My Almost Ex (The Greene Family #2) - Piper Rayne Page 0,25

bike during the Fourth of July parade?” someone asks.

“How about when you sold me Girl Scout cookies? I was always your highest orderer,” someone says.

“Lucy, let me get you one of Brad’s muffins,” Tad offers.

“The first time you fished was on my boat, remember?” someone else asks her.

She’s polite to everyone, saying whether she does or does not remember what they’re talking about. She’s in her running gear again. I wonder when she picked up that habit. The Lucy I knew hated running.

“Hey, Adam,” she says, standing beside my table.

“Hi.” I wipe my mouth.

“I hope I’m not the reason Alicia left,” she says.

“No, she’s got a busy life.”

Her gaze falls to the untouched muffin and fruit. “I guess so, since she didn’t even eat.”

Who am I kidding? Why am I putting on a charade that I’m still with Alicia? “Yeah.”

“Well, I was stopping in and I didn’t want to not say hello. I wondered about your work schedule? I know we have to wait for Saturday to get into the cabin, but I thought maybe you could take me to where I used to work or something. Or just tell me a place where I loved to go?”

I close my eyes and groan.

“Sorry, never mind. I’ll just figure something else out.”

“You used to love the path around the bay. Not to run, but just to clear your head.”

She smiles and damn if pleasing her doesn’t still make me feel like fucking Superman. I hate that that’s still alive inside me. “Thank you.”

“Take this with you.” Tad hands her a bag with a muffin in it. “On the house.”

“Oh no. I couldn’t.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the number one rule here.” He points at the sign about no arguing with the manager.

I roll my eyes.

“I haven’t. Thanks, Tad.” She rises to her tiptoes and kisses his bearded cheek.

He winks and leaves to greet his other customers.

“I should go. Thank you, Adam. I’ll see you Saturday.”

I nod. “Saturday.”

She walks away and I push my plate across the table, not hungry anymore.

“Be careful, you don’t eat and that’s going to be the next thing on Nikki’s radio show.” Tad comes by and takes Alicia’s plates.

I watch out the window as Lucy gets stopped by the Gossip Brigade on her way to the bay. Maybe it’ll take an entire town to bring back her memories. All I know is the faster she remembers, the faster she signs those papers and I can move on with my life.

I’m not twenty-five feet from Two Brothers and an Egg when I’m stopped by the military veterans most people in this town refer to as the Gossip Brigade. You wouldn’t think a bunch of old men would spread gossip, but they do any chance they get.

“Lucy, you remember during the Veteran’s Day parade how your class handed out little flags?” one of them says.

“Or how about you’d play at the park with my grandson, Owen?”

“I bet you can’t forget that time you had me come into your class to talk about the war.”

I smile politely. “Thank you all for trying to jog my memory, but I’ve got somewhere to be. I’ll see you guys later.” I pat Mr. Wilson’s arm and continue my walk toward the bay.

I sigh when I find the path mostly vacant. Almost all the fishing boats are out for the day and the mountains loom over the water on the far side. I walk the path, pulling pieces of my muffin out of the bag and eating them.

The vision of Alicia and Adam kissing is occupying most of the space in my brain. I wanted to walk over there and tug her off him. She saw me through the window. Our eyes locked before she stood and kissed him. Who uses tongue in a breakfast diner during the morning rush?

But I can’t stop Adam from having a girlfriend, so all I can do is focus on myself and getting my memory back and hope like hell I’ll never have to sign those papers.

Two months seems way too short, especially since it’s been three months since my accident and until I got here, nothing much was happening with my recovery.

“Lucy!” the jogger running toward me on the path yells. I recognize her as Amy from the Twisted Stem. She stops running next to me, jogging in place. “Good to see you.”

“Same.” I smile, not having much context except for knowing who she is.

“Do you remember your wedding flowers? How elaborate you wanted them? I had