“What are you talking about? Play along with what? What truth?” I ask in confusion.
“Tal, don’t,” Dad warns. “He needs time.” But my twin plows right on.
“Are you really going to hurt her again? Eden still hasn’t recovered from the first time you dumped her!”
“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mutter.
Before he can explain, the same doctor from last night comes in.
“I remember you. That’s a good sign, right? Can I go home now, doc?” I ask him.
“Your short-term memory, or at least your memories after the fight, do seem intact, which is a great sign. I’m cautiously optimistic that the long-term ones will return any moment now.”
“Any moment, huh?” Tal asks. “Any way to speed that process up? Like maybe being honest with him?”
“It’s best to be honest with your brother, but you shouldn’t overwhelm him with all the information from the years he’s forgotten. Give his brain time to heal, to play catch-up slowly at its own pace.”
“Got that, Tal?” Dad asks.
“Yeah, I’ve got it.”
“I’ll go ahead and order a final scan. Assuming it shows improvement with the brain swelling, I’ll get your release papers ready. But you will need to schedule an appointment with a neurologist back home first thing Monday morning.”
“We will,” my Mom assures him. “Thank you, Dr. Granberg.”
He gives her a smile and a nod. “Take care.”
“What about training?” my dad blurts out before he can leave.
“I would suggest that Sage avoid any and all types of physical exertion for at least the next few days, until he’s able to see a neurologist. There was some brain swelling and bleeding on his scans. The last thing we want is to exacerbate that.”
“Of course,” Dad replies. “Thank you.”
When the doctor leaves, Tal says, “Well, it looks like you’re finally going to get a vacation.”
“That’s fine,” I agree since I don’t exactly feel like getting in the cage or even lifting weights at the moment.
“You must feel bad,” Tal chuckles. “I don’t think you’ve missed a day working out since middle school, not even when you had an allergic reaction to those bee stings that made your face swell up twice its size.”
“I’m allergic to bees?” I ask in surprise.
“We didn’t know that either until about two years ago when you were mowing the grass and hit a yellow jacket nest,” Mom explains.
“Probably because he never went outside except to go to the gym.”
“I go outside to run,” I point out. “And to go to school.”
“Not anymore, genius,” Tal grumbles while rubbing his eyes with his fingers. “We graduated from high school eight years ago. I went to college. You didn’t.”
“Good. I don’t want to go to college,” I say with a shrug.
“Well, you didn’t. Even though you should have,” Tal says.
“Tal, leave your brother alone,” our Dad instructs. “I’ll go make sure they have all the insurance documents they need and see if we can get a neurologist referral.”
“I’ll go with you,” Mom says, leaving me and my brother alone in the room.
“Guess I should get dressed. Could you hand me my clothes…what was your name again?” I ask while pointing to the wardrobe.
Tal’s face goes slack and his color fades.
“I’m joking, jackass! Like I could forget the guy who looks just like me.”
“No, you look just like me,” he argues as he finally gets into motion, pulling my bag of clothes out and dumping them on the bed. “Well, this could be awkward. All you have are your spandex shorts. No socks, no shoes, and no shirt.”
“Shit.”
“I’ll go grab some clothes from your bag in the car,” he says.
“Thanks, man,” I tell him. “And if you see Eden, ask if I can ride home with her.”
“You sure about that?” he says before he walks out the door. “Could be an awkward four-hour drive if you suddenly get your memories back.”
“I’m sure,” I tell him. There’s no one I would rather spend every free minute with than Eden.
Chapter Eight
Eden
“I can’t wait to get home and sleep in my bed tonight,” Sage says. “I wish my parents would let you stay over.”
My fingers tighten on the steering wheel as I focus on the highway in front of me.
Slow and gradual is what his parents said about helping him get his memory back.
“Ah, Sage, you haven’t lived with your parents in years.”
“I haven’t?” he asks, genuinely surprised. “Then…ah, where do I live?”
“You have a house that you share with Tal,” I explain. “I bet that once you’re in your room with your things, you’ll start to remember more.”
“Yeah, hopefully,” he says. “There’s like this gigantic black hole in my head. When I even try to think about what’s inside of it, my head starts throbbing.”
“Then don’t do that!” I tell him. “The doctor said not to try and force things. Take it one day at a time and let the memories come back on their own.”
“Yeah, okay,” Sage agrees. “So, since I don’t live at home with my parents, does that mean you can stay over tonight?”
“Ah, let’s see what Tal thinks first,” I hedge, because it’s Tal’s house too. I don’t want to do anything he’ll be mad about. And since my heart is on the brink of getting too caught up in this memory-challenged Sage, it’s best to let someone else make those decisions for me.
“Why would Tal care?” Sage asks.
“He lives with you,” I say simply rather than try to explain that Tal and I have been hooking up for years. I don’t think Sage needs to know about that right now. He’ll think I betrayed him, when I didn’t.
“Tal won’t care. I bet he has girls over all the time,” he remarks.
“He doesn’t,” I blurt out before thinking. “I mean, he doesn’t have many girls over. He’s…picky.”
“Huh. Tal’s picky?”
“Yep.”
“Guess that explains why he didn’t want to go to prom. But, ah, prom was a long time ago, right?”
“Right.”
“You and I went together?” he asks.
