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“No problem. Nothing’s been started yet anyway.” I sat down at the island and Carter grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and sat down beside me. Uh oh. I could feel the “talk” coming on after all.

  “You told me you love me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Why? I mean, what made you say that? Did you remember?”

  “No, not really. It’s hard to explain. I was looking at you and I couldn’t hold back the words. I could feel that I love you. Do you know what I mean?”

  He shook his head. “Are you saying you don’t know why you love me you just do?”

  That was it in a nutshell, but it didn’t sound quite right. I didn’t know what would sound right though, so I just shrugged.

  “Do you feel bad about the sex?” Why did he have to ask that question? I had tried to put the sex out of my mind for the last half hour, but I had done a pretty poor job of it.

  “I don’t feel bad; I’m just thinking maybe we should have waited.” He just looked at me. “Like you said.” I had to add that because he had been right. I wasn’t ready. But damn, it had felt good.

  He nodded to me, but he looked disappointed. I wished I could take the last couple of hours back, to before I demanded a kumquat, but the only way that would happen without a time machine was with amnesia, and I already had that.

  “I’m not sorry about it, Carter.” I reached out to touch his hand and he turned his over and captured mine before I could move it.

  “I’m not sorry, either.” We sat there again, not talking but connected. It felt good.

  “Do you want a glass of wine?” I figured some wine might loosen us up with the added bonus of immunizing me against my mother’s visit.

  “That sounds good. Red or white?”

  “White. I’ll get the glasses.” He grabbed a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator while I went over to the cabinet and pulled out two glasses. I looked at the label on the bottle before he opened it. Good choice. I stood there while he opened the bottle and poured us each a healthy glass. I raised my drink to toast.

  “To getting my memory back.”

  We clinked and Carter added, “And to surviving Monique for a week.”

  I was surprised that he knew the name of my mother’s cat. “Do you know Monique?”

  “Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time she has stayed with us.” I raised my brow and he shook his head. “I’ll fill you in later.”

  I nodded and took a sip. I was about to sit back down but Carter put a hand on my lower back and propelled me towards the living room. I sat down on the couch next to Lucy and Carter sat down next to me. It was nice and familiar, like we do this often.

  I thought now might be as good time as any to get some basic answers. “Carter, what did we do on Friday? That’s when this started. Maybe if I can retrace my steps I’ll know why I forgot everything.”

  “Well, I went to work, so I’m not sure how you spent the bulk of the day, but I do know that you went grocery shopping. I also know you posted an update about autumn vegetables on your blog because I read it while I was at work. Now that I think about it, you were a little anxious when I got home, but you said everything was fine so I took your words at face value. Do you think something happened while I was at work? I guess that could explain the edginess and the fact that you’re blocking something. Maybe you got a call from someone. I’ll go get your phone. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.” He jumped up and went to the kitchen for my phone.

  “Do you mind?” He held up the phone asking permission to snoop through my calls.

  “Help yourself; I probably won’t remember anything anyway.”

  He opened up my call log and looked through. “Hmm, nothing that I can see. You called me and Cheryl called you twice.” He set the phone on the coffee table and sat back with his wine. “Maybe you should call Cheryl and ask her if she can remember what you talked about on Friday.”

  That sounded like a good idea, and was just about to tell him so when the doorbell rang and Lucy jumped up barking. Crap. Mom was here with her odious cat. I looked over at Carter as I got up and he gave me an unenthusiastic look. I was glad I wasn’t the only one feeling miserable about what was sure to be an awful undertaking.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The doorbell rang again just as I was peeking through the peephole. Mom stood out there looking impatient and bothered and for a split second I wished I could just pretend we weren’t here. Unfortunately, I had agreed to cat sit, so there was no getting out of it.

  I looked over at Lucy on the couch with Carter. She was still barking but she wasn’t at the door. I think she may be psychic. It’s like she knew that my mom was out there with Monique.

