Unforgettable (10 page)

 
Well if I like it, what the heck. “Sure. That sounds great.” I had no idea what it was about or who was in it, but it sounded like some “shoot em up” movie, and I don’t like those. Whatever, I’ll sit through it.

 
“It doesn’t start for ten more minutes; do you maybe want to talk?”

 
I looked at him. He was looking serious. I hoped this wasn’t going to be anything bad. “Okay. What do you want to talk about?”

 
“Do you remember anything at all, about us, I mean?” He looked into my eyes, so hopeful, but I couldn’t lie.

 
“I’m sorry Ethan, I don’t. The last thing I remember is you being at Carrie’s house eating pizza and watching
Music and Lyrics
. We hardly even spoke to each other that night. I was pissed off at John for canceling out on me on my night off and Carrie told me to come over since you guys were going to watch a movie.”

 
At the mention of John, Ethan’s face tightened. I didn’t mean to upset him; I was just telling him my last memory of the two of us even being in the same room. Now he just looked dejected. I wanted to lean over and pat his arm or something, but I was too chicken to touch him. I wasn’t sure I could control myself; I might sniff him again or something. Uh, my stupid face with its stupid blushes.

 
I turned my head forward. Maybe he wouldn’t notice that I was a spazz.

 
“What’s wrong? Why is your face all red?” Well, so much for him not noticing.

 
“I’m fine.” Crap, Ethan noticing my blush just made it worse. Now he would know it was something embarrassing, but there was no way I was going to tell him what I was thinking about.

 
“Do you want to know anything?” Boy, did I. It was just that I suddenly felt shy and I didn’t have the mental fortitude to start asking a bunch of personal questions that I wasn’t ready to know the answers to just yet.

 
I shook my head and Ethan sighed. What did he want from me? I just got home from the
hospital
for goodness sake. I couldn’t deal with this emotional crap right now. How was I supposed to take it all in? I needed to deal with this in baby steps, and learning about a relationship that I have no recollection of is like some kind of giant moon step. I reached forward and grabbed my can of soda, popping the top and pouring it over my ice. It started foaming over the rim of the glass and onto the coffee table.

 
“Dang it!” What else is going to go wrong today? No, scratch that, I didn’t need to invite trouble. I lifted my glass off of the table and started slurping the foam from the side. I didn’t even notice Ethan had gotten up to get a towel until he thrust it in front of me.

 
“Here.” He handed me a paper towel and used another one to wipe off the table. .

 
“Thanks.” Could I look more like an imbecile? How embarrassing.

 
“No problem,” He didn’t say anything else and took the paper towels back into the kitchen. He came back with two clean ones; I guess he wasn’t sure I was going to be able to drink without further mishap.

 
Once he sat down again he picked up the remote and turned the volume on. So much for trying to talk to me. He must have realized I couldn’t be counted on for coherent conversation and decided watching previews for other movies was easier all around. Well that suited me just fine.

 
 
I made myself more comfortable and put my feet up on the coffee table. Hmm. My toes looked pretty nice. The polish wasn’t even chipped. If I didn’t know myself better I would think I had gotten a pedicure. I did know myself, however. Getting my toenails done was not something on my normal schedule. Why would I pay someone to do something I could take care of in five minutes? I must be getting better at it, though. I nodded and wiggled my toes. I did a dang good job.

 
Suddenly the sounds of the movie starting made me stop admiring my feet. Ethan turned off the lamp next to him and turned up the volume. I fixed my eyes on the screen, but it couldn’t hold my attention. The last thing I remembered was a bunch of Indian children running around and subtitles that were so small I couldn’t read them.

 
Mmm, so warm. Wait, what? I opened my eyes to the bottom of Ethan’s chin.

 
“What are you doing?” Suddenly I was totally awake.

 
“I’m putting you to bed; you’ve had a long day.” I looked outside the window—it was still light out.

 
“It’s too early. I was just taking a nap. Put me down.” He put me down on the bed, and I immediately stood back up. I looked at the clock. “It’s only six thirty. I’m not ready for bed.” I shook my head at him.

 
So here we were, in my bedroom. Everything was abruptly awkward.

 
“So um, you’re sleeping on the couch, right?” I just blurted it out, so much for trying to finesse the situation.

 
He raised his eyebrows as if he hadn’t thought of it at all. “Oh, yeah, that was the plan.” Yeah right. I could tell by his face that I had caught him off guard with that.

 
I stifled a yawn. Maybe I
was
tired. I was planning on a shower so that I could wash my hair, but that could wait until tomorrow. Did I have to do anything tomorrow?

 
“What day is it?” I asked. It was strange to not know such a simple thing.

 
“Sunday.” He was still standing there. Tomorrow was Monday. Usually I was off on Monday nights, it was the slowest, but I normally went in early in the day to check the stock and order what was needed. It took me a second to remember that I no longer go in on Mondays or any days for that matter.

 
“What do I do on Mondays? Do I have something I need to get done?”

 
“Not really, you’ve been spending most of your time on your book, you usually post something on Tuesdays, but if things are still…like this I’ll post that you’re sick or something.”

