by A. M. Wilson
At the Risk of Forgetting
A. M. WILSON
Copyright © 2016 A. M. Wilson
All rights reserved.
Visit my website at www.amwilson.net
Cover Designer: JM Walker, Just Write. Creations, www.justwritecreations.org
Editor: Robin Bateman at Robin’s Red Pen, www.robinsredpen.com
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Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Also by A. M. Wilson
Indisputable
The Revive Series:
Redesigning Fate
Resurrecting Her
His Deliverance
Table of Contents
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3.
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14.
15.
About the Author
Acknowledgments
1.
“I’m grabbing a coffee on my way in.”
Rain pelted my yellow umbrella as I rushed down the cracked sidewalk towards the only coffee shop in town. Of all the days for my car to break down, it had to be the day we’re experiencing torrential rain. Factor in that the tiny town of Arrow Creek had only one taxi, zero Uber drivers, and one bus that left at the ass crack of dawn, left my options at calling in sick or walking.
Then add in the very important meeting with my boss scheduled for 10 a. m. and my decision was made for me.
The gray skies overhead reflected my mood as my own storm of nerves churned inside me. I’d been with the ambulance company in our county for nearly a decade, and this was the first time I’d taken the step to speak with my boss about implementing new technology. To say our current system was archaic was a gross understatement. Patient care was important to me, and it was hard to maintain when paperwork was often getting mislabeled or misplaced. A new streamlined electronic system was exactly what we needed. The problem, however, was that the board and my boss were a group of older gentlemen who firmly believed in the motto, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
“You’ve still got another fifteen-minute walk. You don’t have time for coffee,” my best friend Kiersten groaned through the phone.
“It’s because I have another fifteen-minute walk that I need coffee. I won’t have time to down a cup before the meeting, and I can’t go into a meeting with those misogynistic assholes without coffee.”
“This is true.”
I hummed a response and stepped into the warm café. Just the smell of fresh coffee beans and sweet donuts woke me up. I drifted into line behind a tall, dark haired man and listened to Kiersten pry into my private life.
“So, are you going to tell me about your date last night?”
I sighed. I don’t know when I’d learn to stop telling Kiersten about my failed dating life, but I wished I’d started months ago.
“Not much to tell,” I mumbled, sandwiching the phone between my ear and shoulder to dig my wallet from my purse. “We had a nice dinner at his place, and then I left.”
She’s silent for a beat. “Say again?”
“You heard me,” I muttered, not wanting to repeat myself. The line moved forward a step, so I went with it, praying it hurried up.
“Please explain to me how you went to this guy’s house, had dinner there, and left. Let me rephrase that,” she shouted, stopping my retort. “You had dinner, in the place where his bed is, and you left. Without sex. What is the matter with you?”
I dropped my voice to a whisper. “He was playing ‘Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight’.”
“What?” Kiersten sputtered.
A throbbing ache began in the center of my forehead. I squeezed the bridge of my nose with my freehand and stepped forward in line. “That’s why I didn’t stay. You don’t walk into a room possibly to get laid and have Phil Collins at the top of your sex playlist. Huge red flag.”
The broad back of the man in front of me straightened, seemingly at my words, and I mentally slapped myself for being so coarse in the middle of a public place.
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s just an 80’s fan? That song used to be really popular.”
“Not for sex,” I whispered, darting my eyes around the room to see if anyone else was listening. Except for the man in front of me, I seemed to be ignored.
“Maybe that’s the song you were conceived to,” Kiersten threw out.
At the thought of my parents, my stomach soured. “This conversation is over.
“Oh, come on. So, his taste in sex music sucks. He could have played some, I don’t know, Nickelback to put you in the mood–ˮ
“No. Just no.”
“I didn’t realize you were so high maintenance, Cam.”
“I’m not.” Three people ahead of me. Move people. Pulling the phone from my ear, I quickly checked the time. 9:30.
“I still think this is just another excuse for you.”
Kiersten’s voice came at me, so I moved the phone back to answer her. “Leave it alone. I’m not seeing him again.”
“In fourteen years, you’ve gone out on approximately six dates, none of them ending in sex. Unless you’re picking up prostitutes from some internet website, that means you haven’t gotten some in fourteen years. Are you sure your vagina still works?”
It was my turn to straighten my spine. “I’m getting coffee right now. In the middle of a coffee shop. In public,” I hissed angrily.
She ignored me and went on. “Maybe you should get yourself checked to be sure. By a hot doctor, perhaps?”
“Do you want me to grab you a drink or not?” The line finally moved, so I was now customer number three.
“Mocha macchiato with a double shot.”
At least the conversation moved to a normal topic.
“Oh! A Gerard Butler look-a-like OB-GYN. Can you imagine the size of his–ˮ
“Kiersten!”
