Page 5 of One Little Memory (Cherry Valley Novella)

She opened her eyes and blinked. Where was she?

Right, the hospital. They’d moved her last night to a single room.

The sun was shining through the open blinds.

It looked like a beautiful fall day. She started to stretch and gasped.

Swear to God, every muscle in her body protested.

They’d offered her some pretty serious painkillers last night, and she’d refused, but now she was having second thoughts.

“You’re awake,” a nurse said as she bustled into the room. She was different from the one last night. “I’m Kathy.” She came over to the bed and gently took the woman’s wrist. “I’m just going to check your vitals.”

Two minutes later, she smiled and said, “Hit the call button if you need anything. Dr. Cahill will be in shortly to see you.”

“Okay, thanks.” Kathy bustled out of the room.

Cahill. She remembered him from last night. Why couldn’t she remember anything else? Like how she got here? What happened in the accident? Hell, even her name. It was all one big blank. Her heart galloped and bile rose in her throat. What if she never remembered who she was?

“Good morning,” Dr. Cahill said as he walked into the room. He had a clipboard in his hand. “How are you feeling today?”

“Um, sore. My head hurts a bit.” Understatement of the century. Her head was banging like the bass drum in a marching band.

Dr. Cahill came over and gently took her wrist. “You’re upset,” he said.

No, shit. “I can’t remember anything, and it’s a little upsetting.”

He smiled down at her. “Honestly, I’d be lying if I said I knew how you felt. It must be very scary, but you have to try to relax. We want your body to heal, and then hopefully, all your memories will come back when it does. Do you want more medicine for the pain?”

She bit her lip. Being pain free would be great but she didn’t want her thinking to get any fuzzier. The idea of losing her ability to think was terrifying. “Um, I think I will try and stick it out a bit longer. It’s not that bad.”

“I’ll get you some Ibuprofen for the headache. That should help but don’t be shy about asking for something stronger. You’ve been through a lot and there’s no point in being in pain.” He stared at her for a moment. “No memories have come back?”

“No,” she managed to croak out. Her throat was dry, and there was currently a lump the size of a golf ball lodged in it.

Dr. Cahill offered her a glass of water with a straw off the bedside tray. “I was wondering if you would like to try something with me.”

“What?” she asked. What could he possibly want her to do?

“Muscle memory is a real thing. I want to see if we can activate it a bit. Maybe we can figure out a few things.”

“How do you mean?”

He brought out a pad of paper and a pen from his pocket and put them on the tray. Then he swung the tray over her bed. She propped herself up against the thin pillow.

“I’m going to ask some questions, and I just want you to write down whatever comes into your head, okay?”

She stared at him for a second but gave a small shrug, which she immediately regretted. “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

“Okay. Just write whatever comes into your head.”

She picked up the pen and waited for him to speak.

“What’s your favorite animal?”

A picture of a cat popped into her head so she wrote down cat. At least my ability to write wasn’t impaired.

“What’s your favorite ice cream?

Chocolate. Less hesitation this time.

“What’s your favorite season?

Fall. It was really working.

“Where do you prefer, mountains or beach?”

Beach . Caribbean to be exact. Hope flared in her as she recalled the trivial details she liked.

“What’s your name?”

Jo — The pen stopped. Her mind went blank. Nothing. She didn’t know her own name. Panic rose in her chest again.

“Hey,” Dr. Cahill said. He reached out and touched her arm. “It’s okay. You did really well.”

“I don’t know my own name. How stupid is that?”

“It’s not stupid. You suffered trauma to your head. What we know about brain injury is that typically, the effects aren’t permanent. You just need time to heal. You did really well. We learned a lot.”

She rolled her eyes. “What? That I like cats and chocolate ice cream? That’s not exactly helpful.

He smiled. “We also learned you’re right-handed. You write cursive beautifully, which is not something a lot of people who are our age do so much anymore. And you’ve traveled. “You know you like beaches in the Caribbean. That means you must have a passport.”

She sighed shakily. He was right. They were learning some things about her. She took a deep breath.

“You just need to be patient.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m going to finish my rounds and then come back and check on you in a bit. Breakfast will be arriving shortly. After that, I want you to rest up.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dr. Cahill.”

He smiled at her and headed out of the room. A moment later, the sound of footsteps broke the silence and she assumed her breakfast had arrived. “That’s good timing,” she said as she swung her gaze away from the window toward the door.

“Thanks,” a deep voice said.

It belonged to one of the most attractive men she’d ever seen.

At least she thought he was incredibly handsome.

Something else to add to the list of details about her.

She seemed to like tall men with dark chocolate hair that curled over their collars.

She had the urge to brush away a stray lock that flopped over his forehead.

His eyes were a gorgeous shade of green, and they twinkled with mirth.

She blinked as a sudden image of his face filled her mind. He was standing by the door of her car. “You were at my accident,” she blurted out.

His expression sobered. “Yes. I found you. How are you feeling?”

“I, um… I’m okay.” She resisted the urge to try to fix her hair. It was beyond hope, she was sure. Was it weird the guy that found her in the car came to check on her? Maybe not, but then why would they let a total stranger into her room?

“I need to speak to you about what happened.”

Her heart rate ticked up a bit, and the monitor beside her started to beep more frequently.

“Ah, did I hit you? Is that what happened? I am so sorry.” She immediately apologized.

