Unforgettable (18 page)

 
“Thanks.” I took out a pair of panties and yanked them on awkwardly, thankful that I was wearing a baggy tee shirt that fell lower than my butt.

 
“So, how about that scampi?” I asked, trying to extricate myself from the bedroom. Everything seemed to be back to square one. I felt nearly as ill at ease as I had in the hospital. The feeling of closeness and relaxation from earlier had been completely wiped out by my own stupid hormones. I wanted to kick myself. At least earlier, when I was feeling comfortable around him, I was remembering things. The sex hadn’t done a thing for my memory.

 
He was still standing right beside me, naked, so I bolted over to the closet to grab some sweat pants, pulling them on at breakneck speed. I wondered how long I was going to have to deal with this self-conscious feeling, knowing it was all my own fault. Geez, I had practically begged him to have sex with me. Uhg. I turned around to find Ethan pulling his jeans back on. A tiny sliver of me was sad that all that beauty was being covered, but mainly I was happy he was dressed. It would make the rest of the evening go so much more smoothly.

 
“So...scampi?” I asked again.

 
“Sure. I’ll be in to help you in just a minute.”

 
“No rush. I’ll just go get things started.” I walked out of the room and couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. This was worse than I thought. We were acting like strangers after a one night stand. Where were the people who went to the fish market this morning? They weren’t the same people who barely said two words to each other a few minutes ago.

 
I walked to the refrigerator and pulled out the bag of shrimp, setting it in the sink, pouring out the ice and leaving them to drain. I had to plan out my meal first. As I was standing at the sink and looking out the window I had an urge to make chocolate mousse. That sounded divine. I went to the pantry and made sure I had chocolate before snatching it up and tossing it on the counter. Within a few minutes I had all the ingredients out and the chocolate was melting. I finished the mousse and was dividing it into four dishes when Ethan finally walked in wearing the same clothes he had on earlier. My stomach did a slow roll and I clenched my legs together. Hold it together, Juliet.

 
 
He looked at the mousse and at me without saying anything. “Do you not like mousse?” I asked.

 
“No, I love it. What made you make this?” He had a strange look on his face and I had the feeling that my mousse craving wasn’t a coincidence.

 
“It just seemed the perfect complement, that’s all.” He nodded and walked around the island to stand by the sink.

 
“Do you want me to peel the shrimp?” He looked at me questioningly. I felt I had to do something to break the tension I had caused, so I decided that interacting with him might be a good idea. I had to admit that I was feeling comfortable with him now, after-sex weirdness notwithstanding. I don’t know if it was all the memories coming back or if somehow my mind just
knew
him. Anyway, I figured I should take the first step.

 
“We can do it together, make it go faster.” He smiled as he pulled out a colander and set it on the other side of the sink. I smiled because I knew I had done the right thing.

 
We stood there peeling the shrimp for a few minutes, not speaking, but it wasn’t so bad. I was getting over the after sex embarrassment, so things were feeling pretty good in my head. That was until I picked up a shrimp that was smaller than the others. Ooh, a baby slipped in here. A baby. My mind immediately went into full panic mode.

 
“Shit. You didn’t wear a condom,” I yelped at him accusingly. “Carrie said I’m not on the pill anymore.” My stomach dropped. I didn’t even know where in my cycle I was right now. My heart started hammering in my chest. This hadn’t even happened to me in high school.

 
“It’s okay, you get the shot. I’m not an idiot.” Oh my god, is he implying that
I
am an idiot since I didn’t think about it until right now? I could feel a good freak-out building up. I think Ethan must have been sensing it too, because he took my hand with his free one and linked our fingers. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. Ever.”

 
His words made me feel better, but I still felt stupid for not thinking of birth control before I jumped him. That is not the way I am. I have always been scrupulous about things like that. I looked down at our joined hands and felt a little better. I had someone who honestly cared about me and my wellbeing. That was a first. Well, besides Carrie, of course. How ironic that the only two people I could recall actually caring about my life were my best friend and her younger brother. Strangely enough, I realized once again that I hadn’t been thinking of Ethan as Carrie’s little brother. He was his own entity to me now. The past couple of days had allowed me to see him in his own right, and I really liked what I was getting to know. Even without remembering our history together, I could see that we were a good fit.

 
“Thanks Ethan. I’m sorry; my head is all over the place.” I left my hand in his for a second more before I withdrew it to finish peeling the shrimp. He didn’t say anything but turned back to the shrimp, too. Once they were all peeled and cleaned we washed up and I went back into chef mode.

 
“Could you chop some garlic?” I asked as I got out the rice from the pantry.

 
“Yep. You want some parsley too?” How does he know this? This was the second time he seemed to know what I needed for my recipes.

 
I nodded and asked, “Do you like cooking?”

 
“Of course. Plus, it’s nice to be able to spend time in the kitchen with you.” He smiled at me and I felt my familiar butterfly friends start flapping around in my stomach.
Is he for real?
He seemed to always say just the right thing. It was also nice to realize we were passing the awkwardness of the bedroom and would probably not have to have a “talk” about what happened. Well duh, I guess this isn’t the first time we had been together. It was just feeling so new to me that I was expecting to have to go through all the new relationship crap.

