CHAPTER 3

LIAM

"What are you doing?"

"Jesus Christ!" I screamed, spinning around on the spot with my hands held in front of me in an act of self-defense.

There was no need for this over the top gesture, though. It was just Clint sneaking up behind me. He had caught me completely off guard. But in my defense, I was in the bathroom and hadn’t expected company. And any company that may have made itself known, I didn’t think would pop up out of nowhere.

"Are you doing your hair?" he asked, trying not to smirk.

"No, I'm not doing my hair," I scoffed as I pushed past him and powered out of the bathroom. Yes, I actually had been doing my hair. I just didn't want him to know it. And I was only doing it a bit, just fixing up the sides and making sure that it was all in place. As a doctor, I found that my physical appearance very easily deteriorated over the day. So every now and then, I liked to ensure that everything was still as it ought to have been. At least, that was what I was planning on telling anyone who asked.

"Yes, you were," Clint called after me, chasing me down the hallway of the hospital. "And don’t for one second think that I don't know why you're doing it, either. You're trying to look your best for—"

Without a word, I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into a nearby, empty room. As soon as he was in the room, I closed the door behind us, ensuring that we were alone.

"Speak," I demanded.

He wore a big, goofy smile on his face, and I couldn't remember a time that I had ever seen him look so happy. "You really think that I was born yesterday?”

"Will you just come out with it already so I can shoot you down, and we can get on with the day?" I knew what he was going to say, but I had chosen to play ignorance, just in case.

"You're doing it for Kate,” he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You want to look your best when you see her so that she thinks you're this drop dead gorgeous doctor or something? Tell me I'm wrong."

"Okay, you're wrong," I said with as much conviction as I could muster, which really wasn't very much. And, just to confirm this fact, Clint let out a long and very loud snort in derision of my statement.

He was one hundred percent on the money, too. Ever since Kate had woken up, I had been planning how I would get her back. Before that, even. The first and most obvious step in any seduction was to look my best, hence the attention to my hair. But that was only the first step. And considering the circumstances that surrounded her suddenly being awake, it may have also been the least important.

When they told me she had amnesia, I had first thought that I had the worst luck in the world. I saw it as a slap in the face. I was presented with a chance to redeem myself and apologize for how I had behaved, only to be put in a situation where she wouldn't even remember me.

But it didn’t take very long for me to realize the hidden benefit that this new scenario presented. If she couldn't remember me and what I had done, then I had no reason to apologize. In fact, as far as she was concerned, I was a total stranger. A handsome doctor stranger to be more precise. All I had to do was win her over again, for the first time. Something that I knew I could do.

"Is that all?" I asked Clint, who was still staring at me with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Because if it is, I have patients to attend to.”

"Wait one second,” he said, grabbing my arm. “That's not all. You can't be doing what I think you're doing? Can you be?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" I asked, deciding to keep playing dumb.

"You're going to try and pick up Kate? Under the guise that you don’t know her, and she doesn't know you?"

"Well, technically she doesn't know me," I tried, not sounding anywhere near as confident as I would have liked. I knew the ethics behind my scheme weren't exactly golden, and I wanted to try and play it off as casually as I could.

"That's not right. I don't know, Liam. There is something not quite right about any of this. It feels like you're taking advantage of her."

He was right, of course, and it was something I had been wrestling with since finding out about her condition. On the one hand, I knew that I should have told her the truth. The second that she woke up, I should have told her who she was and what our history was. If I had done that, then maybe I could have even helped her get her memory back. A part of me meant to do exactly that. But when I went into that room and saw her for the first time in a year, I just couldn't.

I had forgotten how beautiful she was. Her dark brown hair, her big green eyes, and that cute little pixie nose. Her athletic body and her bright smile. Every part of her was perfect, and I cringed at the idea of admitting to her that I knew her, that we used to date and that I had broken her heart, as well as my own. So, I didn’t tell her. Instead, I chose to act totally normal, like I would with any patient.

But as I spoke to her and realized the severity of her condition, I came up with an idea.

My original plan, before learning of her amnesia, was to convince her that I had changed and that I still loved her. Well, I couldn't do that anymore, but I could go one step further. I could show her that I had changed. If I could convince her to go on a date with me and show her how great of a guy I was, then there was a chance, albeit a small one, that when her memory came back, she might see it in her heart to forgive me? And that's if her memory ever came back.

It was a long shot, but one I had to take. Second chances didn’t come around very often, and I would have been a fool to ignore it when it did. Unfortunately, when I told him about my plan, Clint didn’t see it in quite the same light as me.

"You're joking?” he asked. “That's dishonest. There's definitely something not right about it."

"How come?" I defended, using the same arguments I had been going over in my mind for the past few hours. "I'm not going to force her to be with me. I'm not lying to her. Not really, anyway. All I'm going to do is ask her to go on a date with me, hopefully, and show her that I have changed."

"And when she gets her memory back?"

"Hopefully, by then, she'll see then that I am different. Look, you remember how it was when we broke up? You were there. You know how much it crushed me. All I want is one more chance, just to tell her how I feel. Well, this is that chance. I may never get another one. That’s why I have to give this a shot, even if it’s not exactly ethical.”

Indeed, Clint had been there for me when Kate and I broke up for good, a year earlier. He was there to console me and tell me that everything would get better. But everything wasn't better. A year had passed, and I still thought about her. She was the only romantic interest that I had ever had and ever wanted. Clint should have known that I would do anything to get her back. I loved her, and love made people do crazy things.

"So, tell me, now. Is it wrong if I don’t tell her that we know each other and we used to date? If you think it is, then I won’t ask her out. But if you think that there is even the smallest gray area, where this is okay, then get out of the way and let me go and ask out the woman of my dreams."

Clint remained where he was for some time, staring at me as he bit the inside of his lip. Finally, he spoke. "Ethically, you should probably tell her that you two know each other. But romantically, I don’t think you’re obligated to tell her about your shared past. Still, you know this has the potential to blow up in your face.”

“I know that,” I said.

“Are you sure? Because all this trying to get her back nonsense is great, but it won’t mean shit when she gets her memories back and finds out that you tricked her.”

“I’m hoping that by then, she’ll have seen that I’m a good guy now. A changed guy. One who truly appreciates her, instead of the guy who thought he’d be better off without her. It’s a risk, but it’s one I have to take. I think it’s a bigger risk if I pass up this opportunity and don’t try to get her back. That would risk me spending the rest of my life without the woman I love.”

Clint shook his head and sighed. “I wish you the best of luck, but I think this is a mistake.” Despite his words of warning, he stepped to the side and let me pass.

I nodded my thanks to him as I walked past and made my way down the hall toward Kate's room. The whole time, I told myself that I wasn't doing anything wrong or dishonest. All I was doing was showing Kate what it was that she saw in me in the first place. And then, if she still had feelings for me, she might see it in her heart to forgive me when her memory came back.

That was what I told myself, anyway. Although in truth, I would be lying if I said there wasn't a small part of me that hoped that her memory never came back.