The whole accident was one big blank slate in her mind.

She’d been trying all morning to remember anything, but nothing came.

Until she’d seen those eyes. She remembered him speaking to her.

He had been standing by her car door. Something with the seatbelt maybe?

She shook her head. The memories went too fast to pick up much.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “You don’t remember the accident at all?”

“No. I’m sorry,” she said again.

“What do you remember?” He pulled out a notebook and a pen.

He was making her nervous. She licked her lips.

He glanced at her monitor. The beeping was speeding up again, and he’d noticed.

He met her gaze, and then he gave a small smile.

“I guess I should’ve led with my name. I’m Detective Phoenix Halston with the Cherry Valley PD.

I’m here to see if we can find out what caused your accident.

” He pulled back the side of his leather jacket and exposed the gold shield on his belt.

The relief that washed over her was profound. She hadn’t realized just how anxious she’d been until that moment. Without a memory, she felt so damn vulnerable.

“I’m sorry?—"

“You need to stop apologizing. There’s no need. I should’ve told you first thing. So”—he pulled up the visitor’s chair—“what can you tell me about the accident?”

“Nothing. I don’t remember anything.”

He studied her for a moment. “You remembered me.”

“That’s true, I guess. I… It’s all just empty. There’s an occasional flash of something, but I don’t understand what it means. It’s like it’s moving too fast for me to pin down.”

Phoenix nodded his head. “I’m sure that’s frustrating.”

“You have no idea,” she replied.

“What does the doctor say?”

She shrugged slightly. “Chances are good my memory will come back, but I have to be patient and let it come on its own.”

“Is there anything at all that you remember that could help me? Do you know your name?”

She bit her lip as she shook her head. The nothingness in her head when she tried to pull up any kind of information or memory was the scariest thing she’d ever experienced. Or at least she thought it was, but how was she to know? It was all so much.

She cleared her throat. “The doctor played a game with me earlier. It was sort of like a word association game. Animal, cat, vacation spot, name, that kind of thing. My answers are on the paper.” She handed him the sheet.

He took it and read it.

“There, now you know as much as I do,” she said. “It doesn’t amount to much, does it?”

Phoenix tilted his head. “Well Jo, it’s a place to start.”

She blinked. “Jo?”

“That’s what you wrote for your name. J-O, so I’m going to call you Jo if that’s okay with you?”

“Jo,” she said, trying out the name. It seemed slightly familiar somehow. Was it truly her name? She tried to decide but, again, the blankness of her mind loomed like a storm cloud. “I guess it’s as good a name as any.”

“Do you know what happened to your car?”

She shook her head and immediately regretted it. Her headache was coming back.

“It ended up down at the bottom of an embankment. We’re going to get someone down there today to see if we can find your purse or anything that might help us determine what happened and who you are.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” If Halston could track down her purse, it would be a miracle. Then she’d know her name and address at least. Maybe that would lead to finding out why she was in Cherry Valley in the first place. She had the distinct impression that she was a stranger in this town.

“It’s going to take a bit to get there, but we’ll try. Also, I’ve asked around, and no one saw you anywhere in town. Could you have been just driving through when the heavy rain started and then crashed?”

“Anything is possible, I guess.” She gritted her teeth. It was all so frustrating. “I assume I’m not from here then.” After his nod confirming her suspicions, she said “I thought not. That would be too easy.”

“I know this has got to be really hard, but I think you’re making progress.”

She snorted and then immediately regretted it. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so?—”

“You really need to stop apologizing. You have every right to be a little frustrated. I imagine your headache isn’t helping.”

“How did you know I have a headache?”

He stood and smiled down at her. “You took a pretty good whack on the head. Enough to lose your memory. That doesn’t come without having a headache for a few days. And a super impressive bruise.”

Her hand flew to the side of her head, finger grazing a bandage.

A sharp sting pricked her as she lowered her hand to touch the side of her face.

She hissed in a breath. Here she was thinking he must be one hell of a cop when it was all just logic.

That would teach her. Then she frowned. Would it, though?

Is this what she was like in…real life…in her past life…

? What did she even call before the accident?

BTA? How would she ever know what she was really like or if she’d changed? It was all so damned confusing.

“I’m gonna leave you to get some rest. I’ll see what we can do about getting down to your car.” He pulled out a business card and placed it next to the paper she’d used earlier on the swing-away table. “Call me if you remember anything. Or if you have any questions. My cell is on the back.”

Her heart did a little flutter in her chest. When he was standing there looking down at her with those beautiful deep green eyes and that sexy as hell voice, it was hard to concentrate. She licked her lips. “Um, thanks. I’ll reach out if…anything comes up.” Lame. So frickin’ lame.

He smiled and offered her his hand. When she shook it, hers disappeared inside his large, warm grip. The beeps on the heart rate monitor accelerated as excitement ran from her toes to the tips of her fingers. A little burst of electricity danced across her skin.

“Get some rest,” he said again. After a glance at the readout next to her bed, and a small smile, he was gone.

She rested her head on her pillow and squeezed her eyes tight.

He’d noticed her pulse rate shoot up when he stood and came over to shake her hand.

Was she always this excited by good looking men?

Ohmygod, am I married? Was she lying here in the hospital bed, lusting after a local cop, when somewhere in the world there was a husband waiting for her? That was a sobering thought.