~Leo
The water was cold against my bare feet when I stepped in, although it was the least of my concerns. I had been working all week trying to fix up the dock, and now that there was no longer a hole in the middle, it needed be returned to the water where it belonged. The only issue was that this thing is fucking heavy, even with two people dragging it across the ground.
By the time I had waded far enough into the lake for the water to reach about mid-calf - thank god I wore shorts today - the dock was in position. I held it there while Tony secured it down to guarantee it won't go floating away on us after all our hard work fixing it.
I'm sure the hole that had been in the dock wasn't too bad, but considering we had customers that would be using this dock every day that we'll be open this summer, it did sort of need to be fixed. We didn't want someone using that against us, or, in the worst case scenario, someone actually getting hurt because of it.
I was just standing there, still in the water, admiring my handiwork, when Tony spoke from the shore behind me. "Can I help you?"
I turned, wondering why Mandy would have sent a customer back here when she was more than capable of handling whatever it was, probably. However, instead of a customer, I saw Kimmy marching over.
What was she doing here? Out of all people, I definitely wouldn't have expected the girl who was practically my own little sister to just drop by for a friendly visit, not that I was complaining.
Climbing onto to the dock and out of the water, I waved off Tony. She wasn't a customer. "Kimmy," I said cheerfully. "Hey. What brings you by?"
She didn't look too excited to see me though, which didn't seem to fit the whole friendly visit thing I had been thinking. "Jacks tried calling you."
"My phone's inside... Wait, why?"
She shrugged. "Josh was having some sort of breakdown over a woman that Jacks almost punched. Umm... Suzanne? I don't really know the whole story. I was told to inform you that some shit is going down. So here I am."
Oh that does it. I stormed past Kimmy and through the backdoor of the storefront. I had come in here with the intention of grabbing my shoes and whatever else I needed before going with her - because obviously I wasn't going to stay here if Suzanne was back and bothering Josh - but I stopped short when I saw Mandy leaning on the front desk with the store's phone to her ear.
She only barely glanced at me before continuing her conversation. I must really have been in a mood because just seeing her do that made something in me snap.
"That better be a fucking customer," I practically hissed.
As I continued past her, I heard her mutter a quiet "gotta go" before slowly hanging up the phone. Seems like I finally figured out how to get her to stop. Too bad I hated getting mad like that. Maybe that was why she listened this time - I've never used that kind of tone with her before.
I didn't think too much further about it, focusing instead on finding my shoes, phone, and keys so that I could go. There are few times that I would feel comfortable enough to leave the store during business hours, and Suzanne showing up to harass my husband was definitely one of those times.
As I walked - or kinda ran, same thing - back out into the front of the store, Mandy had, thankfully, not picked up the phone again. Instead, she was whispering quietly to Tony who stood next to her. Their conversation stopped as soon as I entered, not that I really cared about them.
It was Kimmy I did care about at the moment. She was at the other end of the shop, looking at some of our products on the shelves - the inflatable inner tubes to be exact.
When she noticed me, she started heading over. I took those few seconds to turn to my employees again. "Tony's in charge," I started, ignoring Mandy's disbelieving look. "I'll try to come back this afternoon. No guarantees."
I didn't give them any time for discussion, as the next moment I was heading for the door, Kimmy following behind me. Time to go settle this issue once and for all.
~Kyle
I was just about done picking through my rather bland breakfast when the door opened. I didn't look up, expecting another nurse, maybe here to take away the tray or check that I was still awake and didn't slip back into a coma.
"Kyle."
My head snapped up at the sound of his voice and I smiled when I saw him. "Dad. Hi." He, unlike Freddy and Colton yesterday, looked like ten years had passed since the last time I could remember him. He looked old. Looking past him, I watched the door close, no one else coming in.
"It's really good to see you awake, Kyle," he said, sitting down in the chair next to my bed.
I pushed away my mostly empty plate. "Is Mom not coming?" He gave me a weird look, like he didn't know how to tell me something I should know. "I guess if I remembered things, I'd know the answer to that," I added softly, noticing the lack of a wedding band on his finger. Maybe I didn't want to know.
He just nodded, so I changed the topic. "So what actually happened to me? I didn't think to ask last night." Mostly because I was so confused by all the information that was given to me that it had almost been overwhelming.
Dad gave me a smile - one that I recognized as almost pride. "You were protecting your son," he said simply.
I asked the question hoping for an answer, but what I got instead were so many more questions. Mainly: "I have a son?"
He hesitated. "And... a daughter. No one told you this yesterday?"
I shook my head. Why didn't they? Did they think it would have been too much? I mean, it might have been. But still... not telling me that I had children? Unless they didn't want me to know. But why wouldn't they?
"I don't even know who I'm actually married to," I admitted after a moment.
He nodded. "Your brother told me about that whole debacle last night. I did come by here, after I heard you had woken up, but you had fallen back to sleep before I arrived. Anyway, it is all three of them - wonderful boys, without a doubt."
So it was true. As weird as it sounded, it was true.
"You..." I started. "You said I was protecting my son. What was I protecting him from?"
"That's a really long story," he said. I waited for him to tell it. Or at least, the short version. "Logan - your son - was kidnapped. You brought him home."
I sighed, leaning back against the pillows behind me. Again, that was a lot to process all at once. I didn't even know where to begin. Dad seemed to figure that I needed a moment to think about it all and didn't say anything else, which I was grateful for.
