Forget Me Not (Escape Contemporary Romance) (7 page)

‘You’re giving him much more than he deserves.’

Claire opened her mouth to argue, but wasn’t sure what else to say. Stefan didn’t deserve the amnesia. She didn’t deserve to lose the love of her life. And no one deserved to go through the situation they were both in.

But that was just the way things were.

‘We’ve been through this before,’ Claire said.

‘Only the once, and that was before you got him back. I thought maybe now you’d seen him, and spent a little time with him, that you’d see what I mean. You deserve better.’

There it was—that word again—but was not how Claire felt. Didn’t even come close.

Stefan’s absence had left a huge hole in her life. He was the only man she’d ever loved, the one she’d vowed to spend the rest of her life with, and suddenly, he was gone.

‘I can see where this is going,’ Sophie said. ‘Even if he doesn’t mean to, he’ll get one over you. He’s sick but he’s still in a position of power and you’ve put him there. You feel this overwhelming desire or duty, or whatever you want to call it to help him. Well, he’s lost his memory but as far as I’m concerned, that’s his problem, not yours. He left you, and it’s time he dealt with the consequences.’

Claire could feel her anger rising, but pulled herself together quickly. ‘You sound more like my mother than my sister.’

‘Mum’s too nice. She won’t tell you what you need to hear. Simple as that. Anyway, I’ll be a mother soon. This is good practice.’

‘You’ll be a wonderful mother, Soph, but you’re not
my
mother.’

‘You’ll fall in love with him all over again, ‘Sophie said. ‘It wasn’t the money or the profession you fell for the first time. It was
him
. And it’ll happen again.’

Claire frowned. ‘Soph, I know what I’m doing. I’ve chosen to do one nice thing in my life. That’s what it comes down to—my choices, my decisions, my judgment. None of that stuff is predetermined. It’s up to me.’

It would’ve been madness to fall for Stefan a second time. Claire hadn’t got over him yet, not completely, but that didn’t mean she was going to let herself love him again.

That was the one thing she couldn’t do.

Chapter Seven

‘Pleased to see you, mate.’

The man grinned, his handshake firm and well-practiced, giving Stefan the impression that Brian Christopher had probably shaken a lot of hands in the business world. So had Stefan, as they’d worked together at the same firm.

Brian’s dark hair was thinning on top, his complexion pale as if he’d spent too much time indoors. His double-breasted suit, made from the finest wool, looked expensive but did nothing to flatter his rotund physique. Stefan guessed he was in his late forties.

The woman accompanying him looked younger, early forties perhaps, and clearly took care of herself. Her makeup was perfect, blond hair immaculately groomed, and her dark suit carefully pressed.

Leaning forward, Veronica Ford air-kissed him. ‘We were wondering when you were coming back.’

The glint in her eye told Stefan that Veronica was extremely pleased to see him, more so than she should have been. Holding his shoulders rigid, he felt the hair on the back of his neck start to prickle.

‘I’m only visiting,’ Stefan explained. ‘Claire brought me along to meet you all, to help get me oriented, and to see if anything jogs my memory.’

‘You used to spend a lot time here,’ Veronica said. ‘You and I worked together closely. We were like family, seeing each other every day, working late.’

Ignoring Claire, Veronica’s eyes seemed riveted firmly to his. She undid a button on her jacket and leaned back against the desk, pushing her chest out. Some women could probably look sexy in a boring black suit, but Veronica wasn’t one of them.

‘You seem to have done okay without me,’ he said. ‘I was missing for over a week and no one noticed I was gone.’

Despite living alone, it bothered him that he’d been in hospital a full seven days and apparently no one had noticed he was missing.

‘You were on annual leave,’ Veronica protested. ‘We all thought you were in New Zealand. Sally, your PA, said you’d given strict instructions not to be contacted unless it was a matter of life and death. You wanted complete R and R.’

He’d heard their version of events before but wasn’t convinced.

‘That doesn’t sound like me. Previously, I seemed to be a workaholic.’

‘You are,’ Brian said. ‘Actually, I tried to talk you out of taking that holiday but you wouldn’t budge. You were working on the MRC Insurance deal, a big case, and I thought you should’ve given that priority.’

