Help Me Remember (Rose Canyon, #1)(58)

“She told me that you are the only person who will answer the questions she asks directly.”

No lies.

“I won’t lie to her. She’s Brielle. She deserves more than this. If she weren’t the only witness in her brother’s murder, we would’ve told her everything and shown her the life she had.”

I push down my anger, but Emmett knows me too well. He hears the things I’m not saying. “Spencer, either you break contact with her until this is over or you keep lying to her and let this happen the way it needs to. If I’m right and you’re the person who gave her that ring—” He sighs deeply and runs his hand down his face. “Which we are going to discuss when we aren’t in a room with two hundred people, then you have to do the right thing.” He downs his drink, puts the glass down, and rests his hand on my shoulder. “I don’t think you want to break contact completely, but if you push me on this, you’ll find yourself locked out of the building.”

Emmett walks away, leaving me stunned. Walking away isn’t an option. I would rather lie than abandon her—abandon us. When she does remember, then what? How do I explain I had to leave because I wasn’t strong enough to do what I needed to? I can’t. I can’t do to her what’s been done to me over and over again.

I start to head toward her, and Jax, one of her coworkers, stops me. “Hey, Spencer.”

“Jax.”

Jax is a fairly new guy in town. He moved here about a year ago, and no one says anything bad about him, but I get a bad vibe from him that I can’t explain. One night, Brie and I were having dinner in my apartment, and she brought him up, saying how he was always asking her out. She needed advice on how to turn him down easily.

Apparently, he didn’t get the hint because he was still giving her flowers once a week up until the incident.

“How’s she doing?” Jax asks.

“She’s doing better.”

“Still no memories?”

I shake my head. “No, not yet. Did you guys figure out who was in her office?”

He shakes his head. “No, it’s so weird. The exterior cameras were disabled too, so there’s nothing.”

I already knew that, but I was curious as to what he’d say. “Has Brielle talked about anyone at the center?”

“Nope.”

“Bummer, I keep wanting to talk to her, you know? We had this connection.”

I almost laugh in his face. There was no connection. None.

“Well, you know the rules.”

He nods. “Yeah, the rules. She keeps looking over here, and I’m hoping she remembers me. It would be nice to talk to her. Plus, I really want to help her come back to work. Everyone misses her there, especially the kids. Listen, one of the kids at the center is really messed up. Brielle was really close with Dianna, she’s about eight. Brielle helped the family a lot, and they were asking if they could see her. I know she loved the kids and maybe it would help?”

Brielle loves those kids more than anything. She wanted to help each one of them and she gave them the support and encouragement they needed to reach their potential. Everything she did was to benefit them, even if it wasn’t the best for her. She took a pay cut a few months back so the money could help fund extended hours for an afterschool program.

I can imagine there are a lot more families that miss her.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, I told them not yet, but everyone just wants to help. We all miss her and want her back to normal.”

“We all have the same goal,” I tell him.

I watch Jax straighten a little, and the air around me shifts. Everything changes when she’s near. I turn and Brielle is there, holding her glass of water. “Hey there.”

“Brie.”

She turns to Jax, her eyes narrowing just a bit. “I’m Brielle,” she says, extending her hand to him. “I’m sure we know each other, but I don’t remember. So, I appreciate that you’re pretending for my sake.”

Jax nods a few times. “It’s nice to meet you,” he says smoothly. “I’m Jax.”

Brielle’s eyes widen, and she steps back. “Jax? We . . . you . . .”

I move closer to her, feeling her anxiety as if it’s my own. “Brielle? Are you okay?”

She blinks a few times and nods. “Yes, I’m fine.” Her voice shifts, and I can hear the happiness in her tone. “I remember you. You’re Jax. We work . . . I think we work together? You . . . had a song? Something? I think?”

Jax looks to me and then to Brie. I step in, making sure this idiot doesn’t say anything. “What do you remember?”

Her dark blue eyes are on mine. “Just a song about Jax and the Beanstalk? Maybe it’s not him or anything, but I remember the silliness.”

“Jack and the Beanstalk?” I ask.

“No, it was a parody, and I just remember the kids and I laughing.”

It doesn’t sound like a full memory, but it’s something, which is better than nothing.

“Am I right?” she asks.

Jax smiles. “Yes, I wrote it and we would sing to the kids.”

Emmett’s threat about what would happen if I told her anything she didn’t recall on her own screams in my head. “Is that all you remember?”