“Why did I break up with Harry?”
Lucy is quiet on the other line. She said I could ask her anything, but it’s clear she wishes I hadn’t asked her that. “I don’t know.”
“Lucy…”
She lets out a huff. “Tess, it happened ages ago. Why do you even want to know?”
“Because the last thing I remember is being engaged to Harry. I miss him.” Against my will, my eyes fill with tears. God, I miss him. If only he were here with me, I could deal with this memory loss. “Please tell me what happened. If you care about me at all, you have to tell me.Please. I have to know.”
“Are… are you sure you want to know this?”
“Yes,” I say, even though I’m not sure I do. I don’t want to know, but Ineedto know. I need to know if I can trust Harry Finch. I need to know what awful thing he did that made me return the ring to the man I loved.
She lowers her voice several notches. “Harry… he… he grabbed me and tried to kiss me.”
I almost drop the phone. What is she talking about? Harry wouldneverdo that. He never even looked at other women—and especially notLucy. He didn’t evenlikeLucy! How could he do something like that?
“He tried to kiss you?” I repeat incredulously. “Are you sure you have that right?”
“I’m so sorry, Tess.” Her voice cracks. “I feel awful about it. You… you saw the whole thing. He did it in the living room and you walked in right as I pushed him away and slapped him across the face.”
“But he didn’t evenlikeyou!” I burst out. “I mean, he was always saying that you…”
I don’t want to repeat any of the negative comments Harry made about Lucy over the years, all of whichcontained a small grain of truth.
“Exactly.” She snorts. “He was always trying to hit on me when you weren’t around, and hehatedme for not playing along. I tried to tell you so many times, but I thought it was harmless until the day he grabbed me like that…”
“He… he grabbed you…?”
I’m having a hard time even imagining it. Harry was always so shy when it came to that sort of stuff. I still remember the first time he kissed me. We had just had dinner together, then he walked me back to my apartment building. We stood by the entrance to the building for well over an hour, talking to each other, until finally the doorman came out and yelled,Kiss her already! She wants you to!Harry’s face had turned bright red.Do you?he asked nervously. And I nodded, because the doorman was absolutely right. I had been wanting him to kiss me all night, and when he did, every part of me down to my toenails tingled.
“You saw the whole thing, Tess,” Lucy says. “He grabbed me. Stuck his tongue down my throat. It was awful. He—”
“Stop.” I choke out the word. “Please stop. I… I get it.”
“I was scared you might not forgive me,” she says in a small voice. “But at least you saw I pushed him away and slapped him. I mean, as if I would ever be interested inHarry…”
I rub my aching right skull. Do I believe this? I guess I have to. Lucy isn’t a stranger like Graham—she’s my best friend. She wouldn’t lie to me. And anyway, it makes sense.Harry would have had to do something awful for me to end our engagement. I broke up with him. That’s a fact.
He kissed my best friend.
That bastardkissed my best friend.
My father was wrong. He wasnota good man.
“Tess?”
“I’m here…”
“Look,” Lucy says, “I know it all seems fresh right now, but believe me when I say you were totally over it. You’re better off without him. Graham is great. Like, a million times better. And he doesn’t hit on me.”
I still feel sick at the thought of Harry trying to kiss Lucy. How could he do something like that to me? It turns out I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did.
A disturbing thought occurs to me. What if it wasn’t me who found Harry? What ifhefound out about my accident and decided it was a perfect opportunity to worm his way back into my life? And every day now he throws doubt into my head about whether my brain injury is real or not. He’s manipulating me. Torturing me. Either because he wants me back, or maybe to punish me for breaking up with him.
No, it couldn’t be. Harry wouldn’t do something like that. He’s not capable of it.
Then again, I would’ve said he wasn’t capable of cheating.
