“I told you – the money doesn’t even feel real. It…”
“Well, it feels plenty real to me,” I snapped.
“But the earrings would have cost nothing,” he started.
“Earrings! Right. To wear with my hair up. When have you seen me with my hair up, Mr. Movie Star? I’ll tell you: Never. People with birthmarks don’t wear their hair up.”
No words left to explain how I felt, I rose and stalked off into the park.
He caught up to me in an instant and stopped me by grabbing my arm. I shrugged his hand off and continued marching along the path, and gasped when he appeared in front of me, blocking my way as though he’d dropped from the sky.
“Lacey, you’re not making any sense,” Jared said. “You’re acting like you can read my mind, which you can’t. Worse, you’re drawing completely wrong conclusions and not listening to what I’m saying. Could you please take a second and just think? I’m telling you in the clearest way I know that I love you exactly as you are, no exclusions or exceptions. And you’re ignoring me.” He looked me up and down. “Please stop and just listen to me, would you?”
My anger receded at his pleading, and I met his stare. “Okay. I’m listening,” I said, arms crossed defensively across my chest.
He hesitated, choosing his words. “Okay. I apologize about the earrings. You have a blemish you think is the biggest deal in the whole world. I get that. I’m telling you that it’s not even a tiny issue. To me it’s a nothing. That’s not saying that it isn’t very real to you. It’s that you’re magnifying its importance and projecting that onto me as though it’s how I feel, when it isn’t. You’ve read enough psychology to know how that works. What’s the saying – to a thief, everyone looks like a thief?”
I bristled at his last words, but he held up his hand.
“Besides, you should be grateful for that mark.”
I nearly lost it. Grateful? Is he going to tell me that it builds character?
“I’ve seen that mark before, you know.”
“Yeah, at the party that first night.” I blushed again at the memory. “I kind of thought you might have.”
“Yes, then, but…before, as well.”
“Before? I hadn’t met you before that.” Oh, wait… The penny dropped. “You mean…I’ve always had this mark?”
“I thought I was hallucinating. Remember, I thought you were gone forever. Then I thought it must be some weird coincidence. Then I thought I’d imagined it. I kept trying to get a better look, but I couldn’t.”
I didn’t know what to say. “You never said anything…”
He sighed. “I could tell you were self-conscious about it. Always covering it with your hair. Which I hate to tell you is not exactly a new trick. But I checked you out a few times. Like when you were sleeping.”
You what?
“Not that I needed any more proof.” We stood in silence for a moment, just looking at each other. “Look, I know you don’t have your former memories. But please trust me when I say, we’ve been through this before. It didn’t matter then, it doesn’t matter now, and it never will.”
Neither of us spoke for a moment. “Do I look like her?”
“Who?”
“Her. Alicia.”
“There is no her. There’s only you.”
“But…” I didn’t even know how to put into words what I felt. Jared had his memories of how we’d been before, but I didn’t. I’m at a serious disadvantage here. Like I’d read only half a mystery novel.
“For the record, you do. Look like you did before. And at the same time, you don’t.”
I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at him.
“You have the same features, but you wear your hair differently. You dress differently. You’re in a different place. It’s a different time. All of those things are different. But not…not your heart. Not you. I can feel it.”
The lump in my throat was too big to swallow.
He let that sink in for a moment before continuing. “Look. I’m a frigging vampire. My heart doesn’t beat, it’s all I can do not to drink your blood, and I’m literally one of the undead. Wouldn’t you agree those are a bigger deal than a bit of skin? Some missing memories? Give us a chance to create some new ones.”
I had no words for what I was feeling. I didn’t even know what I was feeling! I wanted to ask him what I’d been like…before…but didn’t know if I really wanted to hear the answer.
Jared seemed to intuit some of what I was going through, because he did the one thing that was guaranteed to stop me from escalating the drama. He stepped forward and embraced me in silence.
It was impossible to remain upset in his arms, and my anxiety slowly faded as he did nothing but hold me. He didn’t try to drill home his point or prove me wrong or explain. He just held me, allowing his essence to flood my being with strength and confidence while demanding nothing in return.
After what seemed like an eternity, he whispered so softly I had to strain to hear. “You have your demons, and I have mine. My biggest fear is that I’ll lose you again. You have no idea what it’s like to be sentenced to hundreds of years without the one you love. Each day is another small slice of hell. I won’t let that happen again, Lacey. Nothing will keep us apart. Nothing. I promise you that.”
I blubbered into his shirt, my heart aching at his beautiful words and the obvious sincerity in them. He let my emotional storm run its course, and when I’d stopped sobbing, held me at arm’s length. “Please don’t sell us short, Lacey. You’re all I’ve got.” He paused. “You can’t keep running away.”
I nodded slowly and slowed my breathing. “I… You’re right, Jared. I…I got so wrapped up in what you must be thinking…”
“You
