Remem-Bear Me by Terry Bolryder Read Free Book Online Page A

she was quitting it.
    But how could she say yes to a future with Sam when she didn’t even know what had happened to her? What if they had fought? What if the relationship had always been like this during the honeymoon period, but they’d found it couldn’t last together?
    They were currently at his suite, cooling off and getting some fresh air. She was out on the balcony and Sam was inside, humming happily as he mixed drinks in the blender. There was something so calm and domestic about it, as long as she sank into it and didn’t let herself sink.
    But something was starting to press at her beneath the surface. Something was off, and the longer she waited here, enjoying life without asking questions, the longer the buzz seemed to grow to an audible level.
    “Piña colada for the lady,” Sam said, handing her a frothy white drink. “Mai tai for me.”
    She grinned and put the straw to her lips. Even the flavor of it was familiar. Sam sipped his drink and looked out at the beach.
    “So have you always lived here?” she asked.
    He went silent and messed with the little umbrella he’d put on his drink. It was funny to see such a tall, mature man fiddling with the tiny, fragile pink object. Somehow it only emphasized the grace and presence he possessed.
    “Sam?” she asked. “Why do I get the feeling you’re hiding something from me?”
    He gave her a serious look, intense blue eyes matching the ocean behind him as he turned to face her. “Because I am. Because if I try to tell you more, you might faint. Or worse. What happened to you physically, Jo?”
    She flushed and stirred the straw around and around in her drink. She supposed she trusted him enough to tell him what had happened. She knew Sam well enough that she could tell him without suspecting him. Still, she didn’t know why anyone would have shot her.
    “I was shot. I don’t remember why or how. I just remember searing pain. I was shot once in the arm, and once in the head. I don’t remember that one. After that, I was in a coma, and when I woke, I was told I had post-traumatic, retrograde amnesia. I couldn’t remember things prior to having amnesia, but I have no problem making new memories.”
    He listened intently, and she could feel anxiety radiating off him. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
    She could feel how much he meant it as his hand covered hers. She leaned in against him. “The weird thing is I remember my name and certain other small things. But huge chunks of my life are a blank. Namely, all of my life before the coma. Except little flashes of things with you that keep coming back here and there. They wondered if my amnesia could be dissociative, as in repressed by psychological mechanisms, but it’s not like they can tell those things for certain.” She shrugged. “You’d think if I could just make myself remember it, then I would have. Why would I have wanted to be alone for so long when I could have been with you?”
    He was quiet and she could sense something intense was going on inside him.
    “What’s wrong, Sam? You have to start talking to me, and not just about the good things.”
    His gaze whipped to hers, eyes sharp. “And what’s wrong with focusing on the good? I’ve had twenty years to think about the bad, Jo. I’m tired of the bad. And I’m scared as hell there will be more of the bad when you remember.”
    “What happened, Sam? How were we separated?” she asked, not feeling ready to hear the answer, but feeling she deserved to, even if it wasn’t the answer she wanted. If she’d hurt this beautiful man, she wanted to know.
    He put a hand up to his forehead and rubbed it vigorously. “It won’t make sense to you. Not unless I tell you everything.”
    Her heart thudded. “What is everything?”
    He took a deep breath and gave her a wistful look. “There are so many magical things in the world, Jo. Things you can’t even imagine. Things that make no sense. One of those things is what joins us