If my glare had been as tangible as it felt, I’d have sliced him clean in half with this one look. “Some of us did a better job than others. While you were off trying to open a failed second bar, I quit my job and devoted my entire life to Remi. Yet, somehow, she loses her memory and I’m the person you three have elected to erase? I’m the one who has to sacrifice a future with her in it? Get the fuck out of here and take your bullshit scheme with you.”
As I maniacally laughed at how ridiculous the whole scene was, my throat burned from how dry my mouth had become. “It won’t work. You’ll see. But you can have the rest of the week for her to heal up and get stronger. That is, if she’s not asking for me sooner. There is not a scenario in this whole damn world where Remi and I don’t end up together. Do with that what you will, but please, save your breath and get the hell out of my room. Shame on all fucking three of you for leaving her alone this long already.”
Mark opened his mouth again, but Tyson launched forward, his hand raised to silence him. “How about we put a pin in this for a while? There’s no rush. He’s said he’ll wait another week before reaching out to her. We all want the best for Remi, but it won’t happen going back and forth like this. And let’s not forget he’s still in a hospital bed himself.”
“He’s right,” Jack said, cupping Mark on the shoulder. “Let’s get out of here, boys. Give the man some space to think, to rest, to heal. He’ll do the right thing.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Maybe you guys should do some good long thinking too. Imagine how it would feel if I asked—no, demanded—any one of you to disappear from her life.” If this was what surviving looked like for me, I would have rather not.
Aaron suddenly lurched from behind Mark, his face pinched and tense, his eyes red rimmed. “I don’t have to imagine,” he seethed. “Not even three months ago, you asked me to do just that. And you know what?” He leaned toward me and dropped his voice low. “I fucking did it. So look, I get it. I didn’t believe she’d been kidnapped at first. That’s on me. I tried to apologize at least a dozen times. You were fucking there for at least half of them. But guess what? When you came to me and said you thought it would be better for her mental health if I wasn’t around all the time, I packed my shit up and moved away from the only two people who ever cared about me. I gave up everything because I thought—hoped—it would stop her from hurting. I wouldn’t be standing in this room right now, asking for something this huge, if I didn’t believe it would help her.” He shook his head. “As you helped me load up the last of my belongings that day, you looked me dead in the eye and told me we were a family. And one day, when she was better and healthy again, she’d come back to me.” He drew in a heartbreakingly shaky breath. “Take your own advice for once and do what’s best for Remi.”
He might as well have dropped a boulder off a mountain onto my chest. Everything he’d said was true, not even the first embellishment to make himself look better.
But for fuck’s sake. This wasn’t the same.
Remi wasn’t angry at me. She wasn’t hurt or betrayed by me. They were asking me to walk away from the only woman I had ever truly loved. Not just a break or time apart.
It wasn’t closing a chapter or turning a page.
It was burning the entire fucking book.
If I walked away, Remi Grey would never come back to me. Because in her mind, I didn’t exist.
I was silent as they filed out of my room. Tyson followed them out to give me some much-needed time alone.
Maybe it was all for nothing.
Maybe she’d get her memories back and give me absolute hell for not calling or coming to see her on my own.
But was that what I truly wanted? For her to remember all the pain and trauma? For the darkness to consume her once again?
There was no winning in this situation. It was a zero-sum game. I wanted my Sally back more than my next breath, but what if Remi could exist without her? Beyond that, what if she could thrive and find true happiness again?
Only time would tell—slow, agonizing, life-altering time.
Remi
“I guess this is goodbye,” Dad said, standing in the doorway of The Wave, fighting back tears as he stared into the empty dining room.
