“I figured I’d see you soon,” Cora says, dropping the chalk and standing.
“Yeah, what the fuck is going on, right?” I glance at the little guy at her ankles. “Sorry.”
She shakes her head and steps around her son, hugging me. “It’s okay. His dad has a worse mouth than that.” She squeezes me tightly then releases me.
I sit down on the stairs to the porch. “Tell me what to do.”
She sighs and sits next to me. “I’m not sure.”
Cora tells me how she ran into Lucy downtown earlier with my grandma and Dori. That she remembered Cora doesn’t surprise me—the two were best friends. But Lucy didn’t remember Cora being married or being pregnant with Brody.
Hard to believe Brody is already almost a year old. He’s like the marker of when my life went to shit and my best friend started a new segment of his.
I rise from the stairs and sit with Brody on the cold ground. Taking a piece of chalk, I draw a little something. I haven’t drawn in forever.
“He tries to eat the chalk sometimes, but you know me. I’m still gonna be the crazy mom who tries to get him to read by age two.”
I laugh because that’s Cora. I was as surprised as Toby when she decided to stay home with Brody after he was born. Cora was always determined to conquer the world. The classmate most likely to succeed outside of Sunrise Bay. She went away to college but returned after a couple years. Ended up having a few classes with Toby and somehow their dislike for each other turned into love.
“Nothing wrong with that,” I say, drawing a sun and clouds, a mountain range in the back.
“You were always good at drawing,” Cora says, sitting down and plopping Brody in her lap. She takes the chalk out of his mouth and places it in the bin closest to me.
“A long time ago.”
“Not that long ago. You’re only twenty-six.”
Lucky for me, Toby pulls up in the driveway.
“It’s nice that real estate lets him swing by anytime,” I say.
She laughs. “I think Brody and I cramp his style. Before the baby, I think he enjoyed coming home when I was still at work. Now he just comes home for lunch every day.”
“Greene, what the hell are you doing at my house in the middle of the day?” Toby walks around his fancy SUV in a suit.
Sometimes I wonder if it was Cora who got his act together, but happiness looks good on them both. “Just chalking it up with my guy, Brody.”
“She was trying to get a crayon in his hand the other day.” He bends down and kisses the top of Cora’s head before bending farther to pluck Brody out of his mom’s lap and throw him up in the air.
“Careful, he just ate chalk,” Cora says.
“Just let the kid enjoy life.” Toby holds Brody above his head, then brings him down. I’d hoped Brody would’ve done me a solid and thrown up on his dad just to bring some humor to my life, but all he’s got is a drooling chin.
Cora stands, brushing her butt off with her hands. “I’ll go fix lunch. You staying, Adam?”
“Yeah, he is,” Toby answers for me.
“I guess I am.”
Cora takes Brody and disappears inside, and Toby sits on the stairs.
“So?” Toby asks.
“She’s back.” I throw my head in my hands, tugging at the strands of my hair. “I have no idea how to handle all this. She thinks we’re still married. She thinks we’re happy.”
Toby sighs, resting his forearms on his thighs, leaning his body forward like me. “Maybe this is some cosmic force bringing you guys back together. Karma or some shit like that.”
I tip my head up to look at him, giving him a ‘what the hell are you talking about?’ expression.
“I’m serious, you and Lucy, you guys were just so… perfect together.”
I stand. “Until she left.”
“I still think there’s a reason for that, and she’s just not saying what it is.”
Toby and his damn theories. I think he doesn’t want to see the situation for what it is because of fear. Fear that if Lucy could up and leave me one day, then Cora could do the same.
“She stopped loving me. I didn’t make her happy. And losing her memories doesn’t change that.”
He leans back, his forearms on the step above where he’s sitting. “I’m not suggesting it does, but let’s say she never regains that memory? You could get what you’ve wanted all this time.”
“What?” My head whips in his direction.
“It’s not like you’re a vault. I know you still love her.”
“I’ve moved on. I’ve got Alicia now.”
He chuckles. “You don’t love Alicia.”
“I could… maybe.”
“Bullshit. I hate to give you the bad news, but there’s been one woman your entire life, and that’s Lucy Davis.”
I refrain from saying she’s technically still a Greene. That would just make his point further.
“Maybe if you admit that to yourself, you could think more clearly.”
“And what would you do, oh wise one?” I cross my arms.
“If it was Cora, you mean?”
I blow out an annoyed breath. “Yes, if it was Cora.”
“Easy. I’d go along with the story that we’re still married, and we’d live happily ever after. Then if she ever did get her memory back, I’d just have to lock her in a closet until she came to her senses.”
“You’d deceive her?” A smile tips my lips because I actually envision it happening.
“She’s my world. Hell, if it wasn’t for her, I’d be facedown in my own vomit. That woman saw something in me I didn’t even know was there.”
“I’m not sure any of us knew it was there.”
He picks up a piece of chalk on the stair and throws it at me. “Hey, asshole, you’re the one who wants advice.”
“Not if it includes ignoring reality.”
The door opens and Cora comes out, then she hands us each a bottle of water.
“Where’s the beer?” I ask.
“It’s noon.” She sits down next to her husband and he swings his arm between her legs, resting the side of his body against hers and his hand against her calf. “You two fix this?” Doubt is clear in her voice.
“Don’t lose your memory, otherwise Toby is gonna lock you up in a closet. He can’t live without you.”
She looks at him and kisses him. “Same.”
“You’re both delusional.” I shake my head and they laugh.
Cora stands from the stairs and meets me at the bottom. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I am the smartest one here, so here it goes. You ready to hear it?”
“I’m ready for anything,” I say.
“You need to help her. I know that you might end up right where you were a year ago at the end of this, but you know as much as we do that you’re going to help her. You love her still, so let’s stop pretending that you hate her and wish her ill. It’s killing you to see her struggling.”
Goddamn, Cora. “I fucking hate you.”
Toby laughs. “See why I’d lock her in a closet?”