“Okay. Let’s clean up,” Liz insisted, sitting up and dusting the sand off her long legs.
Once they were all packed and on their way back to the car, Matt stopped and turned to her. “Hey, why don’t we stay on the beach a while longer.” He pulled a bag off her shoulder. “I’ll drop these off at the car.”
“That sounds great,” she smiled up at him. “Wait,” she took a step closer and pulled her pale pink skirt from the beach bag. “I’ll wait here.”
Matt ran the towels and basket back to his SUV. He hadn’t brought his phone with him to the beach. He was avoiding any and all devices while spending time with Liz. She hadn’t been carrying her cell phone around, insisting she didn’t need it. Other than Marcus, Matt was her only connection and the only person who would call, so what would be the point? He took a peek at it from the window and decided to give it a quick check before heading back.
Nothing other than a text from Ben. The last person he wanted to hear from.
We need to talk. Please call me.
Like hell they did.
The only thing Matt would want to say to his brother at the moment, was that no thanks to him, he was beginning to trust Liz again. Matt threw the phone back in the car and looked up, sighing. Then again, it was easy to trust someone who is practically a brand new, innocent person with no memory of the way she’d hurt and betrayed him.
He found Liz standing closer to shore than where he’d left her, raising her knee-high skirt even higher to see her feet touch the waves that were slowly flowing in and out.
Making his way across the warm sand until he reached her, he placed both hands around her waist, making her jump. Matt grinned at her. “Sorry.”
Liz shook her head playfully. “I don’t think you are.” She pulled his hand into hers and looked up at him. “Which way?”
Matt glanced to his left. “This way.”
They strolled for nearly an hour and talked about what Matt had subconsciously called “safe conversation.” Consisting primarily on funny stories from their past together and then a few non-past related items, like what his parents are like and how often they stay at their summer home. Liz seemed to be particularly interested in his family. Matt guessed it was probably because she didn’t have much of her own. He wished more than anything, that he had more to tell her about her parents, but he barely knew them before their accident. Which tragically would have been the same way he’d lost Liz if she weren’t so lucky.
It was hard to feel sad at that moment when he was having such an amazing time with his wife. One he’d missed over the past few weeks. One he didn’t remember chatting this much with since before they were married.
Lost in thought, he hardly noticed that Liz seemed pretty far in her own thoughts. He wondered what he could say to make her open up to him. To trust him. He didn’t blame her for being distant, not after he’d been giving her mixed signals. He stopped just as the sun was starting to set far off in the horizon.
“Lizzy,” he grabbed both her hands in his, “thank you for spending today with me,” he whispered. “I know it’s been…difficult and confusing living with me, but…” he trailed off for a moment and swallowed, ensuring that this is something he wanted to promise her. “I promise, I’m going to make things right.”
Before she could respond with anything, he bent down and kissed her lightly, holding her soft lips, savoring them. Why he thought he needed to, he couldn’t tell.
She pulled away slowly and gazed off at the setting sun. “It’s so beautiful here. Did we come here a lot?” she asked after a moment.
“We did, and still do.” Matt wasn’t exactly lying. They did pass by this beach quite often when in town and when the weather was nice for strolling through the nearby shops, but they hadn’t had picnics or strolled on any beach since their honeymoon. But if he’d told her that, she’d just ask why now, and “guilt” wasn’t exactly the answer he wanted to give her. “You’ll start getting memories back soon, Liz, I know it. I’m going to help you.”
Who are you trying to convince with that last one?That annoying voice again.
She looked down and he noticed what looked almost like a grimace on her face. He couldn’t imagine what could have upset her. Did she remember something? Was she doubting his sincerity?
“Liz, is something wrong?”
She glanced up at him tentatively and then focused on the sand beneath her. Then finally spoke in a quiet voice. “Not exactly, well, speaking of memories, there’s something I should tell you.”
Matt’s heart skipped two beats as he braced himself. Had she had a memory? What if the first thing she remembered was the thing Matt feared most? Their fight the night before the accident? The night she’d spent with his brother? How would he explain that? “You had a memory?”
There must have been twenty possible things that passed through his head before she finally looked him in the eye and spoke.
“Something like that.” The light wind was pulling dark strands of her hair onto her face. Her long eyelashes blinking them away as she tried to focus on him.
“Why didn’t you say something? What was it?” He knew he shouldn’t press, but he just had to know what it was. He couldn’t place a finger on the look on her face. Guilt? Confusion? Maybe both?
She took a breath, her eyes scattering a two-foot radius that surrounded where they’d stood. “The other day, I went to see Dr. Tai…” Liz started, glancing up for his reaction. “It’s just, things changed so fast between us and I wanted to know if it was because of something I said while I was under the hypnosis.” She looked back at him, “You were so eager to call it off and then had done a complete three-sixty…it…it made me wonder…” she glanced away, “if there was something you didn’t want me to know…or remember.”
Matt blinked. He tried to think of something to say, to explain and reassure, but the truth was, he couldn’t blame her for questioning it. In fact, it was definitely somethinghisLiz would have done.
He watched her waiting eyes for a moment, as if needing reassurance that it was okay to continue. He cleared his throat. “Is there more?”