 
My phone rang just as I started to measure out the water for the rice. “Will you start the rice, Ethan?” He nodded and I walked over to my purse. It was my mother.

 
“Hi Mom.”

 
“Juliet, how are you doing today?” She sounded genuinely concerned. It felt nice.

 
“I’m doing a lot better. I started to remember some things. First thing this…” She didn’t even let me finish my sentence.

 
“Oh good. I knew you would get over it soon. Listen, I’ve just been invited to Phoenix for the week to stay with my friend Tina,
 
and Sue is out of town visiting her daughter, so I need you to watch Sparkles for me. I’m driving to the airport tonight, so I could just drop her off on my way. You’re at home, right?” What the heck? I didn’t even like her cat, she was a spoiled wretch.

 
“Uh Mom, she doesn’t get along with Lucy. She’s always chasing her and swatting her.” Not to mention how she treats me.

 
“Well maybe you could keep them separated or something. It’s only for a week.” This woman had lost her mind.

 
“I don’t know. I’m not really up to pet sitting right now. I still don’t have my memory back and I don’t know how Ethan would feel about it.” I looked over at him to see him raising his brows at my conversation.

 
“Well, you’re my last resort, Juliet, and as my daughter I would think that I would be able to depend on you when I need help.” She sounded huffy and I felt defeated, it was just like I felt living with her growing up.

 
“Fine, you can bring her.” I gave in. I couldn’t say anything that would change her mind anyway. “What time will you be here?”

 
“Well, I’m about forty five minutes outside of Seattle, so I should be at your house in less than an hour. Bye.”
She was almost here.
She hung up before I could say another word.

 
Geez. No “thank you” or even “please” from Gloria. She just assumed I would watch her cat for her no matter the inconvenience to me. Or Lucy and Ethan. Why am I such a pushover?

 
I set my phone down and looked over at Ethan. “My mom is dropping off her cat in an hour. She’s going to Phoenix for a week.”

 
He walked over to me and touched my bad cheek. His fingers felt cool. “Don’t let her get to you. She doesn’t deserve to have that kind of power over you.” He dropped his hand and smiled. “We can always take her cat to a kennel and board her for the week, she wouldn’t know the difference.”

 
I snorted out a half laugh. “I like the way you think.” I looked over the kitchen realizing that Gloria was due to arrive at about the time we were going to eat. “Do you mind if we put off making the scampi until after she’s gone? I don’t want her ruining our dinner and I really don’t want to invite her to eat with us, not that she would since she’s on her way to the airport, but still.”

 
“No problem. Nothing’s been started yet anyway. I’ll just put the shrimp back in the fridge and we can leave everything else out and ready.” He did that while I stood there gawking at him. He’s too good to be true. I had to snap out of whatever it was making me moony around him. Since when do I stare at men? Um, never. Not even when I used to go out clubbing did I stare at men. I would people watch, sure, but I didn’t zero in on someone and follow his every move. I didn’t feel creepy, though. It would be a shame not to enjoy looking at Ethan. He was gorgeous.

 
I sat down at the island and Ethan grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and sat down beside me. Uh oh. I can feel the “talk” coming on after all.

 
“You told me you love me.”

 
“Yes.”

 
“Why? I mean, what made you say that? Did you remember?”

 
“No, not really. It’s hard to explain. I was looking at you and I couldn’t hold back the words. I could feel that I love you. Do you know what I mean?”

 
He shook his head. “Are you saying you don’t know
why
you love me you just do?”

 
That was it in a nutshell, but it didn’t sound quite right. I didn’t know what
would
sound right, though, so I just shrugged.

 
“Do you feel bad about the sex?” Why did he have to ask
that
question? I had tried to put the sex out of my mind for the last half hour, but I had done a pretty poor job of it.

 
“I don’t feel bad; I’m just thinking maybe we should have waited.” He just looked at me. “Like you said.” I had to add that because he had been right. I
wasn’t
ready. But damn, it had felt good.

 
He nodded to me, but he looked disappointed. I wished I could take the last couple of hours back, to before I demanded a kumquat, but the only way that would happen without a time machine was with amnesia, and I already had that.
 

 
“I’m not sorry about it, Ethan.” I reached out to touch his hand and he turned his over and captured mine before I could move it.

 
“I’m not sorry, either.” We sat there again, not talking but connected. It felt good.

 
“Do you want a glass of wine?” I don’t know where that question came from, I hardly ever drank, but I figured some wine might loosen us up with the added bonus of immunizing me against my mother’s visit.

 
“That sounds good. White to go with the shrimp?”

 
 
“Absolutely, I’ll get the glasses.” He grabbed a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator while I went over to the cabinet and pulled out two glasses. I looked at the label on the bottle before he opened it. Good choice. I stood there while he opened the bottle and poured us each a healthy glass. I raised my drink to toast.