Remember Me (Men of Honor Series Book 1) (2 page)

“Excuse me, ma’am. I’m looking for the John Doe brought in earlier.”

Tess wiped her eyes and her face, hoping she looked more tired than upset. A tall, lean man with a shaved head and wearing a blue police uniform stood on the other side of the desk from her. The name on his shirt said Petrie.

“Yes. Sorry. It’s been a long night. Please, follow me.” Coming around the desk, she led the officer to Ben’s room. Tears almost choked her as she looked at Ben again, staring out the window, so lost and alone. She’d never seen him so vulnerable. He was always in control. Alert. Confident. All the things that made him a great cop.

Ben turned and looked at her. “Hey, you’re back.”

His smile almost knocked her to her knees. How was that possible? No. She refused to let his heart-melting smile or warm, chocolate-colored eyes charm her into his good graces.

“And I see you brought a friend.” His eyes moved to the officer standing behind her in the doorway.

The officer moved around her and pulled a notepad and pen from his pocket.

“I just have a few questions for you, if you’re feeling up to it.”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “Ask away.”

Tess took a step back toward the door, feeling it prudent to give them some privacy.

“You can stay,” Ben said. Her heart ached at the look of desperation in his eyes. “If that’s okay.” He looked toward the police officer for approval.

“That’s fine with me.” The officer shrugged.

Tess entered the room and leaned against the wall near the door. Ben’s shoulders relaxed as his eyes moved from her to the uniformed man now standing at the end of his bed.

Ben shook his head a lot as the officer took notes. Would the presence of a policeman trigger Ben’s memory? If so, would it all come flooding back or would it piece together slowly? At the moment, his amnesia was all that kept her from sprinting for the door and never looking back. What if his memory
did
return? Then what?

“Well, that’s about all I have. Thank you for your cooperation.” Officer Petrie closed his notebook and clicked his pen.

“Sure.” Ben sounded disappointed. The inquiry hadn’t brought about the results he was hoping for. He looked at Tess, his brown eyes sad. She swallowed hard.

“I’ll walk you out, Officer.”

She turned to Ben. “I’ll be right back.”

He nodded and then looked back toward the window. Torn between being happy he was struggling and wanting to comfort him, Tess turned and followed the officer out into the hall.

Once the door clicked shut she said, “So, what now?”

Officer Petrie shrugged. “There’s really nothing we can do.”

“What?” Her voice bounced off the empty hallway walls.

He shrugged again. “He had no identification on him when we found him, and no one’s reported a missing person. He’s not suspected of any crime, so there’s no reason to fingerprint him. And even if we did, we wouldn’t get the results back for a few weeks. I put a call in to the rental car company, but they’re closed. When they call back we’ll have them look up the driver’s license on record.”

Tess’s heart sped up. Ben could find out his identity soon. Was that a good or bad thing? “How long does that take?”

The officer shook his head. “Not sure. Whenever they decide to return my call.”

“So you’re just going to leave him here?” She tried to keep her voice down, but didn’t succeed.

“When the doctors deem him healthy enough to leave and social services has given the okay, you can release him.”

“Then he’s homeless and not knowing who he is. That’s just great.” She crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to hide her shaking hands.

“Look, ma’am, I know it sounds bad, but there really isn’t much more we can do.” He shook his head. “It’s not what you think. We call it the CSI effect. People watch TV and think we can fingerprint someone on the spot and have intel in a minute. That’s just not how it works in the real world. Hopefully, we can find something out when the rental car place calls back.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “I really am sorry.” With a small nod, he moved around her and left.

Tess paced outside Ben’s room. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t just walk away and leave him homeless. She was set to marry the man just six months ago, for crying out loud. Of course,
he
left
her
without batting an eye.

