Chapter 1

My nemesis had "lost his memory" in a car accident.

He saw me. His brow creased. The blank look was measured to the inch.

"Who... are you?"

I turned to go. A voice blew open in my head.

Baby, don't go. I'm begging you. I'll drop the act. The System won't let me.

He said, "You should go. I don't need you looking after me."

In his head: Bullshit. The tomato braised beef my baby makes. I've wanted it for thirteen years.

He said, "I don't remember you."

I actually got that out of my mouth?! Junior year she wrote some other guy a love letter and I took it. She chased me down three hallways with a broom. And I said I don't remember?!

I didn't change my face. I placed the call right in front of him.

"Mr. Adler? That date you mentioned. I'm in."

He shot upright. His pupils blew.

?!?!

Out loud: "...Who did you call?"

I smiled. "You're the one with no memory. What, jealous?"

Callum Reed had lost his memory.

The call came while I was stitching a patient. My hands didn't so much as twitch.

A nurse leaned in. "Dr. Ward. ER just took a car accident. Nothing serious. He's fuzzy, and he can't give us a family number. They went through his phone. You're the first emergency contact. You should come look."

I peeled my gloves off and went out.

First emergency contact: Lena Ward.

I didn't even know when he'd put that in.

I pushed open the door to observation. Callum was on the bed. Gauze at his temple. A rip in the suit jacket. A little wrecked. That face still looked like it needed a slap.

Especially when he saw me. Brow creased. A blank look, measured to the inch.

"You are...?"

My hand stayed on the handle. I stopped.

We had known each other twenty-eight years. Since we fought over gold stars in kindergarten.

He took class president from me. I tore up the form that would have skipped him past the exam. At his company gala last year, in front of two thousand people, he said if I died single, I had it coming.

Now he was asking who I was.

I opened my mouth to curse him out. A voice blew open in my head.

Not through my ears. Right in the meat of my brain. Loud. Wrecked. A sob pressed under it.

She's here, she's here, she's here. Hold, Callum. Stage one, blank. Stage two, weak. When she walks in, three words. Who are you.

...Why isn't she talking? The playbook says this is when her eyes go red and she throws herself at me!

I looked down at the chart in my hand. Looked up at the man on the bed. Innocent face. Unfocused eyes.

Mild concussion. One night of observation.

I walked over, leaned down, and looked him in the eye. One word at a time.

"Callum. I'm Lena."

His pupils slipped. He shook his head. "No idea."

The voice roared.

I actually got that out?! Junior year she wrote some other guy a love letter and I took it. She chased me down three hallways with a broom. And I said no idea?!

Hold. You have no memory. A man with no memory stays calm.

I straightened. Face flat.

"Oh. No idea. Perfect. Then I don't remember you either. Pay your own bill. Goodbye."

I turned and walked.

Behind me, thin as a sick man: "Wait— Miss. Wait."

Fireworks in his head.

She left?! She actually left?! Where is stage three, she can't bear it and stays to look after me?! This garbage playbook screwed me!

I stopped in the doorway. I didn't look back. "Something else?"

He was quiet for two seconds. When he spoke, the voice was light as a feather. Measured just right.

"I can't remember anyone. Only you..." He paused. "Looking at you, you feel familiar. I don't know why."

Observation went still.

Said to anyone who didn't know, that line would have landed.

Too bad I could hear the monologue, looping at a scream.

It worked! Playbook rule one. The amnesiac gets attached to the only person who feels familiar. She froze. She actually froze. Lena Ward, so this day came for you too!

I turned, slow.

Callum was against the head of the bed. Morning light on his face. The shadow of his lashes ran long. That look was so fragile... forget it. I got goosebumps just lining the picture up.

I looked at him, and I smiled.

"Fine," I said. "Since Mr. Reed lost his memory and nobody's looking after him—"

His eyes lit.

"—then he can figure it out himself."

I opened the door and walked out through the noise in his head, which had gone to stone.

Lena!!!

You have no heart! You're a doctor! How do you walk out and not save him!

...But she smiled. Did she just smile at me?

I'm finished. The second she smiles, I think I lose this round.