Remember This (16 page)

“Liam was five and Gracie and I decided to take him to Disney World,” Nate starts. “Mark, Carolyn, and Lucy decided they wanted to come with. We had a great time and Liam was in heaven. We went to visit the characters and his favorite one was Tigger. We bought him a Tigger stuffed animal and he carried him around the park for the rest of the week. On the last day there, Liam dropped Tigger somewhere. It was dark out and the park was about to close. He started crying so we frantically ran around the park looking for the lost toy. We were so tired and our feet hurt but we didn’t want to crush his spirits so we looked for about thirty minutes. Liam was the one who actually found it. It had gotten kicked under a bench. He was filthy and we told him that we had to wash it before he could have it back. He used to call him his best friend.”

Liam smiles. “I still have that thing. He’s in my closet.”

“That was a fun trip,” I say. “We should go again and take Piper.”

“That sounds fun,” Mason says and everyone agrees.

“What are we doing for Christmas this year?” Gracie asks changing the subject. “Since everyone is here, I thought we could discuss it.” Since there are so many of us and it gets expensive buying gifts for everyone, we usually do something fun as a family. One year we did Secret Santa and everyone picked a name out of a hat and we had a limit of $50 to spend. Another year we had to get a gag gift for someone and then we used the money we saved to rent a house on the coast for a weekend. When we were younger, we used to go to Montana for Christmas.

“I was thinking we could make homemade gifts this year,” my mom suggests.

“That’s a good idea,” I chime in. “Maybe we could use the extra money we save this year to go back to Disney World.” Everyone agrees.

“I guess that’s settled then,” Gracie says.

“I’m exhausted,” Nate yawns as he rubs Gracie’s’ back. Piper is sound asleep on Mason’s lap. I realize how tired I am too.

“We should all turn in for the night,” my dad says as he rakes through the fire, dimming our light source immensely.

Mason and I are at the back of the line as everyone makes their way to the cabin. All of a sudden, I feel him pull me off the trail.

“What are we doing?” I ask, my heart speeding up.

“Shhh,” he chuckles as he flashes me a panty combusting smile. Oh man, this is exciting! We stop after a few paces so the cabin is barely in our view through the trees. It is dark and I can barely see Mason….but I can feel him. He pushes me against a tree and starts kissing me passionately. My hands skim across his long sleeve shirt that clings to his muscles. All too soon though, the kiss is over and Mason is pulling away.
No don’t stop.

“I have wanted to do that all day,” he says smiling down at me. I can’t seem to respond. I just stare.

“Me, too,” I finally spit out. And much more. But he doesn’t need to know that.

“Shall we?” he says holding out his hand for me to take. He is obviously planning on going back to the cabin and I am not ready to go in yet. I haven’t had enough alone time with him. He can obviously tell by the look on my face.

“I saw an open queen sized air mattress in there,” he says gesturing towards the cabin. “We can make out while everyone is asleep. He winks and I melt, following him like a lost puppy. We open the cabin door and see that Piper has woken up and took the queen sized mattress for herself.

“Uncle Mason will you read me a bedtime story?” she whispers loud enough for us to hear but quiet enough so she doesn’t wake up the rest of the sleeping family. Mason turns to look at me knowing that he can’t escape the request of his new best friend. She is relentless.

“I would be honored,” he says to her in a British accent as he squeezes my hand. “I will try to be quick,” he whispers so only I can hear. He goes and lies next to her and I realize that there is only a top and bottom bunk left for us in the room. Maybe we can move Piper to the bottom one once she is asleep. I go into the bathroom and change into my pjs while Mason tells her a bedtime story about fish that go camping. By the time I am done with my nightly routine, almost everyone is asleep including Piper. She is sprawled out across the entire mattress and I know there is no way we can move her without waking her. Mason smiles and looks apologetic.

I slip into the bottom bunk and Mason sneakily gets off of the mattress and comes to sit next to me.

“Sorry things didn’t work out,” he says. For whatever reason, I don’t think he is just referring to tonight’s sleeping arrangements.