“What?” She feigned innocence, but I’m not stupid. “I was going to say hands, you perv.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll see you in fifteen.”
“That would make a good movie though. Gerard Butler, the hot, mercurial OB. By day, he feels up vaginas and by night he fuc–ˮ
“Goodbye, Kiersten!” I cut off her ridiculous fantasy. My cheeks suddenly felt hot, even though the rest of me was cold.
“Oh hey, what time is the party? And what should I get her? I suck at buying gifts.”
Finally, a topic I’d happily discuss in the middle of a coffee shop.
“This Saturday at noon. My place as usual. What does any fourteen-year-old like? Makeup, books, music, clothes. Nothing dating related.” Coming from Kiersten, that’d be a disaster. “I can’t believe how old she’s getting. I’m not ready for this age.”
“You’re a great mom. You can handle anyth
ing. Okay, see you soon, chick.” With that, she hung up.
As I lowered the phone from my ear, ready to indulge in a serious amount of coffee, an ominous vibe hit me. I didn’t realize where it was coming from until I placed my phone into my purse and looked up. Hairs stood up on the back of my neck as a shiver ran down my spine. The tall man in front of me had turned so that he was now facing the back of the line, his angry eyes aimed at me.
All of a millisecond passed before I got my first look into the fourteen-years-older face of my childhood love, Lawrence Briggs.
Or as I’d always called him—Law.
Oh, God.
He was as beautiful as always. Same dark, unruly hair and gray/green eyes. Except now that dark hair had a few threads of gray near the temples, and his eyes were outlined by creases.
And he was tall. So much taller than the last time I saw him. And built. Law was always strong but more lean than buff. Now he had big, rounded biceps that I was surprised fit into the sleeves of his Henley.
My mental calculation of all the ways he’d changed was cut short when he opened his mouth.
“Explains a lot,” he growled, not concealing the tone or volume of his voice.
Panic stole over me, and I looked around the room for assistance. Everyone was conveniently rushing around or ignoring my blatant plea for an intervention.
“I-I’m sorry?” That shiver turned into a full-on tremble.
“Fourteen years ago, you disappeared into the night. Without a trace. Nobody knew where you’d went. Hearing you now, it sounds like you got yourself a teenaged daughter. Explains a lot.”
I opened my mouth to deny, deny, deny, but playing dumb would get me nowhere. There’s no way in hell I wouldn’t recognize the man standing before me, just like he knew it was me as soon as I got into line behind him. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he clocked me the second I opened the door to this place.
I studied my wet shoes. “You don’t know anything.”
“I never was a stupid kid,” he bit out.
For a second, my heart completely stopped, and my eyes snapped to his. He knew. I didn’t know how, but he’d figured it all out.
“I’m sure as hell not a stupid man. I can do simple math. I know you wouldn’t have run away for the hell of it. Even if your whole life went to shit, you still had me and you knew it.”
“I’ve got to go. I’m sorry.” Screw getting coffee. If I stood there another second, I was going to break down.
Even as my feet carried me to the door, I could feel my heart trying to pull me back towards him.
“Just tell me who!” He barked after me.
My spine straightened almost painfully, the realization that he didn’t know hit me like a semi-truck. “Who, what?” I whispered, not turning around.
“Who knocked you up?” This was growled from beside me. Right near my ear. The closest I’ve been to Law in fourteen years, and it physically hurt to have his body so near, but emotionally, he’s never been further away.
I dropped my head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Matters to me. Matters whose dick was so important you’d throw everything we shared away. Damnit, you dropped out of school and left town without so much as a note in my mailbox as to where you went. Do you know what that did to me?”
Agony.
He tried to conceal it, but it was there, threaded through his words and his tone. And for me, it scored itself onto my heart. Next to all the other marks from leaving him in the first place.
“Law, I-ˮ
He cut me off to lean in and spit, “Lawrence.”
“L-Lawrence.” The tremble in my voice was audible. His name felt strange on my tongue. I hadn’t spoken it aloud in a decade and a half. “I’m sorry for what I did. But, I really have to go.”
As I pushed through the door I longed for him to chase after me, as stupid as that was. But he just stood there, the love of my past, glaring at me like he wished I was dead.
I felt dead.
So much so, even the rain slapping against my scalp when I forgot to open my umbrella did nothing to pull me out of my trance. I was halfway down the next block when I realized I was soaking wet and finally opened the stupid thing.
“Hey, where’s my coffee?” Kiersten asked, as I trudged soddenly into the office building where the meeting was scheduled.
I lifted my empty hands to my face, staring unseeingly past their wrinkled texture, and dropped them limply at my sides.
“Oh, shit, what happened?”
I opened my mouth, then cleared my throat before I could get the words to squeeze passed. Even then, they sounded hoarse. “I need you to drive me home. I’d walk, but I’m really cold. I can’t go to this meeting.”
