous man from before. My eyes
searched the room. My mother reached for my hand and Ellie offered
her a chair.

“
Hello, Julia,” she said. “Are you
looking for Ryan?”

“
Who?” I asked. Ellie shot a glance at
the attractive blonde man to her right and then at my
parents.

“
Ryan, honey,” Dad said.

“
I sent him home to clean up.” The other
man stepped forward and I could see the same kindness in his face
and eyes…they were the same as the man who must be Ryan.

My mother looked at me with a big question
in her eyes. “Do you remember Ryan, Julia?” Her voice was hesitant
and quiet.

My mind had reeled and I shook my head. “Not
unless he was the one who was with me when I woke up.”

“
Yes,” the man who looked like him nodded
and smiled.

“
He’s quite handsome, isn’t he?” I asked
timidly with a soft smile. I felt silly for saying it, it was so
obvious.

Ellie laughed and cocked her head. “Yes.
Quite. The nurses are constantly whispering and staring at him.”
The devilish gleam in her eyes sparkled and the blonde man nudged
her in the shoulder making her look his way.

Everyone got quiet and stared at me
expectantly. I looked from one to another, hoping someone would
tell me something.

“
Who is he then? Are we friends?”

She glanced at the one they called Gabriel,
and he shook his head ever so slightly.

“
Yes. We’re all friends. We met in
school,” Ellie explained as the door opened and the object of our
discussion walked in, even more handsome than before, if that was
possible. His hair was damp and his face clean-shaven; he came and
took my hand when everyone had been ushered out. He was dressed in
hospital scrubs with a stethoscope around his neck. So, he was a
doctor, this Ryan, who Ellie said was my friend…

I closed my eyes, now alone in my room after
my talk with Ryan, struggling to fill the missing holes of him.
Surely, if he’d cried over me, I should know him. Gabriel and Dr.
Brighton said that it’d probably all come back, but sitting here,
without being able to remember, left me feeling lost.

I remembered Ellie and the
first half of my freshman year at college, but then it was pretty
much a blank. My dad left a newspaper on the tray over my bed and I
could see that it was almost eight years later. He had some grey
hair and my mother looked more tired than I remembered her. I
wondered how I had changed as well. Ellie’s hair was longer, but
she looked pretty much unchanged.
Would I look old?
I would be 26 now. And, then there were all of
these people that I couldn’t remember at all. Tears slipped from my
eyes in mourning over the loss. How could so much disappear just
like that?

And Ryan…Ellie seemed hesitant to talk about
him except to tell me we met at college. My heart was still
thumping at his breathtaking good looks and I could still feel
where his lips had burned into my forehead. I felt strangely drawn
to him. His gentle teasing and the velvet softness in his tone when
he spoke put me at ease.

Bringing my thoughts to the present, I
looked down at the bed linens until a noise at the door startled
me. Another new person walked into my room.

Okay, so is this a doctor or someone from
the past?
I didn’t feel anything special
coming off of him. None of the familiarity or magnetism that I’d
felt with Ryan. He walked closer and smiled.

“Hello, Julia.” His voice was deep and
clinical. “I’m Dr. Moore.”

I sighed in relief. Not another forgotten
person from the past. “Hi. Are you here for another test? I’m sort
of tired right now.” The pain pill was starting to make me
sleepy.

“No. Dr. Brighton and Dr. Matthews asked me
to check in on you. I wanted to introduce myself since we may be
spending time together.”

“Are you a physical therapist?” I wished he
would just cut to the chase already. His methodical prodding wasn’t
my style. “I’m having some difficulty moving my toes, but I can
feel my feet. I’m supposed to be getting up for a walk, so it makes
sense that you’d be…” He shook his head and so I stopped
talking.

“I’m a psychologist.”

My deep intake of breath caused a sharp pain
to shoot through the left side of my chest. “Why? Do they think I’m
crazy?” I asked, wincing.

Dr. Moore shook his head. “Not at all, but,
if there is no physical problem, they just thought talking a little
might help you remember.”

