Authors: Tessa Dayne
Paige looked at him, smiling softly, sadness in her eyes. “I don’t know, Darren. I want to believe that things are going to be okay between us. But I don’t know. I can’t remember much after the beginning of December.”
“The last thing you really remember is getting the invitation to Sara’s wedding, right?”
“Yes…from there on it’s just bits and pieces. Nothing I can string together to fill in the gaps. I don’t know if I will ever remember it all.”
“Does it really matter, Paige? We love each other, and we can get through this together.”
Paige thought about their relationship before the invitation came and knew he was right. Things between them had been tense, she had been working a lot, under a lot of stress and pressure, and he had been distracted and distant, but the loved each other, right? Maybe what they needed was some time away, to reconnect and strengthen their relationship.
“But what about Jonas?” she asked. Ever since he had walked into her hospital room she had felt there was something connecting them, but she couldn’t remember it.
“What about him? You met him at Sara’s wedding. The two of you hung out a little until I got there. What more is there?”
“I don’t know…” Paige shrugged. She couldn’t tell him she cheated on him. Not when she couldn’t be sure if the flashes she was having were from intimate moments with him or Jonas. “Maybe it’s nothing, but I feel that there’s something important…”
“Honey, don’t…there’s nothing there. We are what’s important. The two of us, our relationship,” Darren said, slipping his fingers around hers.
“You’re right,” Paige said, quietly.
“Of course I am. I am going to go home and get everything ready for you. I’ll do the shopping, clean the house, whatever needs done,” he offered.
“You’d do that for me?”
“Silly…of course I would. Now, let me have your keys and I will get started on all the preparations.”
“Where are your keys?” she asked, reaching for her purse.
“I misplaced them with all the commotion of your accident,” Darren said, grabbing them out of her hand.
“Oh…well…”
“Look, it’s late. I am going to let you get some rest. I’ll have everything ready for you for when you come home. It’s going to be just like old times, baby. You’ll see…,” he said, leaning over to kiss her gently on the forehead.
Paige snuggled down under the covers and smiled at Darren as he closed the door. As she closed her eyes, something he said came back to her as odd. He had misplaced his keys after her accident. But her accident had been months ago. So where were his keys? And if he didn’t have keys to the apartment, where had he been staying all this time?
~*~
Jonas flipped open his phone and dialed his mother in New York. After the doctor said Paige had to remember things on her own, he had sent Ian and his mother home. There was nothing they could do in Chicago and even though they wanted to stay for moral support for him, he sent them home.
They had responsibilities in New York. Ian had school and his mother had her charities. It would have been nice for them to be here, but he was going to have to leave himself in another week. Augustus had been kind enough to give him some much needed time off to come see Paige, but he had responsibilities too.
“Hello?”
“Hi Mom, it’s Jonas,” he said, smiling at the warmth he heard in her voice.
“Hello dear, how are you doing?”
“I’m good. Paige has remembered more from our time together in New York,” he reported.
“That’s wonderful, Jonas. I am so happy for you. So now what happens?” Evelyn asked, worried that he was so alone out in Chicago.
“Well, the doctors are very optimistic that Paige will get her memory back, with a little bit of time. I think they are going to release her from the hospital day after tomorrow. At least that’s what Dr. Gates said. I’m hoping she will come to Spain with me.”
“When do you go back?” Evelyn asked. She knew that he didn’t want to leave Paige but he had obligations to the director and the new film.
“I have a flight to New York on Saturday the 24th. From there I catch a plane to Madrid. I am supposed to meet up with Augustus Monday morning. I’ll be exhausted by the time I get there, but I don’t think he has anything strenuous planned until Tuesday.”
“Well, keep me posted on Paige’s progress.”
Jonas smiled. His mother really had gotten close to Paige in the few weeks they had known her. He was happy knowing that his mother loved Paige as much as he did.
“I will, Mom. Love you.”
Jonas hung up and crossed the room to the bar. He poured himself a drink, dropping four ice cubes into the amber liquid. He lit a cigarette and took a long drag from it. He grabbed the glass and headed to the window.
He moved the sheer curtain back, looking out the huge window of Darcy’s luxury penthouse down at the Magnificent Mile. He couldn’t believe that just three months ago, he had been planning a life with Paige and a baby on the way. Now, he was just hoping she would remember their brief love affair.
~*~
March 13
William Harper headed through the hospital, anxious to pick up Paige and take her home. Preferably, before Darren Armstrong or even Jonas Barnett arrived. He did not need another scene in the middle of the hospital hallway. The first one the night of her accident had not been the last. Just in the few days since she had woken up, Darren had picked fights with Marcus, that English fellow Jonas had sent, and Jonas himself.
