“I’m going to fly home today, too.”
“I’ll send the corporate jet for you. It was out of commission yesterday, but it should be ready to go today. Where’s the closest airport?”
“Wexler, Texas, I think.”
“You got it.”
“Davey?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry for waking you up.”
“Since when?” his brother asked, a hint of humor sparking his sleep-graveled voice. “We’ve been covering each other’s butts for as long as we’ve been walking and talking.”
That was good to know.
“So how’s life in Texas?” Davey asked. “Did you get a chance to play cowboy?”
“Just a little.”
“Good. Ever since we moved into the house in Rancho Vista, you wanted to work with horses.” He had?
“Do you remember riding on those equestrian trails near the beach?”
Jason thought for a moment, the memory clicking. Their parents had purchased an estate in an exclusive area near the ocean with two-to five-acre parcels that were zoned for horses. All three of the boys had learned to ride, although their time was also taken up with schoolwork, sports and girls.
“Yes,” Jason said, “I remember.”
He’d actually tossed around the idea of attending the University of California at Davis and majoring in animal science or something in the agricultural field. But Mike had talked him out of it, saying a business major at USC, their dad’s alma mater, was the only way to go for a future executive at Alvarez Industries.
“So what time do you want the jet at the airport?” David asked. “Best case scenario, it’s going to be at least nine before they can even take off.”
“Let’s shoot for about one o’clock my time.”
“You got it.”
As the call ended, Jason realized that it was a good thing he’d woken up early. He had to get busy if he intended to fly home today.
First, he’d have to hire someone to look out for Doc’s place while he was gone. That would have presented a problem for him, but while he’d been at the feed store yesterday, the proprietor had mentioned that his son was home from college and looking for work over winter break.
The kid’s first job would be to drive Jason to the airport in Wexler, although they’d have to stop by the hospital on the way. Jason needed to let the accounting department know that he had medical insurance and that he would forward that information to them shortly. Then he would go up to the third floor and visit Doc.
He was going to thank the man for everything he’d done. He’d also assure him that someone would take care of the ranch while Jason was gone. He wasn’t sure when or even
The last thing Jason planned to do was to talk to Betsy. And that visit was going to be tough. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say to her. He had to either end things or put their relationship on hold, no matter how much she’d come to mean to him.
But going back to San Diego was his only option, even if he didn’t know what it would bring.
Just talking to Davey had caused more of his memories to surface. A picture had begun to form, and it was finally starting to make sense. He’d recalled the closeness he and David had shared, the house on Derby Lane in which they’d grown up, the horses they used to ride.
Everything Jason owned, everything he was-his life, his identity-was in California. So he had no choice; he had to go back.
He even had a game plan for leaving and seemed to have his proverbial ducks in a row. But that didn’t change what he felt for Betsy.
Nor did it make saying goodbye any easier.
The E.R. was pretty quiet, even for a Tuesday morning, so Betsy decided to take advantage of the lull.
She’d just stopped by the break room to pour herself a cup of coffee when Kay Henderson, one of the volunteers, poked her head in the door. “Doctor, there’s a guy in the waiting room claiming to be your friend and asking to see you. He says his name is Jason Alvarez, but that you know him as John Doe.”
Her heart soared at the news. Had he come to tell her his life had all come together? That he had things to share with her, things that she could pin her heart on?
But she feared that wasn’t the case and braced herself for the worst.
After pouring out her coffee into the sink and running the water to rinse it down the drain, she tossed away the disposable cup and went to hear what John Doe aka Jason Alvarez had to say. But once she reached the receptionist’s window and spotted him standing near the door, words weren’t necessary. She could see the solemn expression on his face.
Whatever he had to say wasn’t going to be good, at least not from her perspective. But she may as well get it over with.
“Kay,” she said to the volunteer covering for the receptionist, “will you please tell Dawn that I’m going outside for a few minutes. I’ll be near the rose garden if she needs me.”
“Of course, Doctor.”
Then Betsy went out into the waiting room to talk to Jason.
He was wearing a pair of jeans and one of the shirts she’d bought him, which made her think that maybe she was wrong. That maybe he wasn’t going to morph back into a stranger.
“I came to tell you that my memory is coming back,” he said. “And that I have to leave.”
Her heart cracked at the news, but she put on her doctor game-face. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“That I’m leaving?”
No. Not that. Yet she forced herself to remain stoical. To pretend that she was giving a patient’s family bad news and that she had to be strong, detached.
She nodded toward the entrance. “Let’s go outside and talk privately.”
“Okay.” He followed her out the door, then they turned right and took the sidewalk to the rose garden that provided people with a refuge from the pain and suffering that went on behind the walls of the hospital and a place to pray or meditate.
“I know these past few weeks have been difficult for you,” she said, stopping beside one of the concrete benches. “And you must have family and friends who were worried about you.”
He nodded. “I don’t remember them all. But it’s coming back.”
“I’m an executive with Alvarez Industries,” he explained. “It’s a family business.”
An executive, she thought. That explained the nice clothing, the education he seemed to have. But it still left a lot of questions, most of which would probably remain unanswered as far as she was concerned.
“I’m glad it’s all come back to you,” she said.
He skipped over that, saying, “I owe you a lot, Betsy. And I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You already did.” She thought of the memories he’d left her with, the evenings on the porch, the dinner at Cara Mia, the wonderful nights they’d spent making love.
“I’ve settled up with the accounting office,” he added, as if remembering her concerns about the hospital’s financial situation. “I gave them my insurance information and an address where they can send a bill for my share of the cost.”
“That’s good.” She stood as tall as her petite frame would allow, even though she wanted to crumple to the ground and bawl her eyes out.
“About the other night,” he began.
“Don’t give it another thought.” She forced a straight face, then felt it weaken when curiosity about his marital status won out. “Unless you found out that you have a wife.”