  I opened the door and my mother came breezing in hauling the cat crate and a huge bag. It looked like a diaper bag, but it was obviously stuffed with things I would be required to use with Monique.

  “Hi Mom. How was your drive?”

  “Hi honey. It was long as usual. I have to hurry if I’m going to make it to the airport on time. Oh, hello Carter.” Mom gave a smile as Carter stood up. “Here is her bag of toys and food, and I brought her bed, it’s still outside in my car.” She gave me a look that said “go out and get it” but Carter jumped in.

  “I’ll go get the bed, Gloria.” He shot out the door leaving me with my mother.

  “Your face looks worse than it did the other day. You need more concealer.” I gnashed my teeth to avoid saying anything I might regret. “Okay Justine, I have the list of instructions for her tucked into the bag. The most important thing is to make sure she doesn’t get outside.”

  “You know I have a doggy door, right?”

  “Well, you’ll just have to keep it closed then, won’t you? And please don’t let Lucy chase her around the house, she’s not as young as she used to be.” This woman had balls. She was expecting me to inconvenience my baby so that her cat would be comfortable? Lucy was old too, and she couldn’t hold her bladder very long. Was I supposed to take her out every half hour? Carter’s idea of boarding Monique was sounding better and better.

  She leaned down to unlock the crate and Monique strutted out like she owned the place. Lucy, who was no longer barking, had retreated to the far side of the couch, as if she knew what was coming. “Here you go baby, Justine will take care of you while Mommy’s gone. I’ll be back soon.” She bent down and gave the cat a kiss before straightening up and giving me an awkward hug. “I’ll be back on Sunday. Take good care of my baby,”

  Why didn’t she ever treat me the way she treats her cat? Why did I even care anymore? She was making her way back to the door when Carter came back in carrying a hideous rhinestone bedazzled, zebra-striped cat bed.

  “Oh, are you leaving already?” He tried to make his voice sound disappointed but it didn’t work. I could hear the relief in every word. I’d be relieved, too, if it weren’t for the fact that she was leaving behind a cat that was a real pain in the butt.

  “Oh, well, I’ve got to get to the airport; you know how I hate all this city traffic. I’ll see you on Sunday. Bye bye.” She walked out the door while we stood there silently. What the fudge just happened here? Gloria was in and out in less than five minutes and she didn’t even ask how I was. That sucked. She was my mom even if she was self-centered. I looked over to Carter, still standing next to the couch still holding the cat bed.

  “I guess that went better than I was hoping. Faster anyway. She didn’t even say thank you.” He just looked back at me with sympathy. I looked down at the cat. She was licking her privates on the floor in the middle of my living room. I glanced up and saw Carter staring at her with a look of disgust on his face. I wondered what had happened with Monique before to make him dislike her. Carter loved cats and had even told me he wouldn’t mind getting one. Shoot, he loved all animals. Oh. I know that Carter loves cats!

  “Carter, you need to thank Monique.” He looked at me like I was crazy.

  “Why on earth would I need t
o thank Monique for anything?”

  “Because I was looking at you hating on her just now and I thought that she must have done something horrible to you to make you feel like that since you love cats.” I looked at him, waiting for him to understand what I was telling him but he didn’t. “I remembered you love cats. At least I think I remembered that. You do love them, right?”

  “Yeah, I do.” He smiled crookedly. “Thanks, Monique.” He put the cat bed down on the floor near the kitchen door before he walked over and pulled the bag off of my shoulder and carried it into the kitchen. I trailed behind him and noticed the dinner ingredients still set out.

  “Are you still hungry?” I asked as he put the cat bag on the table.

  “I’m starved.” He looked around before turning back to me. “Juss, your mom didn’t happen to leave some kind of cat box did she?”

  “Um, not unless it’s stuffed in the bag.” I knew it was unlikely that there was some tiny portable cat box in the bag but I walked over and started dumping the contents anyway. “Nope. Nothing here.”

  “Well, I guess I should run to the store and get something.” This was getting worse by the second.