He just wanted to get her out of here and home, where she could continue her recovery. She had come a long way already, remembering bits and pieces of her life in December. Just nothing of what Darren did. She didn’t remember him cheating on her, didn’t remember the baby, and didn’t remember kicking him out of her life.
She still didn’t remember the accident New Year’s Eve, though the doctors said she might never remember that incident. Her memory had holes in it and it may always be that way. He couldn’t protect her forever, but he could protect her until she either remembered or came to terms with what her life was now.
William stopped outside her room, hearing voices inside. The voices were muffled, but he was sure that the male voice he heard was Darren. Shaking his head, he knocked on the door.
“Good morning, Paige,” he said, entering the room. “Darren.”
“Daddy, you didn’t have to come all the way in here to get me. Darren is taking me home,” Paige said, throwing the last of her things into a small bag.
“I thought it might be nice if you came to stay with me for a few days. Maria has been asking after you and of course the kids would like to see you.”
Paige looked over at Darren, who had his back to her, looking out the window. She turned back to her dad, and shrugged. “I don’t know, Dad. Darren has gone to a lot of trouble, getting groceries and cleaning the apartment.”
William knew then that he had lost her. Sighing, he crossed the room, took her into his arms, and held her tight. “Okay, but if you need anything, call me. I mean it, Paige. Day or night, I don’t care what time it is. If you need me, you call.”
“I will Dad. I promise.”
William crossed back to the door, opened it and hesitated for a moment. He turned back to look at his daughter once more, and then he left, praying that Darren didn’t do any more damage.
~*~
Jonas headed down the hospital hall, whistling happily. Paige was being released today and if his plans went the way he wanted them to, they would be headed to Spain in the near future. He was sure she had remembered enough of their few weeks together to trust him and fly to Madrid with him. Together, they could continue her search into her memories and maybe create some new ones in Spain.
He turned the corner and nearly ran into William Harper. “Good morning, sir.”
“Jonas…ah…come with me, son,” William said, grabbing Jonas’s arm.
“But…Paige…” Jonas said, turning his head to look over his shoulder towards her room. He saw her door open and Darren stepped out, carrying her bag.
“What the…” Jonas questioned, pulling his arm from William’s grasp.
“Now, son…you need to listen to me. She does not need a confrontation. Let her go home. We will get her out to the house and you can see her there. It’s all going to work out, I promise you. Let’s go.”
Jonas turned and followed William to the elevator. As the door slid closed, Jonas caught a glimpse of Darren, smiling at him.
“That son of a…” Jonas growled, reaching out to punch the open door button.
“Take it easy,” William said. “Jonas, she will come around. You will see. Just for now, come home with me. We will order a pizza, have a beer and watch the basketball game.”
~*~
Paige waited while Darren unlocked the front door, anxious to be finally home. She stepped inside the apartment and frowned.
“You changed it? Where’s my stuff?” she asked, looking around at the paintings he had hung on the wall.
“We decided to start new, put some of the paintings I have done on the wall. You know, get people you bring in to see my work. I have those paintings you wanted for your office ready to go too,” he said, indicating the two crates in the corner of the living room.
Paige dropped her bag on the couch and headed into the small kitchen. She opened the refrigerator door and grabbed a bottle of red wine. Reaching for the wine glasses, she hesitated, her hand in mid-air.
“Hey, pour me one too, would you babe?”
Paige glanced over her shoulder and watched him go into the bedroom. She grabbed two of the glasses, wondering why they were different from the ones she remembered. As she poured the wine, she flashed on a shattered glass, wine flowing down the wall. Whipping her head to look at the wall in the living room, Paige frowned. Was that a memory?
“Darren? When did we get these new wine glasses?” she asked, calling into the bedroom.
“I’m not sure,” he said, meeting her in the living room. “What does it matter?”
“Was there an accident? Did they get broken?” she asked, handing him a glass.
Darren took the glass, raised it to his lips and drank the sweet wine. He remembered the day the glasses got broke. He had brought Natalie, the woman he had on the side, into the apartment while Paige had been at work. Unfortunately, she had come home early and had caught them together.
She had thrown him out, made it perfectly clear that she never wanted to see him again. It was as he closed the door that he had heard the glass shatter.
“I think you might have dropped one. It’s no big deal, is it? We have these ones now, and they are nice, right?”
Paige sipped her wine, still uncertain of her feelings. Something just didn’t sit well with his explanations. She just couldn’t put her finger on what was bothering her about it.
~*~
Paige ambled through the apartment, soaking it all in. It looked so different from what she remembered. Darren had taken all her Oriental art and stored it, replacing the pieces with his artwork. The bedroom furniture was different, the linens changed, nothing was the same as it had been in November.