Free Don’t Forget to Remember Me by Kahlen Aymes Page A

Stanford.
    “Yeah, and Ellie will have my ass over this
mess,” I said as I filled the sink with water. Our apartment was
old and didn’t have a dishwasher. It was in a brownstone, with
radiant heat and extremely tiny closets. Jen was constantly
complaining about the closets. She and Aaron planned to move into a
house after graduation. Aaron was concentrating on internal
medicine and could go into private practice after he finished his
residency. I was hoping that we would all end up close enough to
see each other on a regular basis. Julia wanted to be near Ellie
too, but her career was really going to dictate her choice.
    I plunged my hands into the water and
continued to wash the dishes, lost in my thoughts. I stopped.
    What if Julia doesn’t remember? In
three months, I would graduate and had planned to go to New York to
be with her. Will she still want me?
    My heart dropped. She’d been receptive to my
presence, even to the point of letting me sleep in the big chair in
her room overnight. Marin and I struggled over who would stay, but
she acquiesced after one night she stayed with Julia and I slept in
the waiting room down the hall anyway.
    “Ellie will understand, Ryan. We all know
where you’ve been this week.” She put her arms around my waist from
behind as I worked. “No one expected anything else.”
    She backed up and scratched my back through
my scrubs. “Julia’s getting her very own doctor and housekeeper in
one. Lucky, lucky girl.”
    I rinsed off a fry pan and stacked it in the
metal dish drain next to the sink as Mom went to sort the clothes.
I shrugged but didn’t speak.
    “Ryan, I know you haven’t mentioned it, but
do you need to talk? About the baby? I’m worried about you, honey.”
My mother paused, her voice thickening slightly.
    For a split second, I stopped too; but then
reached for the next pan that needed washing and plunged it in the
water.
    “Mom, I appreciate the offer, but I’m just…I
guess I’ve been concentrating on getting Julia better. Nothing
would’ve been worse than losing her, so I haven’t really dealt
with…” my voice wavered and I sucked in my breath, “the baby yet.
After that first twenty-four hours, it’s been sort of surreal. It’s
Julia I’ve been worried about, compounded by our lost past. That’s
all I can take right now.”
    “I understand, honey. Just know that your
father and I are here for you. We love you both so much.”
    “I know, Mom. I’m grateful for all you’ve
done. Having Dad here has been my saving grace.” I continued to
wash the dishes and she put a load of laundry in the washer just as
Harris and Ellie burst through the door.
    “Hey!” Ellie said happily and came to hug
me. “How are you holding up?”
    Harris followed her in. “Hello, Ryan, Elyse.
Gabe asked me to let you know he’s got the bags from the hotel and
he booked you on a 5:30 flight.”
    “You guys are leaving?” I turned toward my
mom. “So soon?”
    Ellie patted me on the stomach before
starting her search for cleaning supplies, pulling out a bucket and
some floor cleaner from under the sink. She threw a duster at
Harris.
    “Slave driver,” he muttered but threw off
his coat and went in the living room to start working.
    My mother came into the kitchen and pulled
out a chair. “Dad has to get back to his patients and you’ve got
everything under control now.”
    I nodded, drying the dishes I’d just washed,
putting them away as I went. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I worried
what it would be like when Julia was here with three people she
barely knew. “Yeah, I know. It’s just that Paul and Marin are
leaving too, and even though Julia said she’ll be fine with us, I
don’t want her to feel alone here.”
    “Ryan, Julia could never feel alone when she
has you, okay?” Ellie smiled then wrinkled her nose in disgust.
“Good God! This place is horrible!”
    “I hope you’re right, Ellie,” I murmured and
went to the furnace closet to get the mop