  “All right, you do that and I’ll get started on dinner.”

  “No.” He practically yelled it at me. He just told me he was starved, so you would think he would appreciate me getting a jump on the food. “Just wait for me, okay? I won’t be gone long, I’m sure they have something at the drug store down the street.”

  “Sure. You do that and I’ll finish my wine.”

  He grabbed his keys and kissed me on the cheek before he left. It made my whole face tingle and I’m sure I was smiling like a loon until I realized I still had to cat proof the house. I was feeling resentful. All this upheaval when I’m not even myself just wasn’t fair. I went back to the living room to pick up my wineglass and saw Monique up on the couch. Lucy was nowhere to be seen, so I walked down the hall to my bedroom.

  When I looked at the bed I felt a wave of heat wash through me. I couldn’t help but remember what had happened there just a little while ago. When I saw Lucy peek out of the covers and look at me, though, all feelings of lust flew out the window, replaced with my protective motherly instincts. Monique had obviously scared her off of the couch and out of the living room altogether. I walked over and scooped her up, snuggling her under my arm and marching back into the living room to pick up my glass and carry it with me to the kitchen. After I took a big gulp I figured I might as well take Lucy out to do her business since Carter didn’t want me starting on the food.

  I was still in the backyard watching Lucy sniff around when I heard Carter tap on the door from the inside. He was holding a cat box under one arm and a bag of kitty litter in his hand.

  “Do you want it in the laundry room again?” he asked while motioning to the door.

  “Oh yeah. I guess that’s the best place, out of the way and all that.” I let him take care of that while I went to Monique’s bag of crap. I pulled out her food and her bowls and fixed her up. The last time I watched her I had to put her dishes up on my buffet table so that Lucy wouldn’t eat it; I guess I had to do that again, but I just hated having the cat on my buffet. It seemed so dirty. After I was finished with that I went into the laundry room to see how Carter was doing with the kitty toilet.

  I could hear him cussing under his breath when Lucy and I walked in. It made me feel good, like he was a real person, not just the person I had been seeing since yesterday. I mean, someone can’t be sweet and helpful all the time, right?

  “Hey. Can I start dinner now?” I sure hoped so, I was getting pretty hungry and the wine on an empty stomach was making me feel sappy. I could just imagine a cozy scene like we shared earlier happening every day. Man, that would be awesome. I needed to ask Carter how much time we spent together, usually. For all I know we might do our own thing every evening. I hoped not. I much preferred my mental image of us.

  The thought of puttering around the house doing nothing was incredibly appealing. Maybe he was wearing me down, after all. I had to admit that I enjoyed spending time with him. I liked him. I loved him. I still hadn’t processed that fully. I pulled myself out of my daydream when I realized he was talking to me.

  “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  “I said, “Yes, I’m ready for dinner.” Give me a minute to clean up.”

  “Oh, okay.” I turned around and went back to the stove to turn on the pan for the rice while he washed his hands behind me.

  “Okay boss, what do you want me to do?” I looked over at the garlic that he hadn’t gotten around to chopping and pointed to it. He went to work while I pulled the bottle of wine back out of the refrigerator. He brought his pile of garlic over to the stove and stood next to me. It felt good, like we were a team. I didn’t even feel the usual nervousness that attacked me when I was around a good looking man. And seriously, Carter was possibly the hottest guy I had ever actually talked to. Oh, there was the waiter Jeff, at work, but he was gay so it didn’t really count.

  “Carter, do we spend a lot of time together?”

  “Well, I think so. We spend most evenings together, is that what you mean?”

  “Yes, but what do we do? Do we hang out around the house or what? I guess I just want to know how we spend our time.”