“It’s ok,” I respond. He leans down and kisses me a little more fierce than just a peck and then climbs up to the bed above me. I can’t sleep. All I can do is stare up at the short ceiling above my bed where he is laying and wonder where things will go next with us. The thought sends Henry into a tizzy.

The next morning is busy as we make brunch and pack up our cars. This weekend always goes by so fast. I have had an especially good time this year with Mason and I don’t want it to end. I have an idea on how to prolong our visit a little more but I don’t know if my plan will work.

“Hey, Isaac?” I say as he is finishing up his breakfast.

“What’s up Luce?”

“Do you mind if I take the boat out this morning?”

“Of course not. The keys are in the boat.”

“Thanks,” I say feeling a little more confident. Step one of my plan is complete.

“No problem. Oh, and don’t forget your life jacket,” he says winking at me. I want to be angry at him but I just can’t be. Mason is standing outside on the deck talking to my dad so slip out the door, hoping that my plan isn’t too obvious.

“Hey, munchkin,” my dad says as I come and stand behind the two of them.

“Hi dad. Mason, Isaac gave me the keys to the boat. Do you want to go for a morning cruise?” I ask feeling all nervous like I am asking him to prom and he might say no.

“Of course,” he beams and pats my dad on the shoulder. Step two complete, I think to myself. We head down to the dock and untie the boat. He gets in the boat first. To my surprise, he turns and lifts me effortlessly in. That made step three a little less troublesome. Yes, step three was getting in the boat. For a normal person, this isn’t a big deal but for me it’s something I have to concentrate on. Step four is the one I am most worried about and now it’s time to act. I walk over to the driver’s seat while Mason takes the seat across from me.

“Do you know how to drive this thing,” he says as he watches me fumble with the keys. He looks amused.

“Um, sort of,” I say dropping the keys a couple of times before I actually get them in the ignition. I turn the key and the boat roars to life. I switch the handle on the right to reverse and we slowly pull away from the dock. I pull down on the handle after a few seconds and the boat lurches forward causing me to fall into the back of the seat. Thank goodness I was sitting down. I peek over at Mason and he is staring out at the water as if nothing happened. I crank the wheel and decide to drive along the shore and show Mason the homes that are built around the lake.

“I don’t know who lives in most of these but they’re fun to look at,” I say as we glide around the small lake.

“It is beautiful out here. I can see why so many people have summer homes,” Mason says enjoying the scenery. I am enjoying him as my scenery. I smile to myself and take us to the middle of the lake. Our cabin is directly in front of us but is so far away that it is only a small spec. I turn the engine off and congratulate myself on getting through with my plan to steal Mason away for a little. I stand up and walk to the back of the boat and sit on what looks like a coach built into the back of the boat. There are three seats on the bench and I take the one farthest to the right. Mason follows my lead and takes the seat on the left. He angles his body so he has one leg up on the middle seat and he is looking at me.

“Thank you for bringing me out here this weekend. I had a lot of fun,” he says as the slight breeze blows through his sandy hair. The blue lake water makes his eyes pop and I swear he is gazing into my soul.

“You’re welcome,” I say picking at a loose thread on the middle cushion.

“Hey,” he says grabbing my hand, forcing me to look up at him. I turn so I am angled the same way he is and our legs touch. “I’ve had a great time with you these past few days.”

“Me too,” I say but I can tell that he sees the hesitation on my face.

He looks worried. “What’s wrong?” Oh crap. Me and my facial expressions. I don’t know how to say this but it needs to be said.

“I’m just worried…about what we will be once your memory is back. I’m afraid we will go back to the way things were before,” I confess looking across the water as I talk. Mason grabs my chin and turns my face back towards his. He is smiling, a private smile I don’t recognize but he looks sincere.

“Why does anything have to change?” he asks.

I give him my ‘you know why’ look and I think he understands. “I’m afraid to get close to you again because I know it will end at some point and I don’t want to go through the heartache again,” I continue.

