Remember Me (Jack Maynard)

Chapter 23

"Good mo-" Jack started, but was cut off by a coughing fit, coupled with a couple of sneezes.

"Good morning to you, too," I said, sitting up and resting the back of my hand against his forehead. "Honey, you're burning up."

Jack shook his head. "I'm fi-" he was cut off when he started coughing again.

"I don't think so," I said, getting up and heading into the bathroom, opening up the medicine cabinet and grabbing a bottle of medicine along with a damp washcloth. 

I then grabbed a glass of water and handed it to him along with the medicine. After he'd taken it and laid back down I laid the damp washcloth over his forehead. He looked up at me, still in protest.

"I'm fineee," he said.

"Jack, you're burning up. Let me take care of you today." I pleaded. "You've spent all this time taking care of me and helping me remember. Today let's take a break from lessons and let me take care of you. You're probably overworked and exhausted, anyways."

It was true. Since I found out about Bella and we'd started making more breakthroughs, Jack was absolutely convinced he was close to cracking this puzzle that was the depths of my mind. He didn't sleep much anymore, and was always going through old pictures and objects, different memories from the past to teach me about. The nights I stayed over, he didn't come to bed until about four, if at all, because he was spending so much time doing research. Lord knows how much time he was spending even if I wasn't there.

"Okay," he finally agreed after awhile. "I guess we can take a day off. Mel?"

"Yeah?" I asked, stroking his hair.

"Can you get me a tissue? My nose is runny."

I nodded, getting up off the bed and grabbing the box from his bathroom. I brought it back and took a tissue from the top, handing it to him.

"Thanks," he said, blowing his nose soon after.

I spent the morning holding him until he drifted off again. When I was sure that he was asleep, I crept outside into the living room, where I found Conor sitting on the couch watching TV and scrolling through the Internet on his laptop.

"Morning," he said, looking up from the computer.

"Hi," I said, taking a seat next to him on the couch. 

"How've things been going?" Conor asked.

"Jack's sick," I told him. "Nothing serious, I think it's just a cold and a small fever. I think he's just really overworked and exhausted. But he's asleep now."

"Good, he needs to rest." Conor agreed, nodding slightly. 

"So do you have any stories that might jog my memory?" I asked, and he shrugged, nodding. 

"Well, you have been a sister to me and Anna for almost three years now." he reminded me. "I have a million stories of us, that range from family vacations to taking care of you when you'd gotten sick at parties and Jack was too trashed to do anything."

"What types of family vacations?" I asked.

"Mallorca was my favorite," he said. "It was around a year and a half ago, a summer vacation. Our parents took us, and you came along also. The resort was amazing, and the sights were beautiful. 

"I've got some pictures here, actually," Conor said, turning his laptop towards me to where he'd pulled up a photo album titled 'Mallorca Trip 2015.' 

The first picture was of Jack, Me, Conor, and Anna all by the pool of what I assumed was the resort we had been staying at. We were all in lounge chairs, holding up the glasses containing our drinks towards the camera.

"Jack chickened out of parasailing, but I was able to convince you to go with me." Conor said, clicking on another picture. 

This picture was one zoomed in to capture Conor and I, high in the air. I was holding onto the straps connecting us to the parachute for dear life while Conor looked as if he was laughing at me. Another picture was less zoomed in and showed Jack giving the camera a pouty face and pointing up at Conor and I in the parasail while Anna was pointing at him and laughing.

"I'm going to run and check on Jack to make sure he's okay, but I'll be right back." I said, quickly standing up and peeking my head in to make sure he was okay. When I was sure that he was still sound asleep I came back into the living room and plopped back down on the couch. "Okay, all good, continue."

"This was the first big family vacation you joined us on." Conor told me then. "Since then you've also joined us on holiday in Greece last summer, but this one was special. It really just sort of clicked in that moment that you belonged here. You were a part of us, a part of our family."

"I hope I remember it someday." I said. 

"You've always been my favorite one of Jack's girlfriends." Conor admitted. "I'd been rooting for you two since the night Jack told me he'd asked you out. Ever since we met I've always thought you were really fun. Having you join our family is the single greatest choice that Jack has ever made."

"Thanks, Conor," I told him. "That really means a lot."

We sat and talked for a little bit more until Conor had to get ready for a shoot; at that moment I went back into Jack's room to get back to taking care of him. He was still sound asleep, and I softly wandered around the room, tidying up little things here and there.

The box of tissues I had found had been nearly empty when I first brought it into the room, but now I noticed there were only a couple left. When Jack woke up again he'd need more to blow his nose, so I set about to find another box. He had to have one somewhere, anyways.

I had taken a seat in front of his night table and opened it quietly, rummaging through the drawers to search for another tissue box.

Instead, I found something a little more interesting.

I picked up the tiny black box when I first saw it, unsure of what it was. I opened it up slowly to reveal the diamond ring that sat inside, and my eyes widened.

No way.

Jack was going to...?

I mean it made sense. We've been together for three years now, and we had a baby on the way. It made sense that marriage had been on the horizon for us. It was only looking back now with the limited memory that I had that surprised me so much, especially because I was definitely not meant to find that.

Putting the ring box back where I found it, I quickly shut the night table and stood up, continuing on my way into the kitchen in my search for a tissue box, pushing all thoughts of engagement rings from my brain.