“Gone how?”
“I don’t know,” I said, frustrated. “It makes no sense at all. I mean, the other day I just randomly remembered Rachel. Out of the blue. And it hit me that until that moment, I had completely forgotten about her.”
“Oh.” Abby’s voice dropped to a flat, sad tone.
“I’m sorry.” I hadn’t meant to bring up painful memories for her. “I didn’t—”
“No, it’s fine.” She sounded anything but fine, though. “You remember Marc, don’t you?”
I hesitated. “Marc who?”
Abby sighed with frustration. “Seriously? You don’t remember Marc? He was my boyfriend for a little while. For some reason, you never liked him. And then he died shortly after Rachel.”
I blinked rapidly, my mind racing through the information she’d just shared. Abby had lost both her best friend and her boyfriend? And I barely remembered either of them? Well, I’d remembered Rachel, but I had zero memory of Marc. Clearly, I’d lost my mind—literally.
“What else have you remembered that you’d forgotten?” Abby asked.
“I can’t shake the feeling I was with someone while I was there, but I don’t know who.” I laughed, but it was forced and sounded strangled. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just slowly losing my mind being here.”
“I’m sure you can find some hot surfer guy to help keep you sane.” She giggled. And just like that, Abby was back to her normal self. “You should stay there for the summer so I can come visit. Find myself a hot, rich boyfriend, then we can come home.”
I scooted down to lay on my back and scrunched up my face. “Trust me, you won’t like it here. Dad and Larissa are super strict. Worse than your parents.”
“Wait. He’s Dad now? When did that happen?”
I hesitated, trying to remember exactly when I’d stopped calling him Frank and started calling him Dad. But like so much else, I simply couldn’t remember. What was wrong with me? Was I suffering from some form of teenage dementia or memory loss? Was that even a thing?
“I’m not sure. He hasn’t been so bad lately.” I shrugged, not that she could see me. “We’re not hugging and sharing warm fuzzies or anything, but we’re not ripping each other’s heads off, either.”
Abby laughed. “Good, because you have to come home.”
“Oh, I am. Don’t worry. As soon as school is over, I’m telling Frank that I’m visiting you guys for summer break, and then I’m just not ever coming back.”
She gasped. “For real?”
“Yup. What’s the point of coming back here? I’ll be eighteen in a month, and I am not spending my senior year at Snobby Central.”
“What?” Her voice was muffled. She must have moved the phone away from her mouth. “Hey, I gotta go,” she said a moment later. “Text me.” And then she ended the call.
I blew out a breath and tossed my phone onto the nightstand. Talking to her usually made me feel better, but not this time. I was more confused than ever. How could I forget people and big events, like Marc and his death? Why hadn’t Abby ever brought it up when we talked?
Did I know Trent from somewhere else? If so, where? And how? But more importantly, why did my entire body come to life around him? And how did Jaxon fit in to all of this? What did he know that he refused to tell me?
Questions I couldn’t answer circled around in a never-ending loop, and my head spun with the stress of trying to figure it all out. I couldn’t lay here any longer. If I didn’t do something, I really was going to go crazy.
I sat up and looked around my room. There wasn’t much homework to do considering the school year was nearly over. Reading didn’t seem all that exciting, either. My only other option was to work on all those pictures.
I heaved myself off my bed and trudged into the office. At least this task was repetitive enough that I lost myself in it, my thoughts peacefully silent. But I was still more determined than ever to finish this puzzle and put all the pieces together—I needed to know who Trent was and why I was so drawn to him.
As soon as I was in the office, my phone buzzed. I pulled it from my pocket and scowled when I saw who had texted me.
Jaxon: WE REALLY NEED TO TALK.
I glared at my phone screen as if he could magically see me and know I didn’t want to hear from him.
Me: WHY? GOT MORE LIES TO TELL ME?
My hands trembled with growing anger, and I set my phone on the desk before I became tempted to throw it across the room. Grabbing a stack of pictures from the box, I placed one face down on the scanner and hit the button.
My phone buzzed and vibrated across the desk. Once. Twice. Three times… I rolled my eyes and snatched my phone.
Jaxon: I’M SORRY I LIED TO YOU.
Jaxon: THIS WHOLE THING IS A LOT MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU REALIZE.
Jaxon: PLEASE, CHLOE. I NEED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS.
I sighed, my shoulders slumping. Considering Trent had completely ignored me when I mentioned his brother, and I was always so rattled when I was near him, to the point I couldn’t think clearly, Jaxon might be my only option to get any answers.
Me: FINE. BOOKSTORE. WEDNESDAY. 4:30.
Then I turned off my phone.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Field Trip
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, I FOUND MYSELF SITTING on the couch in the alcove of the bookstore waiting for Jaxon. Normally, he was here before me, but apparently, he was running late. I scrolled through social media on my phone to pass the time when a message appeared.
Jaxon: MEET ME OUTSIDE.
I twisted around to see if he was here and messing
