Saving Amy Jayden Page 17
COMING SOON
LOVING ROYALTY
Chapter One
THE COOL EVENING BREEZE of Blue Song sent the tree branches waving merrily in its caress, a contrast from the gloom that threatened to rip her heart straight out of her chest.
Jordan slid to her haunches, her back against the wall in the living room. She wrapped her arms around her body in a bid to ease the shaking.
Luke paced a few feet from her. He didn’t get it. Did he?
“I don’t understand. Is this a ploy to break up with me or you really don’t remember me, Jay?”
“You think this is my idea of a joke?”
“You tell me.” He pointed to his chest, his eyes blazing with anger. “How come you remember your family and not me?”
“I. Don’t. Know!” She covered her face for a moment. “Maybe I need more time.”
“How long?” he asked in barely controlled voice.
“I don’t know.”
“This is what frustrates me about the whole thing, Jordan. How long are we talking about here? And don’t say you don’t know anymore.”
He must be really upset now. In the past months, he’d called her Jay. “You think I like being this way? You have supported me for the past six months plus and I’m grateful. But, to tell you the truth, I don’t know me. I don’t know a lot of things. I’m feeling my way through life. Can’t you understand that?”
He just stood there staring at her. Really, why did she not remember him? Her doctor said she shouldn’t push things but she was tired of not knowing. They didn’t have the answers she so desperately needed.
Salty tears slipped into her mouth and she swiped it off angrily. She hated being vulnerable, weak, so out of control. “The doctor said I have selective memory loss. No one understands why I remember some things and not others.”
He plowed a hand through his hair. “I know what the doctor said.”
His shoulders slumped. Jordan searched his face. Was he relenting? At this point, she wasn’t sure what she wanted. A part of her wanted him to hold her, tell her he would stick through this period with her, but the other part couldn’t connect with him.
“I wish I knew what we’re dealing with here—a month, two, three. But, six months, going on seven and nothing?”
He squatted before her and took her hands. “Tell me, who am I to you? Just a random guy hanging around and hoping for what? That my girlfriend will wake up one day and figure out who I am.”
Jordan ignored the tears tracking down her face. “I don’t...” He didn’t want to hear that, so she said instead, “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too.” He rose. “I hate...to do this, but,” his voice caught. “I just can’t keep on like this. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t know me.”
All she could do was nod. He stooped down and kissed her on the head. He turned away but not before she glimpsed the tears in his eyes.
She’d hurt him.
He headed for the door. Jordan wanted to call him back, but what would she say? She was tired of the long wait that one day she would remember spontaneously what her life was before now. That seemed like a pipe dream.
The door shut softly behind him. With finality. She dropped her head into her hand to ease the pounding that was starting up.
Ever since she woke up on that hospital bed and realized she’d lost her memory, she did her best not to get emotional. But this was too much. Sobs wracked her body. She’d lost one more person in her ever-shrinking circle.
The sound of a vehicle and slamming of doors penetrated her mind, but Jordan couldn’t make herself move.
Footsteps sounded closer. Jordan stood up from the floor and wiped her eyes. Within seconds, Dana turned the corner.
“We saw Luke leaving.” She looked at Jordan. “What happened? You two got into a fight?”
She draped her arm around Jordan and led her to the sofa. Jordan leaned against the backrest. Her head was pulsating along with her heartbeat. As much as she wanted to cry again, she held it at bay. “He broke up with me.”
Jordan’s older brother, Jesse walked in just then. He sat on the other side of her. “Luke told me. If he’s quitting on you now, he doesn’t deserve you.”
She shook her head. Jordan glanced between her brother and friend. She didn’t remember Dana and she hadn’t had the heart to tell her so, especially when she saw pictures of both of them together. What they had now was a new friendship forged by Dana’s persistence. Was that what she and Luke lacked? “It’s not his fault. Why can I not remember him?”
Jesse took her hand. “I don’t know.”
Jordan closed her eyes and leaned back. What was the point of her life anyway? Dana scooted closer and wrapped Jordan in her arms. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
She’d heard those words a million times over. She only wished those three words would right her world again.