Keenan opened his mouth to say something, but Fiona got there first, holding out her hand. “Give me my phone, I’m calling Maya.”
“She was here earlier.” The cashier walked up to us with a curious expression on her face as I handed the phone to Fiona, not knowing what else to do. “Asked if I’d seen him.”
“Who’s Maya?” I said.
“Maya’s your sister.” Fiona patted my arm. “She’s your sister, Ash.”
“She showed me your photo,” the cashier continued. “Gave me her number and twenty bucks. Said I should call right away if you showed up, so I did when you were in the bathroom. What’s going on?”
“You remember Maya, don’t you?” Fiona said, ignoring the question as I shook my head.
“This is bull,” Keenan barked, his voice loud and forceful, making the three of us flinch in unison. “You’re so full of it, Ash. You always were, even before Celine—”
“Stop it, Keenan,” Fiona snapped. “Can’t you see something’s wrong with him?”
“Something’s wrong, all right. He’s back, and I told you if—”
The door opened again, and another woman rushed in, her head on a swivel, panicked eyes darting around the place. As soon as she saw me, her hands flew to her mouth, and her face crumbled. She ran over and threw her arms around my waist as her head thudded into my chest.
“Ash!” she said, trembling as she squeezed tight. “Oh, God, Ash. I can’t believe it!”
I wanted to argue my name was Brad, but with it now being four against one, the effort seemed pointless. Besides, I had no idea how else to respond to her emotional outburst, and so I didn’t speak. Instead, I gently pushed her away and stepped back, taking in her jaw-length raven hair, and watery, piercing gray eyes she now searched my face with, making me feel like she was somehow peering into my soul. This was Maya? And she was my sister? Christ, how I wanted to remember her. I scoured every part of my brain for the slightest trace, but found only a deep, dark void where everything about my past should have been.
“Talk to me,” she whispered, and her husky tones were definitely the ones I’d heard earlier on the phone. No question. This was the woman I’d spoken to.
“I think there’s something wrong with him,” Fiona said quietly. “Why doesn’t he recognize any of us? It’s like he has amnesia or something.”
“Amnesia?” Maya said, turning her head but keeping her eyes on me. “Ash, what happened to you?”
“I don’t know who I am,” I said, my newly found voice rising along with the alarm growing inside me. All these people surrounding me, telling me my name was Ash, not Brad, and that Maya and I were related... It made me feel cornered. Hands and voice shaking, I said, “I don’t know who I am. I don’t know who you are. I don’t know—”
“I’m still calling bullshit,” Keenan said. “It’s an act.”
“Why are you even here?” Maya threw him a disgusted look before turning her attention back to me, her face softening. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t remember.” It came out way more forcefully than I’d intended, and she recoiled a little, making me want to kick myself. If she knew me, maybe she could help. Her and Fiona’s concern felt genuine, not like Keenan, who stared at me now as if he’d be happy to set me on fire, providing he’d doused me with an accelerant first to make sure he finished the job.
“But you called me,” Maya said. “You dialed my cell.”
“The numbers kept running through my mind,” I said quietly. “I didn’t know why.”
“Go to a hospital,” Fiona said. “Seriously, he needs to get checked out.”
“I will. I’ll get him to a doctor.” Maya grabbed my hand, her skin soft and warm. As I mumbled a thank-you to her she handed the cashier what looked like a few bucks before pushing me to the exit.
“Let me know how it goes,” Fiona called over, at the same time as Keenan shouted, “It’s still a pile of bullshit.”
The door slammed shut behind us. Maya looked at me, took two steps, turned around again and pointed a finger at me, her concern changing to something else, but I couldn’t quite tell what it was. Anger? Disappointment?
“Are you faking it?” she said. “Pretending not to know who you are? Who I am?”
“No—”
“Is this because of Keenan or something? Or because I found you, and you’re going to leave again? If so, you can stop now, because it’s not funny.”
I had zero clue what she was talking about. What did she mean when she said she’d found me, and why did she think I’d leave when I’d just arrived? “I’m not faking it. I promise.”
Maya threw a glance over my shoulder and pulled a face. “We’d better go.”
“Go where?”
“Home. To our house.”
I stepped away from her. “But I don’t know you. And why did you give the cashier money?”
“Because I asked her to call me if you went back to the store. I was desperate,” Maya said, pulling her phone from her pocket. “And you do know me. I’ll prove it to you. I’ve got photos of us, right here, see?” She held up the screen, and I leaned forward, staring at the picture of this woman named Maya, and me. Her hair had been cut since the picture had been taken, and mine had grown, but it was definitely us, sitting on a porch of some kind, a couple of beers raised at the camera. “That was taken at the house. In Newdale. Where you lived for over half your life. Please, Ash. Come with me so I can show you, and before Keenan comes outside and starts up again. We can do without his stupidity.”
I glanced through the window. He and Fiona stood by the row of fridges, and Keenan had what looked like two six-packs of beer under
