This One Moment (Pushing Limits, #1)(14)

The second option was to stay with Hailey and see if I could help her jog her memory and be there for her while she recovered. Keep an eye on her as much as I could. But if she didn’t remember what happened by the time I had to leave, then what?

“Hi.” A female voice snapped me from my thoughts. Two girls in pink scrubs and with name tags identifying them as nursing students grinned at me.

“Aren’t you Tyler Erickson?” the shorter girl squeaked. The second girl stared at me like someone had performed a tongue-ectomy on her.

“I am.”

“Oh my God! We loooove your music. I didn’t know you were doing a concert here tonight.”

Every muscle fiber in my body stiffened. The last thing I wanted was to bump into fans while I was in town. Too many questions would start circulating, and the risk was always there that someone would remember who I really was and leak it to the media. “I’m not,” I said, inwardly cursing myself for not having the foresight to wear my hat and sunglasses in the hallway.

“So why are you here?”

“What? In the hospital?” I asked. They nodded. I didn’t want to talk about Hailey, or at least share about our past together. “I’m visiting a fan.” It wouldn’t be the first time since the band’s debut album had climbed the charts that I had been asked to visit a fan in the hospital. So this lie was plausible.

“That’s so sweet,” the taller girl said, finally finding her voice. “Can we get your autograph?”

“Absolutely.”

Both produced notebooks from their pockets for me to sign. I’d just finished signing for the second girl when a woman with a perma-frown etched on her face approached. “Ladies, you’re not here to harass patients and their visitors.”

“But this is Tyler Erickson. The lead singer of Pushing Limits,” the short girl gushed.

The scowl on the woman’s face hardened. “I don’t care who he is. But if you don’t have enough work to do, I can find you some.” Her tone made it clear that whatever she came up with would be far from pleasant.

Both girls hung their heads. “Yes, ma’am.” Before she could respond, they scurried down the hall.

“Sorry about that,” was all she said to me before following them, not giving me a chance to explain that it was all right, I hadn’t minded.

I went back to pacing. By the time the physician poked his head out of Hailey’s room, I’d worn a trench in the floor. “How’s she doing?” I asked.

“Are you family?”

“I’m her fiancé.” I hoped that wouldn’t get back to her parents; if it did, I’d have some explaining to do. But I figured it would get me more answers than being just Hailey’s friend.

He eyed me for a moment, almost causing me to squirm. I was positive he knew I’d lied, so I wasn’t expecting it when he said, “She’s doing well considering everything that has happened. I want to monitor her for a few days before I release her. And she’ll be sore for a while.”

“What about her memory? When will she get it back?”

“It’s hard to say. It might never return.” Fuck. That was not what I needed to hear. I thanked him and entered Hailey’s room.

She was staring out the window, lost in thought, and not for the first time since she’d woken up, I wished I knew what she was thinking.

I used to be able to easily read her, but I was out of practice. I couldn’t even tell if she was happy to see me. She hadn’t exactly welcomed me with open arms. More like the opposite. I mean, other than the part about the kiss—although I doubted that she had even known it was me at the time.

But I couldn’t blame her for her reaction after the shitheaded way I’d treated her. I’d intended to protect her, but all I’d done was hurt her. I could spend the next ten years trying to make it up to her and I would always fall short.

I stepped closer to the bed. If she heard me approach, she didn’t let on. She continued staring at the sky, as if she could find the missing memories spelled out in the clouds if she looked hard enough.

“What are you thinking?” I asked, desperate to break the tension.

“He said”—she gestured toward the door—“I might never remember the attack.”

“I know. He told me. But there’s a chance you will.” Or that she would remember what had happened, but not enough for the police to arrest the * who’d attacked her. It was possible she hadn’t even seen him, which would be great if the guy knew she couldn’t identify him. But if he wasn’t aware of that, Hailey could be in danger.

I sat back down next to her on the bed. I didn’t know how to bring up my concerns without freaking her out. And no way would she not freak out. “I’m planning to stay in town until the police capture whoever did this to you.”

“You can’t do that,” she blurted out. “Aren’t you supposed to work on your next album or something?”

“I can work on the songs here.”

“It’s really not necessary, Nolan. I mean, what if I never get my memory back? You can’t stay here indefinitely. Your life is in L.A.”

I stared at her for a good ten seconds. It sounded like if she could’ve gotten out of bed, she would’ve escorted me to the door and wished me a good life before sending me on my way.