Brian’s expression was serious, like there was nothing more important in the world than this job. Stefan wondered if that explanation supposed to mean something to him, if he was supposed to care.

’You’ve spent the last five years working on that case,’ Brian said. ‘Surely it rings a bell?’

‘Can’t say it does.’

‘Then what’s the first thing you can remember? When did you…come to?’

‘On a bench not far from the train station in Newtown. I sat there for a while looking around, trying to work out what to do next.’

‘And what
did
you do?’ Brian asked.

‘I asked for directions to the nearest police station.’

Brian’s eyebrows shot up. ‘You went to the police?’

‘They weren’t sure what to do either but they called around, and I ended up being taken to hospital. After a few days, no one had reported me missing, and the hospital staff couldn’t work out what to do with me so they went back to the police.’ Stefan shrugged. ‘They’d already checked with the US Consulate. Because of my accent, they thought I might have been a tourist, but they were wrong. I didn’t match anyone on the police station Missing Persons database either, so they contacted the media. That was when Claire saw my picture in the local newspaper.’

‘You really can’t remember anything? What about the legislation, the statutes, everything you learnt at university?’

Brian was a lawyer, so Stefan figured the man couldn’t have been stupid, but he didn’t seem to understand.

‘I’ve got amnesia,’ Stefan said. ‘That’s the whole point. I can’t remember a thing.’

‘Then how can you come back to work? We were under the impression you were healthy, that the doctors had released you because you were back to normal.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Do you have any idea how long it might take for your memory to return?’

‘If you want to know when I can come back to work,’ Stefan said, ‘I have no idea.’

‘What are we going to do without you?’

Stefan smiled wanly. ‘I’m sure you’ll survive.’

Veronica smoothed back her hair with one hand and looked up at him through her mascara-clad lashes. ‘Surely coming back here and seeing us must be sparking something. It’s not just the office. We were very…close.’ She enunciated, almost whispering the word.

No, she must be having him on. It wasn’t possible he’d ever been ‘close’ to this woman. And how dare she suggest that in front of Claire, as if this Veronica would trigger his memories when seeing his own wife hadn’t.

He looked the woman in the eye. ‘I can assure you, seeing you means nothing to me.’

‘At least next time we see you, you’ll know who we are,’ Brian said with a smile. ‘And we
will
see you again. We’re having celebratory drinks after work on Thursday. It’s not for everyone, just the senior staff, so it won’t be too crowded. You’re both invited, of course.’

‘We’d love to come,’ Claire said.

Stefan wasn’t thrilled at the prospect but didn’t argue.

‘Take care of yourself.’ Shifting his gaze to Claire, Brian added, ‘She’ll look after you. The two of you had your differences, but you can rely on Claire.’

And that was that—Brian was giving him the brush-off. Taking Claire’s hand, Stefan took a step back to stand by her side, ready to leave.

Veronica stood and stepped forward. ‘You were a brilliant lawyer. You drew in all the prestigious clients, got the biggest accounts, brought in lots of business.’

‘No need to talk about me in the past tense,’ Stefan said. ‘I’m not dead, you know.’

She looked mortified, then quickly composed herself. ‘I didn’t mean that. I just thought you should know you were highly-valued here and when you’re well again, we’d love to see you back.’

Brian nodded in agreement. ‘Absolutely, mate. No doubt about it.’

They valued his professional expertise, and he’d brought good money into the firm. Of course they’d want him back.

When he recovered.

He and Claire bade them goodbye, walking silently through the double-glass doors and into the foyer. Glancing around, Stefan took in the immaculate marble-clad walls and the steel elevator doors, and saw past the façade—this place was designed to impress rather than welcome, but he felt neither. Claire reached across to press the elevator button but found that Stefan had covered her hand with his. He felt reassured having her there. She felt soft and warm and human. There was an honesty between them— she was simply there to help.

She pulled her hand away. ‘I thought you wanted to go.’

‘I do.’ He waited a beat. ‘Why did you say we’d come back there for drinks?’

‘Because they’re your friends, your colleagues.’

‘They’re not my friends.’

He didn’t want to be difficult when Claire had been so helpful—there was warmth in her brown eyes, gentleness in her expression and a patience he couldn’t pinpoint. Veronica and Claire might both be blondes but that was the only thing they had in common.

