Asher (Ashes & Embers 6)

She looks out toward the edge of where she fell, and I want to turn her head away. Not let her remember that or even think about it. “That makes sense,” she says. “I thought I’d feel scared to be here, but I don’t. I feel peaceful.”

I touch her cheek and turn her face to mine so I can kiss her.

“My mind is blown with all this,” I say. “Do you remember when we first met? Your sister? Kenzi? Do you remember everything?” I have a million questions.

She bobs her head up and down. “Yes. I remember being a little girl. I remember getting pregnant and getting married. I remember the band and the travel. I remember Sydni being a bitch. I remember all the times we were here. I remember moving into our house. I think it’s all there. I don’t know how, but somehow it’s all back. I wasn’t sure what to do. My head was spinning. I probably should’ve called you and waited for you before jumping in the car. I really wasn’t thinking at all. I sort of felt like I was sleep walking.”

“As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters. Do you remember the past year? Do you remember painting and new Teddy? Us getting engaged again? Or is all of that gone?”

“No, I remember all that. I felt confused at first. Like someone was trying to get in my head, if that makes sense? And when I looked in the mirror, I was scared. I like my nose, though.” She smiles and sits up to look into my eyes. “It was almost like there were two of me, and then they merged together. It felt freaky, Ash. But I feel good now. Whole. Content. Just me.”

Jesus. This is crazy.

“Do you think I need to go to the doctor?” She rubs her hand across her forehead.

“I’m sure you’re fine, but we’ll call first thing in the morning. Your entire team is going to want to see you.”

She frowns. “I’m not looking forward to that.”

“I’m so fuckin’ happy right now, baby.” I grab her face in my hands and kiss her hard. “We should go home. I rode the bike up here, and it’ll be dark soon. I just want to get you home.”

“If it’s okay, I want to see Kenzi and Tor. And our grandbaby.”

I can’t even imagine how Kenzi is going to feel when she finds out Ember has her memory back. She and Tor will be ecstatic.

“Of course. They’re going to go crazy.”

She takes the key out of the box and puts it back around her neck. “Can we take the memory box? I really want all our things home with us.”

“Hell, yeah.” I smile as she puts all the items back in the box and closes it up.

Hand-in-hand, we walk back down the mountain, both of us quiet, absorbing, letting the bad memories fade. Maybe we’ll come back here again to watch the clouds and listen to the water.

We keep stealing glances at each other, smiling, squeezing our hands tighter. I want to keep kissing her and talking to her. It feels strange—even though she’s been here with me for over a year, knowing she remembers me now feels different in a way I can’t even put into words or make sense of in my head.

“Ride home with me,” I say when we reach the area where her car and my bike are parked.

“What about my car?”

“We’ll come back for it tomorrow. I don’t even care if it gets towed. All I know is, we’re going home together.”

She nods and flashes me her playful smile. “Did you get the ice cream?”

I put my arm around her waist and pull her against me, our bodies fitting perfectly together, and kiss her hungrily. “Damn right, I did, baby. Now let’s go home.”

Chapter Fifty-Eight

We have no idea exactly what happened to bring Ember’s memories back.

Was it all the prayers and wishes?

Was it the never-ending hope?

Was it a miracle?

Was it just the natural course of her brain healing?

No clue.

We’ll probably never know, but I like to think it was a combination of all those things.

Last week, Ember spent a day at the hospital getting tested and interviewed. Before we left, the staff gave her a big gift basket as a sort of congrats-for-getting-your-memory-back present.

Earlier today, we found out all her tests were normal. We celebrated over lunch with Tor and Kenzi, and now we’re celebrating alone with S’mores sundaes.

I was more relieved than I let on about the test results. I’ve been lying awake every night, watching Ember sleep, worried she’d wake up and the memories would be gone again. If that happened, I knew we’d still be okay, but there’s something extra special about us remembering all our time together. Remembering all our little inside jokes and things that happened when we were in high school. Or something as silly as eating our favorite ice cream together.