“Listen, Luce, I don’t remember what we were like before but I can tell you that we have something special.” He has told me this before and every time he says it, I convince myself a little more that he is right. “We can make this work. You just have to have a little faith.” I stare up at him not knowing what to say and then he leans forward and kisses me softly. The second our lips make contact I surrender to him. I let myself believe that everything will be ok and we will make this work. He’s put a spell on me and it worked.

Our kiss deepens and he pulls me onto his lap. We sit like this, kissing, for who knows how long until kissing just isn’t enough anymore. We move to the floor and sweetly, slowly make love.

As we are laying on the floor under a blanket, our heads propped up by bright orange life jackets, we laugh about how quirky my family is. Off in the distance, I hear a familiar ring.

“What is that?” Mason asks sitting up.

I sit up and roll my eyes. “That would be the cow bell. Another family quirk. It means that they are wrapping everything up and that we should head back.” Mason gets on his feet and pulls me up with him.

“Can I drive?” he asks with an excited grin on his face.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt.” How could I say no to that face?

Mason drives the boat back to the dock with me on his lap showing him the controls. It is a short ride and we head inside to say our goodbyes. Mason has to promise Piper five times that he will come visit her. Liam, completely pulled out of his funk, shakes Mason’s hand and gives me a big hug.

“Goodbye, Carolyn,” Mason says kissing my mom on the cheek.

We wave good bye to everyone as we pull out of the driveway. I’m already looking forward to this weekend next year.

Things have been great with Mason and me. Beyond great. We go on dates almost every night which has forced me to be less of a workaholic. The sex has been amazing. We have slept in the same bed ever since the lake, which has been about three weeks and I realized how much I missed cuddling.

I have started running but I only agreed to twice a week and only a mile. Mason wants me to train for a 5K but I haven’t warmed up to that idea yet.

Eli has backed off at work but it took me completely avoiding him for two weeks to get to that point. He is persistent.

Mason still doesn’t have his memory back and it has been over a month since the incident. He says he can remember more parts of his childhood but not much more than that still. I know it’s selfish, but I can’t help but hope that his memory won’t return. I allowed myself to get way too involved with Mason and now I don’t want to lose him, well, the new him anyway.

Mason is cooking dinner for me tonight. He’s making my favorite, chicken alfredo. He decided we should still dress up as if we were going out for dinner to make it more special. He has been so romantic lately. I keep wondering if he has something planned for tonight. We haven’t said that we love each other yet since we have been back together and I have a small suspicion that is what he is planning to do tonight.

I decide to wear my hair down. I think it looks better down with the low cut red dress I am wearing. The plus side to eating at home is that I don’t have to put on those death traps people call heels. I shake my head at myself in the mirror. I’m all dressed up for my husband, whom I hated, but now I am anticipating him telling me he loves me. This is all so complicated but for once, I’m not going to over think things.

“Don’t come out here yet!” Mason rushes as he peeks his head into the bedroom door. He gives me an appraising glance and smiles before he shuts the door again. I hear him rummaging around in the living room, cupboards clanging, and chairs being moved. In about ten minutes, he is back opening the door for me.

“After you,” he says gesturing for me to exit the room in a most gentleman-like way.

“Thank you,” I say taking one step out of the room and freezing. Our entire living room is covered in candles, hundreds of them all twinkling. Mason has moved the furniture so there is a table set for two in the middle of the living room. The couch is nowhere in sight and I’m guessing it is tucked away in the spare bedroom. The other furniture is also cleared from the room. Our Alfredo is steaming on the table along with wine glasses, a bottle of wine, and rose petals. Now that I really look around, I notice that there are red long stemmed roses entwined between the candles.

“Oh, Mason,” I breath as I walk around the room taking in every detail. It smells like vanilla and roses.

“Do you like it?” he asks watching me carefully to gauge my reaction.

“This is beautiful. I love it.”

“Good, I’m glad. I wanted tonight to be special,” he says as he pulls my chair out for me and then sits down across from me.

“This alfredo is amazing. You make it better than any restaurant,” I say digging in.

“I found the recipe I used to use and I went off that. I really had no idea what I was doing but cooking seems to come naturally to me.”

I wind the fettuccini noodles around my fork. “You know, you used to want to open your own restaurant.”