But then the realization struck me. "Logan, that's his name, right?" Dad nodded. "And Ashley?"
He smiled so widely, obviously he thought I was actually remembering something. "You remember? That's your daughter."
I shook my head and the smile fell off his face immediately. "No, uh, what's-his-face said those two names together. Jackson, I think."
"You really aren't remembering any of it?"
I shook my head again. "I'm so confused right now, Dad, I-"
I stopped when the door opened, expecting one of the men who I apparently married. Instead, however, a nurse walked in.
He looked at me with a smile when he noticed me looking at him. "Morning, Kyle. How we feeling today?"
I rolled my eyes at his cheerfulness. "Fine, except I can't even remember my own children."
The nurse gave me a sympathetic look while he went over to check the machine that was letting the room know exactly how fast my heart was beating at any given moment. "Everything looks to be good," he said, completely ignoring my memory problems. "You might even get to go home tomorrow."
He said it like it was a good thing, but I didn't feel like it was. Obviously I didn't live with my parents anymore. I had husbands, and kids. I had to be living with them, right? The only problem was that I didn't know them at all.
When the nurse finally left the room, I asked my dad, "Can I stay with you, when I get out of here?"
He looked a bit uncomfortable at me asking, like I should know something I don't. "You don't want to go your home?" he asked, not actually answering my question.
I shrugged. "What home? I don't know them, Dad. You have no idea what it's like for me right now. I'm so confused, about everything. I know I loved them, or whatever, but I can't remember those feelings right now. And I'd rather not go to a house filled with people - and children - who know me so well when I can't currently remember anything about them. Please, Dad."
He gave a soft sigh. "Alright. We'll make it work."
~Josh
This was one of the worst days of my life. Almost as bad as the days Logan was missing and when Kyle was in a coma. I don't think anything could top those days, although this was close. Too close. I needed her to go. I needed her to never come back into my life again. Maybe then I'd be okay, everything would be okay.
I felt completely unprofessional right now. Here I was, sitting in the back room of the office - trying not to cry - while we were open and patients were scheduled for appointments today. I'm sure I was putting unnecessary stress on Debby because of this whole situation, but I couldn't seem to pull myself together.
Not even Jackson being here with me was helping. I was leaning into him, my face pressed against his shoulder as he gently rubbed my back. This wasn't right. I shouldn't be feeling like this. I shouldn't be reduced to panic attacks because someone wanted to talk to me. I knew how stupid it was - how stupid I was being - but I couldn't stop myself from reacting like this.
I wanted everything to be okay again. I wanted Kyle to be home and remembering things. I wanted Suzanne and Paul and them to have never entered our lives. I wanted Logan not to be afraid to go to sleep at night. I wanted the life we had two months ago, before everything went wrong.
The door opened and I didn't bother moving. It had to be Debby, probably here to say a patient showed up and I needed to do my job. Except it wasn't her voice that spoke.
"How you doing, love?"
Now I looked. Leo was standing in the doorway, slightly blurry because my glasses had somehow disappeared from my face, and not making a move to come over to us just yet. I was glad. I didn't want to be crowded, even if it was by the men I love.
I shook my head, ignoring his question. I didn't want to talk about my feelings. "Is she still out there?" I didn't even have to ask why he was here first. Of course he would know what what was happening.
"No. Didn't see her. Thank god, too, or else I probably would have done something I would later regret when I found myself in a jail cell."
Jackson gave a soft chuckle. "That's one of the reasons I'm back here. I couldn't look at her."
I let out a sigh of relief as I let myself fall back into Jackson's arms. She was gone. I had a feeling she wasn't going to stay gone, but for now she was, and that's all I could ask for.
Just then, Jackson's phone started ringing. I backed out of his hold once again, this time so that he could answer it.
"Hey, Darren," he spoke into the phone. "Everything alright?"
Kyle's dad. I hope nothing bad happened. Although the hospital should have called us if something did. Could he have gotten some memories back?
Jackson continued. "Yeah, I was headed there. Something came up." He paused. "If that's what he wants, and it's okay with you and-" Another pause. "No, it's fine. I'll let them know. Thanks."
When he hung up the phone, none of us said anything for a moment. Finally Jackson explained. "Kyle is getting released tomorrow and he asked to stay with Darren rather than come home with us."
My mouth dropped open. I mean, I understood why Kyle would want to be with someone he remembers, but does he know about everything else?
Leo asked the question before I could. "What about Tina?"
Jackson shrugged. "I don't know. He just said he'll make it work somehow."
Tina was going to be an issue. She was the woman Darren recently moved in with - the first woman since Kyle's mom left them all those years ago. Kyle and Tina didn't exactly have the best relationship with each other, mostly they couldn't stand each other. It had nothing to do with Kyle being gay, it was just their personalities clashing. But she made Darren happy, so Kyle never said anything. This was going to be interesting.
I looked at both of them, their being here finally having set it. "Why are you guys here?" I asked, knowing the answer already, so I didn't let them say anything. "I'm fine, really. I need to get back to work anyway. You don't have to stay."
It took me another five minutes to actually convince them that I was fine. When they left, I made sure to apologize to Kimmy who had been sitting in the waiting room. It wasn't fair that she had to be dragged into all this when she only came for a visit.
We'd get everything sorted out eventually. Kyle would come home to us and Suzanne will leave us alone. The only thing we could do now was to hope for it to happen.