Kiersten tilted her head, concerned. “I don’t think you should miss it. They might not give you a second chance to present the info again, and I know how hard you’ve worked on this.”
“They’ll eat me alive!” I screeched, and Kiersten took a step back. “Not like this, I can’t. I don’t have a chance,” I mumbled, the words not making sense. “You’re the only person I have that can take me home. If you won’t do it, I’ll walk, but it’s still pouring.” I rubbed a wet hand across my forehead as more tears clogged my throat. “I’d like to have some time alone because come four o’clock, my girl will be coming home from school, and I can’t let her see her momma like this.”
Kiersten gathered her coat and nabbed her keys from her top drawer. “Okay.” She pressed her keys into my palm and curled my fingers around them. “Go start the car, and I’ll call Mr. Ross to tell him you’re sick. You owe me. This means I have to miss my lunch break.”
My voice trembled when I replied, “Thank you.”
A fogginess settled over me as the strong emotions waned, and I walked in a daze to the parking lot, unlocked the car, and started it. Hot air blasted me, but I couldn’t feel anything. My mind was as blank as it was overwhelmingly full. I was just numb.
Thankfully, Kiersten kept her questions to herself on the ride back to my house. I thanked her for the ride and walked myself inside. After a long hot shower, I finally started to thaw, and that’s when the tears fell.
Loads of them.
I didn’t allow myself to break down when I left home all those years ago. There wasn’t any room to feel sorry for myself when the decision had been mine all along. Money may have been an incentive, but nobody forced me to go. I just didn’t know how to face Law with the magnitude of my mistakes. When he found out the truth, I was going to lose him either way, and that solidified my decision. In the end, I wanted it to be me walking away. Even if that made me a coward.
Seeing him again brought all those feelings rushing back to the surface. I made a game plan. I had six hours.
For the first time in fourteen years, I let myself cry for all that I’d lost. To remember the boy I’d loved.
And after I did that, I’d pull myself from my bed, clean myself up, and greet my baby girl when she got off the bus from school.
Because losing Law might have been a consequence of the greatest mistake of my life, but I could never bring myself to regret my daughter.
Seventeen years earlier...
“Hey! Wait up!”
I raced my bike through the cloud of dirt Law’s tires kicked up, attempting to catch him. Tall weeds and rogue tree branches whipped against my bare legs. Rain began to fall from the dark gray sky, and even though I was chilly and damp, a smile graced my face.
I laughed heartily while making my legs burn and following my best friend.
“You’ll have to catch up,” he shouted back before racing off again.
Pedaling uphill was hard enough, but the once-hard packed earth was quickly turning to mud beneath my tires. Not to mention we weren’t even on a real biking trail. The trail Law had chosen was in the middle of the forest. Powerlines ran overhead like trail markers, delineating the space that was usually overrun by four wheelers or snowmobiles, depending on the time o
f year.
This wasn’t the first time we’d been down this path, but it was always Law’s idea, and I was always stuck lagging behind.
I didn’t mind. I’d take just about anything to spend time with Law. Besides, the trail end was close. The buzz of the busy highway replaced the sound of insects, so I knew I was almost there.
“Wait for me!” I wheezed, sucking in giant gulps of air. Standing on the pedals, I leaned forward and gave myself one final push. I was going to make it. Getting off and walking wasn’t an option unless I wanted to be teased for the rest of the summer.
Just as the bike picked up speed, the trail opened. Law stood off next to his bike, grinning at me like a jerk because he was faster and stronger, like always, and he couldn’t wait to rub it in.
“Thought you’d never get here,” he taunted, resting back against his bike and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Yeah well you–" The words floated away on the wind when a giant rock suddenly appeared from a patch of mud. The front tire hit it dead on. The bike flipped, sending me soaring over the handlebars. Law’s shout mixed with my scream, but I couldn’t make out the words. The sound of the highway and the wind roaring past my ears clouded everything else.
I rolled and tumbled down a slight incline. Every couple of turns I could see the dark gray sky above me before it was replaced by the brown and green earth. My body stopped moving on its own when inertia finally gave me up, leaving me disoriented.
Law slid down on his hip. I couldn’t see him, but I heard the friction of his jacket on the grass and felt him stop next to me. “Cami! Are you okay?”
“You put that rock there, didn’t you?” I gasped out of breath.
His laugh was deep and full of relief. He was scared for me. “Sorry. I thought it’d stop you from passing me. Here, let me help you up.”
His cool, damp palm slid against mine, and the other arm circled my back. With a strength most fourteen-year-old boys couldn’t possess, he pulled me into a sitting position. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I shrugged. Now that the world stopped spinning, I was a little embarrassed. “Yeah. My hands sting, but nothing is broken. Tell your mom thanks, again, for buying me this helmet. Without it, I would have been toast.”
