Unforgettable (5 page)

 
“Thanks, but I think I need to be at home, sleeping in my own bed and cooking in my own kitchen. I hope just being in my house, surrounded by all of my stuff will jar something. I don’t understand why this is happening to me. Why would my mind block out two years of my life?” Luckily, after my short outburst, my tears slowed down to a slow trickle.

 
“I honestly don’t know. You haven’t told me about anything bad happening recently. Things have been going really well for you. You’ve been working flat out on the cookbook, but you’ve been nothing but excited about it. I’m pretty sure things with Ethan are going smoothly too. You gripe about his neatnik tendencies, but on the whole, you guys are great together.”

 
I pondered this for a moment. I’m working hard on my
book
. Ooh, the thought of that gave me a tingle. I’m also living with some kind of neat freak. How the hell had that happened? I was not a slave to housework. I keep a spotless kitchen, but a little clutter here and there in the rest of the house? I can’t be bothered. Strange.
        

 
Still, there has got to be something that’s so horrible my mind can’t handle it. If Carrie doesn’t know what happened, who could I ask? Okay, I needed to calm down. I might wake up in the morning with my memories intact. I was stressing myself out for nothing. Everything would be fine in the morning. I just needed to get through tonight.

 
“The doctor is springing me tomorrow. Is there any way you can get me some clothes to go home in? I don’t know where my clothes are. I don’t even know what I was wearing when I came here last night.”

 
“I’m way ahead of you. I packed you jeans and a tee shirt, and Ethan said your sneakers and a hoodie are in the closet.” She walked over to the little cupboard to check. “Yep, and I guess this is what you were wearing when you were admitted.” She lifted up a plastic bag that I could see clothing through.

 
“Okay, good. I hate to ask, but could you come pick me up tomorrow? I didn’t drive here so I don’t have wheels.”

 
“Uh, I think Ethan is coming to get you. At least that’s what the plan was, but if you want me to pick you up I will.” She walked back over to the bed and sat back down. “Whatever you need.”

 
“Oh, well if he’s already planning to come, I guess that will be all right.” I would probably be fine in the morning and want to have my boyfriend pick me up. Or at least Carrie’s brother. I mean, I would accept a ride from him if my car broke down and he was the only person I could get in touch with. Yeah, it would be okay.

 
Carrie looked at her watch and groaned. “I need to get home and get ready for the Jameson christening tomorrow. I still have the commemorative photo boxes to finish.” She made a face. “The kid is only two months old, how many important photos could he have?” She shook her head and stood up. “Is there anything else I can get for you before I leave?”

 
“No, I’m just going to shower and go to sleep. Thanks for coming by to visit and bringing me all this.”

 
“My pleasure. You get a good night’s rest, and I’ll come by your house tomorrow after the christening. Love you.” She leaned over to hug me and left.

 
Well, I guess I’ll just do what I said, shower and sleep. This crazy day would probably be a funny story after I got my memory back tomorrow. I hope.

Chapter Four

 
I opened my eyes slowly. I knew I was still in the hospital because I had had a horrible night. I never appreciated the amount of noise and constant activity that went on here. My head only had a dull ache, mostly due to the fact that I’m a side sleeper and I woke up on my right side, my injury side.

 
The room was still semi-dark. There was only gray light filtering through the window where the sliding curtain was left unfastened. I could hear the early morning bustle of the nurses down the hallway. I didn’t want to face the day because I immediately realized that my memory had not returned. I was still a twenty nine year old chef in a thirty two year old blogger’s body.

 
My heart started pounding again. Crap but that was getting old. I was going to be going home in a few hours if everything checked out. I needed to get it together.

 
I focused on my orange purse lying on the chair next to the bed. I still hadn’t gone through it like I planned to last night. Maybe it would trigger something and my mind would fast forward to the present. It was worth a try.

 
I hoisted myself into a seated position, relieved to notice no dizziness, and reached over for my bag. The first thing I spotted was my phone. I guess it was my phone, but it didn’t have any buttons, it was smooth and lit up with pictures. Holy crap! I have an iPhone! These suckers are like four hundred bucks. Why on earth would I spend that much on a phone? I’m not one of those people who get some brand new device just because it’s cool.

 
I touched the iPod picture and scrolled down the play lists. I have a lot more music than I remember. I exited out and touched the phone button. My first favorite contact was Ethan. My stomach clenched. My second contact was E Work. Well, I guess that answered that question. I obviously call him a lot. I kept scrolling. Carrie, Nigel, Mom, Elisa, Candace. I didn’t know any Elisa or Candace. Total blank. I exited back out. I didn’t want to look through my phone anymore. It was alien to me. It’s all alien to me.

 
I dug around my purse. Ah, my wallet. Hmm, it’s a really nice wallet if I do say so myself. I snapped it open and the first thing I saw was my driver’s license. I had taken a new picture. I looked like a dork. Great. Credit card, credit card, library card, wow, they changed up the library cards. I opened the money compartment. Fourteen dollars and some change. That’s about right; I guess I’m not rich in my new life. That sucks. I closed my wallet and dove back into the bag. TicTacs, hairbrush, three pens, grocery store receipts, keys, Tylenol, a scratch off lottery ticket, hey, I won three bucks, cool. That’s it. Nothing to make me have a revelation. I grabbed the box of mints and shook a few into my mouth before tossing the bag aside.

