Page 53 of The Do-Over
Thea pulled up a chair and sat down beside him. He was staring at a picture of himself surrounded by pilots in uniform.
“What is this?” he asked. “I’m not in the Army.”
“No,” she said. “These people are in the Air Force.”
“I’m in the Air Force? I can’t be. I’m out of shape, and I have imperfect vision.”
“I don’t know what you’d call it,” she said. “You’re not in the Air Force. You’re a military doctor.”
He scrolled through the photos. “They’re giving me a medal.”
“You’ve won a lot of awards, Rob. You’re really successful.”
“I don’t remember…any of this.”
“You wanted to become a doctor, back when we were younger,” she said. “Do you remember that?”
“I…well, yes, but…”
“But what?”
“I don’t know. It’s like I blinked and missed the whole thing.” She saw to her surprise that he was trembling. “All these wonderful things happened, and I can’t remember any of them…”
“You’re going to get your memories back,” she told him.
“You don’t know that.”
“I’m as sure of it as I am of anything. I spoke to my colleague in the neurology department, and she thinks your odds are really good.”
“Your colleague in the neurology department.” He shook his head. “You’ve been really successful too, Thee. I can’t believe it. When I close my eyes and think of you…I still see my girlfriend, sitting up in the bleachers. Bugging me to study for the SATs.”
He didn’t remember what had happened when they’d gotten their SAT results, and Thea couldn’t bear to bring it up to him now. “We both did well for ourselves,” she said quietly.
“And I live in Chicago.”
“That’s right. After Larrimore, you just stayed.”
“And I’m not married?”
“I really wouldn’t know about that,” Thea said. “You and I haven’t spoken to one another since high school, Rob.”
He frowned. “We were going to go to college together,” he said.
She nodded. “But we didn’t. It didn’t work out.”
“You didn’t want to go with me?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this now.”
“I don’t remember, though,” he said. “And I want to know what happened, Thea. I need you to tell me.”
She sighed. “Not now,” she said. “I need to make my rounds.”
“In this weather?”
“I have to check on my patients. If I don’t go, nobody will.”
“Thea—”