I snorted unconsciously. I’m sure he found
it insulting because his face tightened slightly. “Well, thank you,
but I hit my head. Surely, that’s the reason I can’t remember,
right? I have more than enough people to talk to. There are nine of
them, at last count.”

“No one is insinuating that there is
anything remotely wrong with you, Julia, but I’ve dealt with cases
like this before. I’m only here to help.”

I regretted my snarkiness but, I was
skeptical. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s all a
little overwhelming.”

“Well, that’s why I’m
here. You might feel more at ease talking to someone impartial.
Your family and friends might be more emotional and you don’t need
to take that on right now. You need to concentrate on what you need
to
do to
heal, okay? Focus on
yourself.”

“I’ll try.”

“So, Dr. Brighton will
call after your MRI this afternoon and let me know the results,
alright? I’ll
stop in tomorrow
and we’ll
see how you’re doing.”

“Dr. Moore, on your other cases, how long
did it take for them to remember?”

“I’ve only had two others like this. It took
one about a month and the other one…well; he never did get his
memory back completely.” My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open
in surprise. “But, he’s built a new life and he’s perfectly happy
now. He has new memories.”

His eyes dropped to my left wrist that I had
closed my right one around. I couldn’t seem to stop touching it and
rubbed back and forth. My damned eyes welled again and threatened
to spill over. I didn’t want to lose eight years of my life.

“Why are you doing that? Are you in pain?”
Dr. Moore asked.

I stopped immediately and
pulled my good hand away. “No. It doesn’t hurt. I guess I’m nervous
or something. I’m sad that I can’t remember, and losing all that
time, and
people
, hurts. I feel
isolated.”

His eyes narrowed slightly but he smiled
gently. “Is there anyone or anything in particular that makes you
sad?”

I licked my lips nervously, not really sure
how much I trusted this new doctor. “Uh…yes, I guess. I mean Ryan,
Aaron and Jenna, mainly. Supposedly, we were all very close
friends, so not knowing them is upsetting.”

Especially Ryan.
I
wanted to know everything about him and exactly what our
relationship was.

“Well, you’ll probably remember them all in
time, but it may not come back all at once. Do you remember your
job or where you were living?”

I shook my head.

“Well, don’t fret so much, okay? So, I’ll
see you tomorrow. Try to rest as much as you can.”

He left me alone and I
closed my eyes. The medicine was making me sleepy.
So
sleepy. The nurse came in to take my blood
pressure, but when she closed the blinds and left, I drifted off to
sleep in the
quiet
room.

*****

The room was darker. The
sun had changed position and was casting long shadows from the
window. That meant I’d slept for hours and probably missed my walk
with Ryan. I wasn’t really sure why he intrigued me, other than how
gorgeous he was.
Even
though I had no
memory of him, I found myself looking forward to seeing him. My
heart sped up at the thought. I yawned and brought my right hand to
my mouth as I glanced around the room.

There wasn’t much furniture in the room,
save the bed, one recliner and another small chair. I turned my
head and stopped. Ryan was asleep in the big chair, his head lolled
to one side and one hand was tucked under his chin, a thick lock of
hair falling over his forehead.

An unknown number of moments ticked by as I
lay watching him sleep just listening to the steady rhythm of his
breathing. I didn’t want to wake him. He’d looked so tired before
and from what I could see, he needed rest.

The door began to open slowly, Ellie and
Harris walking in. I put a finger to my lips to shush them then
pointed to Ryan’s sleeping form. They came quietly to the edge of
my bed and Harris bent to kiss my cheek.

“What time is it?” I whispered.

Harris was quite good-looking and it was
apparent in the way he was always touching Ellie that they were
lovers. She deserved to have someone love her like that.

“Four thirty,” Ellie answered softly.

“Looks like Ryan is finally getting some
rest. He needs it,” Harris murmured.

“Yes, he looked tired earlier.”

“He hasn’t slept in…” Ellie stopped and
glanced at Harris. “Well, he’s been concerned for you.”

I nodded. It was evident in his actions, his
tone of voice and his very presence. “We must be good friends. I
wish I could remember…” my throat constricted slightly.

