The Memory Keeper

Chapter 18

Piper slid a pouch tied with thread across the table. It rattled over the wood and landed beneath Peter's palm. "One a day, do not forget."

At an outdoor restaurant in down town Coldton, Piper, Natalie, and Peter sat, waiting for their breakfast. Afterwards, they planned to head back to Natalie's office for the session, where Piper would make sure her capsules had worked properly on Peter. Natalie felt nervous, miles away from the matter at hand. It was not an entirely unrealistic thought to think one day Flower would just stroll past she and Peter on the street one day, if they were to remain friends after all of this was over.

Which, according to Colette's laws, a mind weaver could not remain friends with clients afterwards. They were allowed to keep memories, as Colette had told her upon her visit to Coldton, on one condition: the memory had to be made the same day of the weaving, which allowed the mind weaver to keep their client's memory of ever meeting them if it was only a one time session. Otherwise, they were advised to alter the client's memory of ever meeting each other. But it was another rule just waiting to be broken by Natalie.

She would risk everything to be with Peter after all of this was over, and had to admit she would stand between he and Flower if she decided to come around. Since her parents had passed away, this is the warmest she ever felt, even in Coldton's permanent veil of sleet and rain.

When their food arrived, Natalie did not realize how hungry she was, and scooped up most of her fried eggs in one bite. Peter slid his coffee cup back and forth across the table between his hands when he was finished with his own breakfast. "So, these pills you made me," he asked Piper, "are supposed to help erase the memories even I may have forgot about?"

Piper scooped up the rest of her white rice. "Yes. Look at it like insurance. Just in case you wake up one day with a memory you have no recollection of. Even if you brush it off and start your day, subconsciously you won't be able to. And then the dreams will start." She pushed the empty bowl aside and started on her order of bacon. "Don't look at me like that. I am no mind weaver. It is only a potion. Of course, only a witch can make it properly, and there is no guarantee it will last forever, let alone work, but what else am I here for?"

Natalie smiled, looking between them. A sudden burst of inspiration had lit up her chest like a full moon out from behind a funnel of clouds. Though she still felt confused about a number of things that did not seem to make sense, she knew at least one thing now. There was something between she and Peter, and all she had to do was erase Flower before she could think about a real relationship. Perhaps Piper would have advice.

The witch and Peter shared a look, and any clarity in Natalie's mind started to dwindle. Instead of smiling between them, she scratched her chin. "What am I missing?"

Piper turned quickly, pushing her plate of bacon away and smashing her fork into the fried potatoes. "Nothing. Only that I saw doubt in Peter's eyes and wanted to make sure we understood each other." She blinked innocently at Mr. Sheinfeld and asked, a little too mockingly for Natalie's comfort, "Afraid I would pull the chair out from under you?"

"Whatever that means," Natalie murmured, offering Peter an apologetic smile. Then she leaned into Piper's shoulder and whispered, "Why are you taunting him so?"

Peter cleared his throat before Piper could come up with another snide comment. The women looked over.

"Natalie, will you pass the salt?"

She moved it closer to his side of the table. He dumped some in his hand and threw it at Piper.

The mind weaver gasped, but Piper only laughed, and Peter attempted to plaster on a serious face, but could not, and the two of them slammed their fists on the table in hiccuping laughter. The mind weaver looked from her assistant to her client Mr. Sheinfeld, her mouth hanging open. And then there was an odd pang in her stomach, one she had never felt before. Not like wishing she could make Piper laugh the way everyone else seemed to. Not like hoping for a moment that Flower was actually Natalie herself. It was a throbbing sensation that almost seemed to grow a hand big enough to smash her straight through the chair to the ground.