“Yeah, Tess, he left you a stinking note to tell you he couldn’t marry you,” she reminded herself as she continued pacing. She thumbed her bottom lip, her thoughts a raging battle. Sure, he’d left her, but he didn’t leave her alone in the world with no idea who she was or a place to live or anyone to help. She was pretty sure no one would file a missing persons report. Ben’s parents were dead. He was an only child. When he left, he said he was going to take a leave of absence from work and travel through Europe, try to figure out what he wanted from life. No one knew where he was going. All of their friends were so mad at him they’d sided with Tess and didn’t care to find him. Even his best friend, Dane, didn’t know where Ben was.

It was one thing to picture him gallivanting all over Europe, happy to be free of her. But he wasn’t. He was here in the next room, lost and alone. Deep in her heart, she’d always questioned his reason for leaving. The two of them were connected in a way she could never explain. Now he was here. Not in Europe. None of it made any sense.

She buried her face in her hands.

“What am I gonna do?”

As if on cue, her cell phone vibrated in her back pocket. She took it out to see Emma’s big smile on her iPhone screen.

“Emma! I’m so glad it’s you.”

“Okaay. Wow, you sound cranked. Too much caffeine for your shift?”

“No. Well, yes. But no.” She tripped over her words. Getting her thoughts from her brain to her mouth was proving impossible.

“What’s going on? You were supposed to call me when you got off work so we could go shopping for the wedding.”

Tess’s gut clenched at the word “wedding.” Emma was her closest friend and engaged to her neighbor, Mike. But helping Emma plan the wedding was tougher than she’d thought it would be.

“I got caught up here at work. Emma, you’re never going to believe this but…Ben is here.”

Emma sucked in a breath. “He’s where?”

“He’s here at the hospital.”

“Did he just show up and ask you to come back to him or something? Did that guy really think you would just forget all the heartache and pain and he’d waltz right back into your arms or—”

“Emma! Listen.” Tess cut her off before she
really
got going. “No. It’s nothing like that. He was in a car accident and has amnesia. He doesn’t even remember his own name, let alone that he left me at the altar.”

Silence.

“Emma? Are you still there?”

“Um, yeah. I’m here,” she whispered.

“I know. It’s a lot to wrap your head around. I’ve been trying for the past few hours.”

“How are you?”

Her friend’s comforting words floated through the phone and warmed Tess’s heart. “I’m okay, for the moment. I’m functioning on all adrenaline at this point. The fact that he has no clue who I am is actually helping the situation. However, I don’t know what to do. The police officer from the scene of the accident just came and asked him a bunch of questions and said that since they don’t have any idea who he is, there’s nothing they can do. They’re leaving him stranded!”

“Wow.”

“That’s all you’ve got? I need some serious help here!” She turned sharp and paced another direction.

“Hey, this is a lot to grasp. I’m just now finding all of this out from you.”

Tess rubbed her eyes. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m…overwhelmed, to say the least.”

“I bet you are. Man, of all the crazy things.”

Tess heard someone talking in the background. “Is that Mike?”

“Yeah. I’m at his place. We’re doing wedding stuff. Can I tell him?”

“Yes, of course.” Tess listened to Emma’s muffled voice as she relayed the story to Mike. She heard his “No way!” and had to laugh. When she first moved from San Diego to her parents’ town house on the beach along the Central Coast, Mike introduced himself right away and they became fast friends. He invited her to church with him and Emma and they took Tess under their wing. The only people in her “new” life who knew her story, they were supportive, and the epitome of true friends.

“Hey, Tess.”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Mike has an idea, but we want to make sure you’re okay with it.”

“At this point, I would love any and all advice.”

“He’s willing to have Ben stay here with him until you can figure out what to do.”

Tess stopped pacing. How could they think that Ben living right next door to her could be a good idea? “Is Mike insane?”

“Look, I know your brain is spinning right now over that plan, but hear him out.”

She heard a shuffle as Emma handed the phone to Mike.

“Hey, Tess.” Mike’s baritone voice came through the phone. She could see him in her mind, his surf shorts hanging low on his hips like always, with a Hurley T-shirt and flip-flops. His shoulder-length blond hair tucked behind his ears, he was a surfer who happened to also be a phenomenal pediatrician. Childlike himself, he lived to be in the water. He and Ben were a lot alike. “I know you probably aren’t too excited about this idea, but from what you’re saying, this poor guy’s completely alone in the world. Maybe being near the beach and near you will help him remember. I’ve never worked with anyone with amnesia, but I would imagine it’s better for people to come around on their own, suddenly or gradually, however it happens for them.”