  He looked at me and smiled. “Yeah, we pretty much hang around the house. We aren’t lame though.” I raised my eyebrow at him. It sounded like we might be a little bit lame. “Really, we go out to eat and stuff. Sometimes we’ll have people over, too. Mostly just Cheryl and Paulo, but still, we’re not shut-ins. I think we’re pretty cool.” Says the Star Wars geek. Maybe Carter was cool, but I had never been “cool” in my life. I was slightly bookish in school and then in college I didn’t go out much until I met Cheryl. However, if I was able to land a hot guy like Carter, maybe I was cool. I suddenly remembered that I have a web show and a cookbook in the works. I am cool. I had to keep that in mind. Whatever transformation had taken place in my life in the last two years turned me into someone cool and it was great.

  “I wish I could remember.” I looked into his eyes and they were full of sadness, but also something else. I turned back to the pan and stirred in what I figured would be the last ladleful of broth. “Do you want to listen to some music?”

  “Yeah.” He went into the living room and a few seconds later I could hear “Electric Avenue” coming through the speakers. I confess a weakness for cheesy Eighties music. When Carter came back in I was singing along and dancing in front of the stove. He just smiled and started doing the Robot. He wasn’t even embarrassed. And thinking of cheese, I added a good handful of shaved parmesan to my rice. Perfect.

  “Time to eat.” Carter had grabbed a fresh bottle of wine while I plated the food and slid it across the island.

  “Mmm. This is great.” Carter gave me a thumbs up.

  I tried a bite and had to agree with him. We ate in silence for a few minutes, until my phone rang. I got up to get it out of the living room.

  “Let it ring,” Carter told me between bites.

  “It might be my mom. She probably hasn’t left yet.” I jogged to grab it but it stopped ringing before I got to it. Elisa again. Maybe Carter knew who this was.

  I walked back to my seat with the phone. “Who is Elisa?”

  “Just someone I work with. She’s glommed on to you and she thinks she’s your friend. You don’t really like her.” He used air quotes around “friend” so I could tell that he didn’t like her, but she’d already called me twice so we were at least friendly.

  “She called yesterday, too. I haven’t listened to the voicemail yet.” Carter’s face froze for a moment but almost instantly smoothed.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing important.” He went back to eating so I put my phone down wondering what his change of facial expression meant. Was he cheating on me? No, that didn’t make sense. He was too attentive, and he was trying hard to help me get my memory back. I tried to
shrug it off but something about her name was nagging at my brain. We finished the food and I stood up to grab the mousse from the refrigerator.

  Carter looked up at me and smiled when I set his down in front of him. I just about melted. All I wanted to give him a kiss, but I couldn’t make myself do it. It was still too early. I know we had just had sex a few hours ago, but this was different. Now that my mind wasn’t clouded with lust something else was filling it. Tenderness. I just smiled back and sat back down.

  My first bite of the chocolate mousse made something short circuit in my mind. Well, it was that or the Pet Shop Boys song that had just started playing. Perhaps it was a combination of both, but I knew immediately what Carter had done.

  “This is just like our first date.” His eyes widened and I knew I was right. He nodded and grabbed my hand.

  “I can’t believe it actually worked and that you remembered.” He was practically bursting at the seams.

  “I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out sooner. Monopoly? You were pulling out all the stops.” I shook my head but left my hand in his.

  “I didn’t mention the mousse; you did that all by yourself.” That’s right. I remembered craving it when I was thinking about what to serve with our food.

  “Thank you, Carter.” I leaned forward at the same time he did. We didn’t stop until we were touching noses.

  “My pleasure. I’ll recreate every day until you remember everything, if you want.” A chill went up my spine and I took a breath full of Carter. I touched my lips to his and I tasted the chocolate. I was just about to really get into it when I heard Lucy yelp from the other room. I jerked my head back and we both bolted into the living room. Lucy was cowering in the corner near the bookshelves and Monique was standing in front of her trying to look innocent. I had forgotten she was here.

  Carter reached down and picked up Lucy. I checked her for blood but she was unmarked. Lucky for Monique.

  “I don’t like this cat, Carter.”

  “Believe me, I don’t either.” He handed Lucy to me. “Stupid cat ruined our date night.”