 
Oh. Well, surely Ethan works on Mondays, but I didn’t remember what he told me he does. If so, tomorrow I could spend my time going through my things and trying to remember.

 
“What time do you go to work?” I asked as casually as possible.

 
“I already called my boss. I’m taking a few days off, just to make sure you’re all good.”

 
“Please don’t take off on my account. I don’t want to get you in trouble or anything.” I was trying to get a little alone time because I really didn’t know how I was going to get through another day like this one.

 
“It’s fine. Mike told me to take as much time as I need until you’re back to normal.”

 
Nuts. Well, there was nothing to do in this situation but call it a night. Lucy had followed us in here and was already curled up on the bed. Bedtime was her favorite time of the day. I was leaning toward her way of thinking right now.

 
“I think I am a little sleepy. I’m just going to get ready for bed.” I hoped he would take the hint and leave, but it wasn’t happening.

 
I raised my eyebrows for emphasis when he didn’t make any move to go.

 
“Oh. I guess I need to grab my stuff.” He didn’t hurry, but strolled across the room to the dresser and took out a pair of boxer briefs before walking to the closet to pull out a tee shirt and some sweat pants. “Call me if you need anything.” He walked out of the room and I was left standing there, confused. That didn’t go like I thought it would. He didn’t even put up any resistance. I felt strangely deflated.

 
I flounced over to the dresser and opened drawers until I found my sleepwear. There were fewer boxers and more night shirts than I remembered, but I still I chose a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. I didn’t want to chance wearing something that Ethan might take as an invitation. I pulled on my night clothes, but I wasn’t really ready to sleep, so I went out to get a book off of the shelf in the living room.

 
When I walked past the bathroom door I heard the shower running. I felt my stomach tighten. This couldn’t keep happening. I felt like I was
crushing
on him. Geez, what was I, twelve? I hurried down the hall and into the living room, seizing a book at random, but relieved to see it was a Nora Roberts title that I remembered
.
At least I could open it to any page and know where I was in the story. I went into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator, and made my way back to my room. Just as I came to the bathroom door it opened and I was suddenly staring directly at Ethan’s bare chest.

 
I stopped, blocked by the exquisiteness that was Ethan’s unclothed torso. I stood there, unspeaking, just long enough to appear creepy before I pulled myself together.

 
“Sorry.” I scurried past him and back into the bedroom, closing the door and leaning up against it while I got my breath back under control. This rooming together thing was going to be tougher than I thought.

Chapter Eight

 
I pushed off from the door, set my water and book on the bedside table and flopped down on the bed. There was something I was missing here. My mind wouldn’t let me accept Ethan as my partner, but my body had other ideas. My body was craving him, but that could just be because I was missing sex, right? I was going to operate under that assumption for the time being because I didn’t really have any other option. I absolutely wasn’t going to go out there and make a move on him.

 
I sat up and propped the pillows up behind me. Yeah, that electric hospital bed would come in pretty handy right now except for the fact that the mattress was as hard as a rock. As I settled back on the bed I noticed that it was a little chilly in the room. Unfortunately, the thermostat was out in the hallway and there was no way in the world I was going out there to adjust it tonight so I got up and pulled the comforter and sheet back and crawled in. I snuggled down and Lucy crawled under and pressed up against my legs like a little hot water bottle. Things felt normal. Well, besides the fact that there was a half-naked man somewhere out there in my house.

 
I snatched my water and chugged some down. Oh, I better watch my liquid intake; I didn’t want to have to go to the bathroom any time soon. I screwed the top back on and picked up my book. I opened it up but I just couldn’t concentrate on it. I read the same paragraph three times before I realized I hadn’t absorbed a single thing. I was too busy listening for sounds from outside the door. I looked around for something else to occupy my time but nothing jumped out at me.

 
I got out of bed again, there had to be something for me in here. I opened the closet but there were only clothes. I went over to the other bedside table. Aha! There were some books stacked in the bottom space. I pulled one out and saw that it was a scrapbook of some kind. It must belong to Ethan; because I don’t do scrap booking. The first page was a big picture of Ethan. He was obviously laughing and I could see his teeth. He has nice teeth. I noticed that earlier. He must have had braces as a kid.

 
I started paging through, seeing pictures of me and Ethan in various poses and activities. There was one of us behind a round life preserver placed at the end of a pier. We obviously do cheesy sightseeing stuff like taking tours of the Sound. I felt a little tug in my chest. I know I’m dorky like that, and I could never find anyone do that kind of stuff with me, but apparently Ethan didn’t mind it so much. He was smiling in the photo. He was smiling in every picture I had come across so far.

 
I realized that he hadn’t been smiling much today. I could only assume it was my fault. Well, clearly it was my fault, but what was I supposed to do? I wasn’t going to fake some grand love. I was floundering enough as it was.

 
I shut the book, unable to look at the pictures anymore. I wished I had my laptop in here, at least then I could get online and figure out what was going on in the world. I hadn’t watched any television since I woke up in the hospital yesterday. I couldn’t count the movie earlier since it was on a movie channel and they didn’t show news or anything like that.