 
I sat there, wallowing in self-pity until a nurse walked in. This was a new nurse, but she seemed friendly enough.

 
“How are you feeling this morning, Juliet?” She knew my name. Duh, of course she did, it’s on my chart.

 
“Pretty good,” I responded. “I still don’t remember anything.” I figured I had better get that out there first thing. Maybe there was something they could do for me today.

 
“Don’t try to force it, it will come when it’s ready,” she said wisely, as if she gets patients with amnesia several times a week.

 
“Yeah, that’s what they say.” I chewed up my Tic-tac’s while she disconnected the pulse monitor from my finger. “When do I get to leave?”

 
“Well, first you can eat some breakfast, and then I’m sure the doctor is going to want to have a look at you. Do you have someone coming to pick you up?”

 
“Yes.” I remembered Ethan would be here to take me home. I never spoke to him after he left yesterday afternoon, so I didn’t know what time he’d get here. I should call him. Maybe I’d wait until later. I didn’t know what time I’d be released.

 
She left and I went to brush my teeth, the mints weren’t helping my morning breath. I turned on the light and gasped.

 
The side of my head was bruised down to my cheek. It looked much worse than yesterday. I lightly touched all around the lump. It only hurt when I pressed near my temple. Luckily it didn’t feel as bad as it looked.

 
After cleaning my teeth, I pulled my hair back with a brown scrunchie so that it didn’t look like a squirrels nest.

 
I crawled back into the bed and used the remote to make the back of it move up higher. When I was propped up, I looked around for something to do. Television was out. The thought of turning it on and watching some inane early morning show was loathsome. I searched around for something to read. There were no magazines or books, not even the newspaper from yesterday. What I wouldn’t give for a computer right now. At least I could waste some time surfing the web. I gave up trying to occupy myself and closed my eyes while I waited for the breakfast tray. At least that would give me something to do. I heard a strange melody. It was coming from my purse. Ooh, my phone.

 
I snatched it up and a picture of Ethan was staring back at me. I wasn’t ready for this, but I answered the call anyway.

 
“Hello?” I answered hesitatingly.

 
“Good morning, beautiful. How are you feeling?” He sounded happy for seven thirty in the morning.

 
“Um, I’m feeling better. I still don’t remember anything, though.”

 
He didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Oh.” He put a lot of disappointment into that one word.

 
“Carrie said you were coming to pick me up today, is that still on?” I should give him an out in case he didn’t want to deal with me or something.

 
“Of course I’ll be there to get you. I just woke up and I wanted to see how you were this morning. I missed you last night.”

 
“Oh, um, thanks.” I didn’t have anything else to say. Awkward.

 
“I’m going to take a shower and I’ll be over there in about an hour. Can I bring you anything from home? I know Carrie packed you some jeans to come home in, but do you want anything else?” I was barely listening after he mentioned the shower. He was going to be naked in my bathroom.

 
“No.” Suddenly I remembered my baby. “How is Lucy doing?” Poor darling was surely feeling abandoned.

 
“She’s fine, she misses you though. She had to make do and snuggle up with me last night.” My dog was sleeping with Ethan? What the hell? Oh, right. He was
in my bed.
Too much to think about.

 
I sat there in silence.

 
“Well, if you don’t need anything I’ll get going so that I can get over there. I’ll see you soon. I love you.”

 
“Mmhmm.” It was the only thing I could respond with. He disconnected and I sat there with the phone in my hand. I couldn’t do this. I got a fresh wave of panicky thoughts. Carrie’s brother was coming to take me home. He lived in my house. What was I supposed to talk to him about? I knew he was artistic; there were drawings and weird sculptures he made all over Carrie and Nigel’s place. But I don’t know squat about art so that topic wouldn’t last long.

 
I was snapped out of my musings by the rattle of the food cart. I had marked oatmeal for my breakfast since I usually don’t eat before noon. At least I wouldn’t be wasting some big meal. The same orderly from yesterday came in with my breakfast tray. Ah, coffee. He is a prince.

 
“Good morning. You want the oatmeal, right?”

 
“Right. Mostly I just need the coffee.” I smiled as he placed the tray on the swivel table beside my bed and positioned it in front of me. “Thanks.”

 
“No problem, see you at lunch,” he said as he made his way out the door.

 
I hoped I wouldn’t be here at lunchtime. I hoped I would be at home, reunited with Lucy and my memories.

 
I added the little sugar packet to my coffee. I usually take two, but there was only one on the tray so it would have to do, I needed the caffeine too much to quibble over sweetener. It was lukewarm, not optimal, but it was better than nothing. I sipped, trying to make it last since I didn’t know if the hospital came around with refills. I lifted the dome over my breakfast. Not only was there a bowl of oatmeal, but also a piece of toast cut in triangles, a packet of margarine, yuck, and two little containers of jam, grape and strawberry. Breakfast of champions. I put the lid back on and finished my coffee before I gulped down the tiny container of OJ.