“Really?”
“Oh, absolutely,” she says as she sets a folder down on my lap. “I spent hours last night putting together as much of the last five years as I could get my hands on to maybe help you remember.”
Tears sting my eyes as I glance up from the folder and meet her eyes. “You did that for me?”
“Of course.” She points to herself before pointing to me. “Best friends, remember?”
“How did we meet?”
She grins. “We met in a coffee shop, actually. It was about two years after you started your company and you were getting a little overwhelmed with the business side of things because you just wanted to design and make jewelry.”
“Why do I feel like there’s more to that story?”
“Because there is,” she answers with a laugh. “You walked in to get a drink and I was right in the middle of chewing out the barista for screwing up my order for a second time that day. By the time I got around to instructing him on how to better organize his workspace and make himself more efficient, you said you knew I was perfect for the job.”
I drop my head back on the pillow as I laugh. “I have no trouble at all seeing that.”
“What can I say? I see a problem and I just have to fix it.”
“How is the company doing now?”
She beams. “Phenomenal.”
“Really?” I ask, my heart feeling lighter than it has in days. She nods.
“Absolutely.” Leaning forward, she opens the folder and points to a stack of papers on the left side. “Articles, features, designs, and photos about the company are all on this side.”
I pull out a stack of papers and start leafing through them. There are a few articles that mention the start of my company and a few more that talk about its growth before I find one that names me on a hot businesses on the rise list. After the articles, I find a few of my designs and tears well up in my eyes as I study them. When I was in college, I always dreamed of starting a jewelry line and I would spend hours drawing up designs and dreaming about the day that I could walk down the street and see someone wearing one of my pieces. It’s just a shame I can’t remember any of that now. The first tear drips down my cheek followed by a few more and I set the papers down before clamping my hand over my mouth. I’ve cried so much in the past few days, over my situation and missing my father which led to thoughts of my mother and that always leads to more tears.
“Whoa, what’s wrong?” Nico asks, her brows knitted together in concern and I shake my head.
“I’m so sorry, Nico. I really appreciate all this but it’s just… a lot. This business was my dream for so long and I just wish I could remember it.”
She shakes her head as she stands up and wraps me up in her arms. “Hey, don’t apologize to me. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now and I just want to help however I can. We’ll just go as slow as you want and we’ll have you remembering in no time.”
“Thank you,” I whisper as she pulls away. “I can tell what a great friend you are even if I don’t remember you.”
Shaking her head, she sinks back into her chair. “Aw, babe. Honestly, I always think about how lucky I am that you found me and decided to take a chance on me. I absolutely love working with you and I’m even happier to have you as a friend.”
“Oh, God!” I shriek, wiping the tears from my face as I shake my head. “Enough with the sappy stuff.”
Nico laughs. “You may not remember her but you’re still the same girl you were before the accident.”
“You don’t know how much it means to hear you say that. I feel so out of place, all the time. It’s like I want to just go home and feel safe and comfortable but it doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Sure, it does. It would just be home from five years ago.”
I study her as I remember my apartment in Baton Rouge and my chest aches so fiercely that I almost cry out again. Oh, God, what I wouldn’t give to be back there… Nico is absolutely right. Nothing feels right here because Miami isn’t home but just the thought of Baton Rouge is enough to put me at ease.
“Well, should we get back to this?” I ask as I swallow back my desire to go home and pick up the folder again. “Tell me about Gavin.”
She smiles. “What do you want to know?”
“Did he really take me to Fiji on our first date?” I ask, remembering my conversation with him. Nico laughs.
“Oh, yeah, he did. The day after the charity event, you were floating in the dang clouds and so happy after spending the entire evening with him but when you got back from that trip, I could tell that you were pissed.”
“So how did he win me over?”
Shaking her head, she crosses her arms over her chest and rolls her eyes. “Showed up at the office every day with a new bouquet of flowers for you until you agreed to one more date.”
I resist the urge to purse my lips. From the outside, it doesn’t seem like something that would win me over but who knows how I really felt back then when I was really living it.
“Tell me I put up a good fight, at least?”
“Two weeks,” she answers with a laugh and I smile as I give myself a little nod of approval. “And even then, you only agreed to a lunch date. When you got back, everything was back on track between the two of you.”
I pick up the first paper on the right side of the folder, a newspaper clipping of our engagement announcement. It’s dated two months ago with a gorgeous picture of Gavin and me featured front and center.
“How did he propose?”
“Oh, he took you to one of the fanciest restaurants in town and dropped down on his knee in front of a dining room full of people.”
I fight the urge to scrunch my nose up. When I was a little girl, I always imagined I’d find a boy I loved and he’d take me somewhere romantic with just the two of us before asking me to marry him. It would have been private and intimate, not in a crowded restaurant with a room full of people looking on but that’s just one more thing that I can’t judge since I don’t remember a second of it. Before I can ask her anything else, someone knocks on the door and my head jerks up as two men in suits walk into the room.
“Miss Shaw?” the shorter one asks and I nod as they both stop at the end of my bed and flash shiny gold badges at me.
“I’m Detective Bennett,” the tall one says before motioning to the other man. “And this is my partner, Detective Mason. We’re here to ask you a few questions about the accident.”
I glance over at Nico before meeting Detective Bennett’s gaze. “I’m not sure I can help. I don’t remember anything.”
“A lot of folks think that, Ma’am,” Detective Mason answers. “But you might have seen something you didn’t even realize at the time.”
“No, you don’t understand…”
“Don’t you want to find the person responsible for killing your father?” Detective Bennett asks, cutting me off and I arch a brow as I cross my arms over my chest. “Think of all the other people he could hurt if you don’t tell us what you know.”
“Am I allowed to speak now?”