Tony spoke from across the room. “I once read that the sense of smell is very powerful in anchoring and triggering memories.”
She pressed her face more tightly against Rob’s stomach, against the firm abs that no doubt lurked beneath the fabric, and deeply inhaled again.
Warm, slightly musky, and…
“Coconut?” she asked, mostly to herself. “Coconut body wash.”
She felt him exhale sharply, as if someone had punched him in the gut. “Yeah. Your favorite.”
After a few more minutes, she released him and wiped at her face. “Sorry. That’s all.”
He caught her hands and gently kissed them. “Hey, it’s a start.”
Bitter disappointment coursed through her. “It’s not very much.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself,” Tony cautioned. “Don’t push yourself. They’ll come back when they come back.”
“If.” She looked at him. He was setting the food out on the rolling bed tray table.
He shrugged. “What comes back will come back. We’ll help you make new memories, if that’s what it takes. Somehow, I don’t think that’ll be necessary. You’re a strong woman. Your body is trying to heal right now. I can’t imagine you not getting your memories back.”
Shayla returned from the bathroom, her face freshly scrubbed and devoid of makeup. Laura realized Shayla hadn’t been wearing any makeup when she arrived.
In a flash, the words were out of Laura’s mouth before she knew she was saying them. “Tony, why don’t you let her wear makeup?”
The three of them froze, staring at her. Tony recovered first. “What?”
Laura turned on the bed to face him. She didn’t miss how Shayla was now totally focused on Tony. “You don’t let her wear makeup?” It was more a question than a statement.
Tony’s gaze darted to Shayla before returning to her. “That’s not true.”
“But she has to ask?”
He set down the food container he’d been in the process of opening. “Rob?”
Rob looked clueless.
Tony sighed. “Shayla and I have a very close relationship,” he carefully said. “She asks me my opinion. My opinion is she’s beautiful without makeup. If she wants to wear makeup, that’s her choice.”
Shayla rapidly nodded.
Laura processed that while Tony continued setting out the food. His answer didn’t feel exactly like the truth. Then she got a strong whiff of the dinner and her eyes dropped closed again as she deeply inhaled, her previous train of thought completely and aromatically derailed.
“Eggplant parm,” she practically sighed, the picture of a restaurant’s dining room coming into view in her mind’s eye. “Sigalo’s.” She realized what she’d said. “Is that right? It just popped into my head.” She looked at them.
Maybe Tony is right about the sense of smell triggering stuff.
Everyone nodded. “That’s right,” Rob said. “It’s your favorite.”
Tony handed her a container. “And a batch of their famous garlic knots,” he said, holding up another container. He opened it for her, revealing it was crammed full of the bread.
“Oooh!” She grabbed three and jammed one into her mouth, letting out a soft moan as she carefully chewed. Her jaw still hurt like a bitch, but she would willingly endure the pain so as not to have to eat hospital food. “That is sooo good.”
She didn’t miss how the other three intently watched her as she chewed. “Are you going to eat or let it go cold?”
Shayla kicked off her shoes and settled, cross-legged, on the end of the bed, facing Laura and using the other side of the bed table for her food. “I’ll make you a batch of my dark chocolate Buckeyes and bring them in tomorrow,” she said. “They’re one of your favorites.”
That sounded familiar to Laura, but no memory accompanied it. “What are they?”
“A peanut butter mix covered with dark chocolate,” Rob said. “You love them.”
“Am I allergic to anything?” She didn’t know why that thought emerged out of left field, but something about peanut allergies had suddenly sprang to mind.
“No,” Rob assured her. “You get seasonal allergies sometimes, and sometimes to dust, but nothing serious.”
“Oh.” She dug into her eggplant parm and closed her eyes as she chewed. “This is amazing,” she softly said, her previous thoughts about Shayla and makeup completely set aside in the face of the best meal she’d ever eaten in her life.
That she could remember up until this point, at least.
“I’m surprised I don’t weigh three hundred pounds,” she said after savoring another bite.
Rob smiled, but it looked sad. “You’re out scuba diving many weekends. Or teaching in a pool. Taking care of the boats, hauling scuba tanks, jogging, swimming—you’re pretty active. This is the least active you’ve ever been since I’ve known you.”
“I don’t relax?”
“Sometimes. Not willingly.”
She looked at him as she forked another bite into her mouth and carefully chewed. “Do they have pictures of Italy on the walls? Paintings? No, wait…” She closed her eyes. “Murals.” She opened her eyes again to look at everyone.
They nodded. “You love their murals,” Rob confirmed.
She stared at the food, the tears taking her by surprise. “Why can I remember stupid stuff like laundry soap and restaurant walls and not anything about people?”
The men flanked her on either side while Shayla reached across the bed tray and held her hands. “We’re here for you, sweetie,” Shayla assured her. “Tony’s right. Don’t try to force things. That might make it harder. Go easy on yourself, okay? We’ll be here every step of the way with you.”
“We promise,” Rob said.
“Yep,” Tony echoed.
Laura took her time eating, savoring every bite. It didn’t matter how many times she’d supposedly eaten this dish before. She appreciated every nuance of flavor.
She wished Shayla could spend the night with her there at the hospital. More guilt she wouldn’t readily admit to Rob, but she suspected she’d spent many long hours with the woman, baring secrets and their souls together.
Rationally, she understood she shouldn’t feel that way. The doctors had gone out of their way to explain her memory might return in odd spurts, or all at once, or not at all.
But that she’d had this reaction to Shayla and not Rob unsettled her. It didn’t shake her trust in Rob, but it did make her wonder if Rob didn’t know all the secrets of her soul…before.
It also made her wonder how much she’d confided in Rob…
Before.
And if things in their relationship had really been good…
Before.
…or maybe they’d been better for Rob than her, and she’d never said anything.
She’d have to wait until she could talk to Shayla in private. She suspected the woman likely held many of those clues.
They stayed until after ten o’clock. She started yawning, and Shayla was actually the one who called it a night despite Laura wanting her—all of them—to stay.
Tony and Shayla both hugged her, with Laura eliciting a promise from the other woman to return the next morning to stay with her. Then they left, giving Laura and Rob a little privacy.
She held out her hands to Rob, a little thrill running through her when he stepped into her embrace. She once again buried her face against his stomach and breathed in deeply, hoping for another insight.
Nothing.
She sighed, then remembered her question.
“Did I used to wear a necklace or something?”
She felt his body tense a little. “Why?”
“It feels like I’m missing one. I keep finding myself reaching up to my neck, like I’m used to playing with it.”
She didn’t mind it when he kissed the top of her head. “Yes. Apparently your attacker stole it.”