“That was five years ago, sweetheart,” Gavin says, his voice soft and I continue shaking my head. No, it wasn’t. It was just three weeks ago. None of this makes any sense. Tears sting my eyes as I look back and forth between the two of them again, trying to organize my thoughts and make sense of everything they’re saying but after a few moments, it’s still a jumbled mess. I turn to Gavin.
“You’re my…”
“Fiancé,” he supplies with a nod and I suck in a breath as I mirror him. How is this possible? How can I be engaged to a man that I don’t even know?
“And how long have we been together?”
He smiles as he reaches up toward my face. I jerk back on instinct and his expression falls as well as his hand. Guilt fills me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Nine months,” he answers, his voice low and full of pain. “We’ve been together for nine months.”
“I…” I start before snapping my mouth shut. The sorrow in his eyes makes me ache for him but I have no clue what to say. Even as I stare at him, knowing that he’s my fiancé and searching my memory for just a glimpse of his face, I don’t recognize him. He’s a complete stranger to me.
“So, they didn’t have any Sprite…” a woman says as she walks into the room. Her voice trails off as she stops and turns to look at me, her eyes popping open before she grins. “You’re awake!”
She sets a can of Mountain Dew down on the table and runs over to me, knocking the doctor out of the way and he grunts.
“Oh my God, Jules. I was beginning to think we lost you,” she says as she wraps her arms around me and I wince as pain washes over me. She pulls back with an apologetic expression. “Sorry, babe. How are you feeling?”
I study her as she stares back at me, trying desperately to place her but she’s just as much of a mystery to me as the man to my left. She’s adorable with her purple streaked dark hair and combat boots and something about her makes me feel at ease but I have no clue who she is or how I’m supposed to know her. I frown.
“I’m sorry. Who are you?”
Her gaze snaps up to Gavin before returning to me. “I’m Nico… your personal assistant and like best friend. You don’t remember me?”
“She doesn’t remember me either,” Gavin adds and I didn’t think it was possible but Nico’s eyes widen even more before she turns to the doctor.
“What the hell is going on here?” she demands, getting in his face with a ferociousness that surprises me. “Why doesn’t she remember us?”
“Miss Shaw,” Dr. Wilson prompts as he turns to me, completely unbothered by Nico’s outburst. “Are you okay with me discussing your medical condition in front of Mr. Hale and Miss Harris?”
I shrug. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Okay,” he answers, stepping forward and placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “One week ago, you were in a very serious car accident with your father. You sustained a serious head injury in that accident as well as a few cracked ribs. All in all, I’d say you are incredibly lucky. Your injuries should have been much worse.”
I take in everything he’s saying but it’s like I’m in a fog. “Okay…”
“Why can’t she remember us?” Nico asks, her voice growing impatient and Dr. Wilson sighs.
“I can’t be certain until we run some more tests but based on everything I’ve seen so far, it seems she’s suffering from retrograde amnesia.” He turns his attention to me. “As I mentioned before, it is two thousand nineteen and you seem to be missing the last five years of your life.”
“I can’t believe this,” I whisper, laying my head back against the pillow as I stare up at the tiles of the ceiling. How can I just not remember the last five years of my life?
Years where I apparently moved to Miami to be closer to my father and met someone I loved enough to get engaged?
How is all of that just gone?
My mind drifts over everything he just told me when I realize that he said my father was in the accident with me. I turn to him.
“You said my dad was in the accident, too?”
He nods.
“Is he okay? Can we call him and get him here?”
I may not recognize the man sitting next to me or the woman standing at the end of the bed, staring at me expectantly but there is no way I won’t recognize my own father. It has been just the two of us since my mother died when I was nine and I am a total daddy’s girl. He is my whole world and the reason I’m moving from Baton Rouge to Miami. No, wait… the reason I did move. Sucking in a breath, I remind myself that it’s five years later than I think it is. Dr. Wilson sighs, shaking his head.
“I’m so sorry, Miss Shaw. Your father was brought into the ER after the accident and he had already lost a significant amount of blood. We worked tirelessly on him but we were unable to save him.”
I blink and tears sting my eyes. “He’s… dead?”
“Yes.” He nods. “Again, I’m so sorry.”
Sucking in a stuttered breath, I drop my gaze to my lap and twist my fingers together as a sob tears through me. Tears spill down my cheeks and I clamp my lips together to fight back another sob but it overpowers me anyway. My body aches for someone to wrap their arms around me, provide me even a molecule of comfort, but the one man I need the most right now, the one man I’ve always had in my corner, I’ll never see again.
Chapter Two
Juliette
Every summer when I was a little girl, this little carnival set up shop a few towns over for two weeks and my mom always made sure we went at least a couple times before they packed up and moved on. When they started showing commercials on TV for the carnival the year after she died, I would get so upset that I would turn it off and spend the rest of the day in my room. My father worked a ridiculous amount of hours but somehow he found out about my daily meltdowns and he took two weeks off work to make sure we went to that carnival every single day. One of Mom’s favorite rides was The Zipper. It took us up in the air and our basket flipped over and over as the entire ride did its own loop, plunging toward the earth so quickly that it stole the breath from your lungs before flinging up into the air again. We rode that thing more times than I could count and each time we stepped off, I would stumble but Daddy never let me hit the ground. Even though he’d just been put through the same whirlwind I had, he was steady, strong, and there to catch me before my knees could hit the dirt. With him there, I felt safe and happy for the first time since my momma had died. My head spins the same way it did all those times I stepped off that ride now as I stare at the man I am supposed to marry in three short weeks. Only this time, Daddy’s not here to catch me and make sure I’m safe and I’ve never felt more lost.
“Listen,” Gavin whispers, reaching over the bed rail to reach for my hand but I pull it back and he sighs. “I have no idea what you’re going through right now and I know it has to be terrifying but I’m here and I love you.”
“But I don’t know you.”
He nods. “I know but ask me anything, okay? Maybe if you hear about us, some things will start to come back to you.”