Forget Me Not

“I’m pissed at myself too, is that what you want to hear? I chose to take that anger out on her, sue me.” He rubs his forehead before letting his hand fall. “I hate myself for doing this to us, but she had no business showing up here.”

“Fair. But…” I contemplate not sharing what she told me. Fuck it. “She said you love her.”

“Bullshit.”

My eyes widen at the thought of him not believing what I said. “When have I ever lied to you?”

“I didn’t say you lied. It’s bullshit that I said I loved her,” he explains.

“How would you know?” I snap and hurt flickers over his face.

I expect him to snap back at me, but his shoulders deflate and the apology sits on the tip of my tongue. “That was unnecessary.”

I’m about to apologize when Wren walks through the door. He looks surprised to see me. “Morning, sunshines. Did you… stay the whole night? Or did you leave?” He nods at me and I shake my head.

“I…I stayed.”

Wren doesn’t even try to hide the smile from creeping onto his face. “Is that so?” He’s almost giddy and I roll my eyes at his ongoing Get Bennett and Olivia Back Together campaign.

“I need some coffee.” My tone is even, almost deadpan and Bennett chuckles despite the tension between us before Wren walked in.

“Still not a morning person, huh?” he asks.

“There’s a coffee cart down the hall and to the left,” Wren tells me. “They just opened for the day.”

I nod. “Do you want anything?” I ask Bennett. “Can he have anything?” I ask Wren, remembering his condition and Wren shakes his head.

“Not from there. A nurse will bring him something in a bit.” He pulls the clipboard from the foot of Bennett’s bed and begins to flip through it.

“Take my wallet,” Bennett says and I scrunch my nose at his need to always take care of me.

“What?”

“You never have cash on you and I do,” he says as if it’s the most obvious answer.

“It’s 2019, they take cards,” I argue as a way to say, I don’t need you.

“Actually, they don’t,” Wren adds, “but the one downstairs does.”

“I’ll go to the one downstairs, then,” I tell him before I’m out of the room without another word.

I don’t need Bennett thinking I need him to take care of me. Call me stubborn, but I don’t need to be thinking it either.

I’ve been gone ten minutes, but it’s obvious the air inside Bennett’s room has shifted when I return. It’s tense, like I could slice through it with a knife. My eyes shift back and forth between Bennett and Wren as I try to figure out what it is they’re keeping from me. “What?”

“She’s not going to go for it,” Bennett says. His tone is sad and I avoid his piercing green eyes that are full of anguish as I turn my gaze to Wren.

“I’m not going to go for what?”

Wren shifts back and forth guiltily before he pulls his glasses from his face and stares at me.

“Ben, shouldn’t be alone right now and I think for now…Bennett needs to move back in with you.”

“Excuse me?” I choke out. My skin prickles at the idea and I can’t pinpoint what exact emotion my body is responding to.

“Normalcy, Liv. He needs it and it helps with memory restoration.”

He cannot be serious. We’re going through a divorce! How is living together “normalcy?” “Living with me isn’t his current normalcy. He lives alone or with …”