Ellie put her hand on mine. “Oh, honey, you
will. We were all great friends. Have you seen Aaron and Jen?”

“Yeah, they stopped in
earlier. It
was somewhat awkward
, but they
seem very nice. Aaron
is funny
. Jen
smacked him when he made me laugh.” I smiled.

“Sounds like them, yeah,” Harris answered
and then nodded at Ryan. “How long has he been out?”

“I don’t know. I was asleep for a while,
too. He was there when I woke up.”

A knock at the door signaled Jenna and
another nurse coming in. “Hey,” she said. She used her foot to do
something to the bottom of the bed. “Time for the MRI, babes.”

The other nurse,
Kari
, smiled at me. “Let’s get your vitals
before we scoot you out of here.” She placed a blood pressure cuff
around my right arm and shoved a paper thermometer in my
mouth.

“You guys gonna let sleeping beauty over
there sleep?” Jenna asked Ellie and Harris.

“Well, he hasn’t slept in days, so
probably.” Ellie nodded.

“He’ll be furious if he isn’t told what’s
going on with Julia. Wake his ass up.”

Kari finished the blood pressure reading and
took the thermometer out of my mouth, just as Ryan stirred in the
chair.

“Yeah. Wake my ass up.” The nurse blocked
most of my view, but I could tell he was running his hands through
his hair and rubbing his face sleepily. “Jen, Aaron said you
finished at four, so are you just here for the scenery?”

“Nice, dickhead. I’m here
to keep Julia company during her test. See, Ryan?
I
get to go with her and
you can’t.”

“Pretty soon you’ll start
chanting
Na Na Nuh Boo Boo
, right?”
he said sarcastically.

“Hey, whatever it takes to get a rise out of
you,” she shot back and started to move the bed, pulling the foot
of it toward the door, while Kari hooked the IV bags on the side
railing and took her place to push at the head.

“Uh, pretty sure getting a rise out of me
isn’t your responsibility,” Ryan teased.

Jen rolled her eyes and I blushed. “See what
an obnoxious jerk he can be? I don’t know how you put up with
him.”

Ryan was on his feet and came to the side of
the bed, holding up his hand for Jenna to stop. “Hey, did you sleep
okay?” His blue eyes were sparkling and he flashed a big smile.

“Not as well as you did, apparently.” I
smiled back.

“Well, it’s a relief. I can sleep now that
you’re better. Our parents are around somewhere. I’ll find them so
they’ll be here when you come back.”

I was struck by his eyes
and I nodded slightly. “Okay.” My eyes locked on his imploringly,
hoping he could read the question lurking there.
What about you?

“I’ll be here, too. Maybe we can get in that
walk after all?” he said softly.

“I’d like that.”

“Back off, Casanova. We have business to
attend to,” Jenna said shortly.

Ryan shot her a dirty look before she pulled
me out into the hallway and winked at me. “He’s always getting his
panties in a bunch, that one.”

“Yeah, he told me I always called him
a—”

“Moody ass,” we both said in unison and she
nodded.

“Understatement of the century!”

*****

Later that night as I
picked at my dinner of grilled chicken and mashed potatoes, my
parents and Ryan’s, along with Ellie, Harris and Ryan, were all
there,
sitting around
me. Ryan was
hovering around at the foot of the bed, and my mother was sitting
on the edge.

“Eat up, honey. You need to regain your
strength.”

“Uh, have you tasted this, Mom? You eat it,”
I said in disgust and shoved the tray at her. “I’m not dying; I
don’t have a heart condition, so why do I have to eat this
crap?”

“I’m sure it isn’t that bad,” Marin said as
she took my fork and took a bite. Her face crumpled and she grabbed
a napkin and spit out the food into it. “Ugh.”

My head cocked to one side. “Exactly.”

Ryan smiled and took out his cell phone,
punching something in to it. I watched him, wondering what he was
doing. He didn’t put the phone to his ear, but shoved it back into
his pocket. I raised my eyebrow but he only smirked.