‘You have to get out and see people,’ Claire said. ‘You can’t just stay home.’

Stefan thought about the glimpse he’d just had into his working life, his career, and his colleagues, and wondered how he could put it nicely. ‘You didn’t tell me I worked with a bunch of assholes.’

Her mouth fell open. ‘You’ve never talked about them like that before.’

‘Was I like them?’

‘No, you were in a different league from those people. You may have been arrogant but you had good reason to be.’

He shook his head. ‘Claire, I’m not going to work with people like that again.’

‘You will.’

Baffled, Stefan stared at her. ‘How can you say that?’

‘Because you’ll get your memory back and when you’re ready to return to work, you’ll be a brilliant lawyer again. I think probably even be more determined than ever to make up for the time you’ve lost, to prove you’re better than you once were.’

‘There’s a bit of a flaw in your argument, Claire,’ he said. ‘It’s based on the premise that I
will
get my memory back.’

She jabbed the elevator button. ‘You will. I know you will.’

‘That’s not what the doctors said.’

‘They don’t know you like I do. Stefan, you’ve never failed at anything in your life, and you’re not about to start now. You’re relentless. You’ll keep going, learning more about yourself, putting together the pieces until one day you find whatever it is that will bring you back to yourself.’

Her certainty was unflinching. Yet he sensed she had a point. He felt it inside, a passion to learn everything he could and grow. It was more than a desire—It was part of him.

As the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside, Stefan realised Claire was wrong about one thing.

There was at least one thing in his life at which he’d failed.

His marriage.

How had he let that happen?

Claire pulled open the door to her apartment. ‘Mum! What a lovely surprise.’

June Simons stepped into the entry hall. ‘I had to go into the city, and was practically passing right by here. So I thought I’d drop in.’

Claire’s mother lived nearly thirty kilometres west of the city, out past Parramatta, so Claire knew full well she’d just been ‘passing by’.

Her mother looked the same as always, had barely aged in the last ten years. Wearing camel-collared pants and a fitted steel -blue top, she was dressed somewhere between smart and sensible, and still had the figure to wear whatever she wanted.

Though flecked with gray, her once-dark hair still looked youthful—thanks to a short confident cut —and her complexion was smooth. Claire only hoped she looked that good when she was sixty.

‘What’s this?’ Claire nodded towards a large, rectangular Tupperware container in her mother’s hand.

‘I made a lemon cake for you.’

Claire put her hands on her hips. ‘You just happened to be in the area with a freshly baked lemon cake?’

‘That’s what I just said.’

Her mother was transparent, yet so kind that Claire couldn’t help but smile. ‘I’ll take it.’ She paused. ‘I know this is strange for you. It’s difficult all round, but I’ll introduce you. Come through.’

By the time they’d walked through the double doors and into the living area, Stefan was standing. He must have heard who was at the door, but didn’t seem worried by the interruption. His posture was relaxed, giving the impression that this was just another day at home, nothing unusual about it or him, for that matter.

‘Stefan,’ Claire said. ‘This is my mother, June.’

He stretched his arm out for a handshake. June took his hand, then dropped it, saying, ‘This is ridiculous. I think I can give you a hug after all this time.’

His lips curled into an amused smile as she flung her arms around his shoulders. She squeezed him in a quick embrace which he returned, placing his arms gently across her back. He looked rather like a teenager who’d been forced to give his mother a hug, and then discovered that it wasn’t so bad after all.

‘Claire has told me a lot about you,’ he said. ‘It’s obvious she thinks very highly of you.’

‘I hope so. I’m her mother.’ She stepped back taking along look at him. ‘You’re all in one piece, and you look good. Exactly the same as before, in fact. I’m not sure about the facial hair, though.’ June frowned, then added, ‘No, I like that too. It adds character.’

Stefan grinned. ‘I’m glad to hear it.’

‘Six months is a long time. I certainly don’t want to hold any grudges.’

‘Is there any reason to?’ he asked reluctantly. ‘Have I done something horrible?’

’No, but most families don’t handle divorce very well, and I guess we were no different. You and Claire hadn’t seen each other for a long time and my loyalty always lay with her. It still foes.’