“But what if I don’t want him to remember, Mike? He left me a week before our wedding day. How am I supposed to forget that?”

“I can only imagine how hard this must be for you, T, and I’m not saying you
should
forget. But I know you. There’s no way you’re going to walk away and leave him without anywhere to go.”

She hated to admit it, but he was right. Her heart was damaged, but not completely gone. Her head said to hate Ben, her heart said something else; she just didn’t know what yet. A deep breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in escaped her lungs. “Are you sure you’re willing to have some stranger stay with you?”

“He’s not a stranger. I know plenty about him because of you.”

She snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, and most of it me raging about what a jerk he is.”

Mike chuckled. “True. But I know you. You never would have loved him if he were truly awful. Maybe you can get him to remember, and find out why he really left. Maybe there’s more to the story than you know.”

Tess unclipped her hair and let it flow loose down her back. It still didn’t help relieve the headache building.

“I think that’s what I’m afraid of the most.”

“Look, I’ll head over to the hospital. I know the social worker well. I can talk to her, tell her I’m willing to claim responsibility for Ben and we’ll go from there. Sound good?”

Tess nodded as if Mike could see her and squeaked out a “Sure.”

“Listen, T. It’s going to be okay. Let’s just take this one step at a time.”

***

Tess ended the call with Mike, tucked the phone to her chest, and thanked God for such good friends. Without Mike and Emma, she didn’t know what she would do. When Ben called off the wedding, Tess had packed up her things and moved to the beach. She wanted a fresh start away from the gossip and staring eyes of everyone who knew her before. Scared and alone, she’d met Mike and Emma. They made her feel safe.

She’d told Mike she didn’t want Ben to remember. But was that true? Deep down, a part of her knew she wouldn’t have complete closure without knowing what really made him leave.

“You still haven’t left?” Gwen’s voice from behind her brought her back to the present.

She put her phone back in her pocket and attached her hair clip to the bottom of her scrub top. “Nope. I’m still here. The officer just left. He said we can release him when the social worker says so.”

“Then what?”

Tess looked toward the door of Ben’s room then back to her boss. “My friend Mike said he can stay with him until something else comes up.”

“You mean cutie Dr. Mike? That’s sure nice of him.”

“Yeah. Mike’s the best.” Her mouth curved into a slight smile.

“Okay. I’ll go talk to the doc and get his release papers going. When that’s done…I guess the hunky lumberjack is all yours.”

A nervous laugh escaped Tess’s lips. “Hmm, yeah.”

***

Tess peeked in Ben’s room, careful not to wake him if he was sleeping.

To her surprise, he was sitting up in the chair next to the bed, wearing his jeans and boots, but no shirt. Her breath caught at the sight of him. Apparently backpacking through – wherever he’d been – had helped him keep the muscular physique he’d always been proud of. And that she’d always admired, especially when they went surfing. A few bandages peppered his chest. His red plaid shirt lay across the bed. When he heard Tess at the door, he stood.

Goodness, she was going to need strength to get through this. His six-foot-two-inch frame made him almost a good foot taller than her. She fought hard to keep her eyes on his face. “What are you doing?”

“From the looks of it, I’m putting on my clothes.” He grabbed his shirt from the bed, shrugged into it, and buttoned it as he spoke. “I don’t want anyone else in this hospital to see more of me than they already have.” He winked at her, but she could have sworn she saw his cheeks redden beneath his beard.

“But…you haven’t been released yet.”

“I will be. And I’m feeling fine. I can’t sit here anymore. I need to get out and try and figure out who I am.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. He was the same old Ben. No problem taking on the world all by himself.

“What will you do? Where will you go? You have no identification, no money and no idea where to start.

He finished buttoning his shirt and sat down on the bed. “You have a point there.” The strong resolve that existed just moments before seemed to fade.