I nod and swallow around the knot in my throat caused by all those old feelings bubbling up from my chest.
“The night of junior prom was our first time,” Sage states.
“Yes, it was.”
“I was so nervous. But then afterward, it felt so right and easy all the other times.”
“It did,” I agree as I blink away the tears clouding my vision since I’m busy driving. Now is not the time to think about all those sweet times we were together. Times when I thought Sage loved me as much as I loved him and that he always would.
“We went to the beach in August,” Sage says excitedly. “That was after graduation, and I just remembered it!”
“Good, that’s good,” I tell him with a forced smile in his direction. His gaze is fixed straight ahead, but I can tell he’s not seeing the cars in front of us but the past.
“It was just you and me staying in an oceanfront hotel room. Our parents finally caved and let us go on our own since you were getting ready to go off to college. It was the best week of my life…”
“Mine too,” I agree with a genuine smile when I recall those lazy mornings, sleeping in late, wrapped up in Sage’s arms with the balcony door open to let the ocean breeze in. It felt like we were the only two people in the world. I thought…well, I thought it was so perfect and romantic that he was going to ask me to marry him. But he didn’t. Instead, when we came home, Sage broke up with me.
“Shit!” Sage shouts suddenly, and I cringe, thinking he’s remembered that part too. Instead, he says, “That’s all I can remember.”
“You’re making progress. That’s what’s important,” I assure him.
“Yeah, I guess so,” he says, and from the corner of my eye I see him reach up to rub his fingers at his temple before closing his eyes. “Fuck, I’m tired.”
“Take a nap. The doctor’s release paperwork said we don’t need to wake you every hour. I’ll let you know when we’re home.”
“Thanks, baby,” Sage says as he rests his head against the window.
Sage
“Does any of this look familiar?” Tal asks as he shows me around what is apparently our house.
“How long have we lived here?” I ask as I take in the living room furniture and electronics, the kitchen with all of the top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances. It could be anyone’s house, as far as I can tell, but apparently, it’s mine.
“About four years,” my twin answers.
“It’s okay if you don’t remember,” Mom says. “Maybe you should try your bedroom.” She steers me by my shoulders in that direction. “Your furniture from home and all your trophies from even high school are in there.”
“Okay,” I agree as I step into the dark room and flip on the light.
There are long, heavy, gray curtains that keep out the sunlight, a plain green and gray comforter, a few clothes on the floor – mostly athletic shorts, and then a case full of trophies. “Those I remember,” I tell her as I go over and read some of the dates on the inscriptions. The biggest ones are recent and unfamiliar, but most are ones I got in middle and high school wrestling tournaments. Dad made Tal and I focus on our ground game even back then because he knew we would be naturals like him at sparring.
I then go over to open the closet door and flip on the light. It’s only half full of clothes, but there is a ton of exercise equipment on the floor – heavy dumbbells, jump ropes, boxing gloves, a medicine ball, and there’s a pullup bar attached to the inside of the closet door. Looking at all that shit just makes me dog ass tired.
“I’m gonna take a shower and get cleaned up,” I tell my mom so that she’ll give me some privacy.
“Of course. I’ll be right outside if you need anything,” she says.
“I’m fine, really, other than missing a few memories. You all can stop babying me.”
“It may seem like it’s not much to you, but brain injuries are dangerous, Sage,” she says. “You have to be careful.”
“I will be. All I’m going to do for the next few days is rest.”
“Good. You’ve earned it,” she says with a small smile before she finally leaves.
It takes searching through several drawers in the dresser before I find where I keep my boxer briefs and a pair of pajama pants since I have company in the living room. My fingers hit something small and hard on the far side of the pajama drawer. It’s a velvet box. I pull it out to get a better look and realize it’s a jewelry box. Popping it open, I find a sparkling diamond solitaire inside. It’s not huge, but it’s beautiful and clear, nearly perfect.
Was I planning to propose to Eden? I don’t remember any of that, but I do recall shopping for a ring, spending hours in the store with the jeweler who explained all about the different cuts and shit, looking through tons of loose diamonds to find the one I thought Eden would love. I didn’t have a ton of money saved to spend, but I didn’t think she would want some huge, massive rock on her delicate hand…
That seemed like so long ago. I couldn’t wait to ask her, so did I propose, and Eden said no? Fuck. That sucks to even think. I close the ring box and slide it back under my pajama bottoms in the drawer until more memories come back to me. I don’t think I could handle asking Eden and hearing that she turned me down.
The shower is at least familiar, and the warm spray of the water feels good. I close my eyes and lather up my hair with the same boring shampoo I’ve always used, so the scent has me feeling more alert. The same goes for
