Mom huffs and sighs as though she’s about to throw a tantrum. “I am not going to sit here and rehash history when it doesn’t even matter. I’m taking Lucy home.”
“This is her home,” Adam says, stepping away from his family.
Even knowing something must’ve happened to make me leave him, I can’t help the way my heart flutters at his declaration.
“Not anymore,” Mom says. “You aren’t part of her life.”
“She views me as her husband still, and I’d like to help her find her memories.” He briefly looks at me but turns away as our eyes meet.
“What?” My mom appears surprised.
“Listen to the boy,” Ethel says.
I catch a proud smile on Hank’s face.
“Your mom doesn’t like my family, Luce… y. Years ago, my grandma”—he motions to Ethel—“found herself torn between two brothers and she chose my grandfather. Some people feel as though my grandma did something bad by following her heart. Then when my dad married his cousin’s ex-wife, Marla, some people saw the entire thing happening all over again since Marla used to be married to my grandfather’s brother’s son. Your mom is one of those people.”
Jeez, I feel as though someone needs to draw me a detailed family tree.
A flash of a memory comes to mind. My mom standing over me at the kitchen table, telling me I couldn’t go to prom. That the Greene family I was spending time with didn’t care about people’s feelings. They were selfish and one day Adam would break my heart.
My head slowly raises, and my breath weighs heavy in my chest at the realization why my mom did everything she could to keep me from coming to Sunrise Bay.
“You,” I say, not even really sure if I’m referring to Adam or my mom.
Adam glances back at Hank and he nods, hiding a small smile.
My mom points at herself. “What? Did you remember something?”
I swallow past the dry lump in my throat. “You hate him,” I say more to myself than her. “That’s why.”
She puts her hand on my arm, but I shrug off her touch.
“You were purposely trying to keep me from remembering Adam.” I step back.
“No. That’s not it.” She looks over her shoulder. “This is ridiculous. Your family thinks they own this town because there’s so many of you.” She turns back my way.
This entire time, I trusted her. I trusted that she wanted what I wanted. To remember who I was and to get back to being that person. But then all the doctor’s visits flash in my head. The ones where she said it would be okay, that we’d try to get my memories back, but if I couldn’t, I could still live a fulfilling life, meet someone.
“You were trying to hide me,” I say. My heart races and I bend forward to catch my breath.
“Lucy,” my mom says.
I shake my head. “Don’t talk to me.” I stand up straight and walk by her toward Adam. He steps back at my approach. My stomach knots, hating where we’re at. “Tell me more.”
He shrugs. “There isn’t much else to say. She was never okay with us, and because of that, your family wasn’t at our wedding.”
“I wasn’t…” My hand hovers over my stomach. “Pregnant?”
“No.” His gaze falls to my mom over my shoulder, speaking directly to her. “We married out of love…” His gaze shifts back to me. “At least I thought we did.”
“And they couldn’t accept that?”
He shakes his head.
“Stop listening to them.” My mom comes up behind me.
“Why?” I yell and turn around. “He’s the only one who’s telling me anything. He’s the one who keeps spurring new memories for me. Not like you, who’s hiding things from me, hiding my past because you didn’t approve of us. This is my life.”
“We’re going back to Idaho, let’s go.” She tries for my arm again, and again I yank it out of her hold.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say.
Mom sighs. “And where will you go, Lucy? You have no job, no money.”
“This is where I need to be.” I have tears in my eyes.
“You need to be with people you can trust.” She holds out her hand, and I back away from her. “You’re being foolish. All he wants is for you to come back so he can break your heart again. You don’t even know what happened to make you leave. You probably found out some secret, since all of them have one, and left him.”
“Stop!” Ethel screams, stepping between my mom and me. “Enough about my family. Do you understand me?”
My eyes grow wide, but my mom’s stance grows more agitated.
“Did I have a history with both the Greene brothers? I did. But I loved my husband, and we made a family together. Let’s remember that Jeff Greene ruined his marriage all on his own before Hank was even in the picture.” She turns around. “Sorry, Mandi.”
Mandi shakes her head and waves it off.
“He didn’t appreciate Marla and didn’t honor their marriage,” Ethel says. “So please step down from the high horse you’re on and look around. These two kids fell in love a long time ago. Now I don’t know what made Lucy leave. Unfortunately, we might never find out, but they both deserve to do everything in their power to bring back that memory and find peace. But if I hear one more bad word about my family out of your mouth, you will be sorry.”
“Yeah, she will,” Dori says.
“Dori.” Hank shakes his head, but he and Mandi snicker.
Mom throws her hands in the air. “I’m so over this place. Let’s go, Lucy.”
“I’m not going,” I say to her retreating back. She stops at the inn’s door and turns around. “I have to stay here and figure this out.”
“Suit yourself,” she says and storms into the inn.
Everyone is quiet for a moment, and the realization of what I just decided hits me.
“Ethel, Dori, Hank, the restaurant is trying out a new cinnamon roll recipe. Want to give me your opinion?” Mandi asks.
“Yeah,” Hank says.
“I do love my sweets,” Ethel says.
“Try and keep me away from those cinnamon rolls,” Dori says.
They disappear inside the restaurant attached to the inn.
“Thank you,” I say, unable to look Adam directly in the eye.
“Don’t thank me.”
“But you made me realize she wasn’t looking out for me.” I step closer.
He turns his body so we’re not facing one another. “I guess I still like to piss your mom off.”
So what just happened used to be a normal occurrence? I nod, not remembering any of their previous spats.
“Plus, I can’t find closure if you don’t remember why you walked out on me.”
“I wish I had answers for you,” I say, still amazed that I walked out on him. Why would I ever leave him when everything inside me says I love him, that we were happy? “Do you have photos? Of us that I could have?”
His gaze rises and he sighs but nods.
“Could I see them?”
“Sure. I can bring them here for you.”
I shuffle my feet, unable to believe how uncomfortable and awkward it is between us. All I want to do is jump into his arms and hold him tight. “Where did we live?”