HIM

21. I Know You Love Her

I blink, and then I tilt my head to the side just the slightest bit. "Henry?"

She brings her gaze to mine and slowly nods her head. "Yes..."

"Henry Moore?" I ask her, my chest tightening as I await her answer. Her eyes light up at the sound of his name and I know that he's who she's talking about.

"Yeah! I didn't know you knew him!" She smiles, flashing her perfect white teeth at me. "I don't think he's ever mentioned that he knows you..."

"Oh," I chuckle. "I know him alright." A frown comes over my face as I remember what happened nearly 3 years ago.

She gives me a questioning look, probably seeing the disgust that is written all over my face. "Is there...something wrong? Some bad blood between the two of you?"

I look away, glancing down the hallway in order to avoid any awkward eye contact.I scratch the back of my head as I reply. "Only slightly," I tell her.

She purses her lips and I look back at her to judge the expression on her face. Last time that I told her that I didn't like Henry, it didn't end so well. "Hmm," She says. "I'll have to talk to him about it and ask him what went wrong. You seem like a nice guy. He seems like a nice guy. I don't see why you two couldn't get along." She raises an eyebrow at me. Not in the cunning sort of way, but more in the I'm-confused-please-enlighten-me kind of way. "Do you think you could tell me?"

"Ah, well, stuff happened like 2 years ago, but I don't know if you're comfortable with me talking about that...?" I look at her expectantly, not knowing if she's afraid of the life she lived but doesn't remember.

"Oh," she smiles. "I'm totally fine with it! I feel like I've been rejuvenated and get to start all over again! It's great. So tell me. What happened? I'm into juicy gossip."

I laugh. "Uh," I begin, thinking of a way to tell her how I was in love with her and he just wanted her for her wealth. There's really no subtle way to tell her without sounding like a complete ass who doesn't support her relationship. "Let's just say we both wanted the same thing for different reasons and he used some slight force to win."

Her eyebrows knit together in confusion, and she blows a bubble with her gum. "That's vague."

I shrug. "Ask him about it if you really want to know the juicy details. I don't feel that it's my place to tell you. After all, you probably don't really trust me that well..."

She gives me an apologetic look. "I really tried to remember you, I truly did, but I honestly have never met you before in my life," she says. "Well, the life that I remember...."

"It's totally fine. Hopefully, it'll all come back to you someday."

"Yeah, me too," She pauses. "And I hope that you can help me remember. I've tried therapists and whatever, but nothing seems to work. There's just this long stretch of nothingness between 5 years ago and today."

"I'll try my best," I tell her.

She smiles and looks at her feet. "Thank you."

The door opens behind me, and Amanda stands with Danny. I turn around and look at her, and she doesn't look too happy.

"Hello, Enny." She says, greeting her with a smile that I can tell is extremely forced. It almost looks like a grimace.

"Hi..." She pauses.

"Amanda," Amanda says. "Caleb's wife."

Enny smiles. "Oh, hello! It's very nice to meet you!" She says with genuine pleasantness. "Your baby is adorable."

Amanda seems taken aback at Enny's friendliness. "Oh," She says. "Thank you!"

"What's his name?" Enny asks. Danny starts to squirm in Amanda's arms.

"This is Danny," Amanda says as she rocks him in her arms trying to get him to settle down. "He's 3 weeks old."

"Congratulations,".

"Thanks."

There's an awkward silence between the 3 of us. Enny is the first to speak up.

"Well, I should get going now. My boyfriend is expecting me home soon," she turns to me. "Thanks for agreeing to help me," then she turns to Amanda. "It was very nice to meet you and Danny."

"You too," Amand replies.

Enny awkwardly smiles before walking down the hallway to the elevator. I look at Amanda who is holding the door open for me, urging me to go back inside the house. I take one last glance at Enny and her long, flowing brown hair before stepping back inside.

Amanda glares at me. "What were you two talking about?"

I roll my eyes. "She wants to get her memories back," I tell her. "And what the heck were you doing calling yourself my wife? Last time I checked, we aren't even engaged yet." I feel like such a jerk after having said that. I know what a touchy subject marriage is for her. She wants to be married, but I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. Her argument always is that we have a child together and it deserves to have parents that are legally together.

Deep down I know that she isn't the one that I want to marry, though. Heck, I'm not even sure how I feel about her anymore. Ever since she got pregnant, she's been super jealous and clingy. I can't even talk to other girls even if we're just friends.

That sounds so cocky, but I can't help my feelings.

"I didn't want her getting the wrong message. After all, I do recall you saying that you guys were once a 'thing'," she says to me, a deep scowl etched onto her face.

"Oh, come on, Amanda. She doesn't even know who I am." I exclaim. "How could you think that she would want to steal me from you."

Amanda huffs. "I just don't like her, is all I'm saying. I don't feel right letting you hang out with her. She's not trustworthy! I forbid you from seeing her."

"Forbid me?" My heart beats fast in my chest, anger pulsing through my veins. "Forbid me? The one who gives you money. The only one supporting this family. You don't even have a job! You don't spend a dime of your own money on anything! Who pays these bills, huh? I do! I buy your clothing and I buy your food. I pay for all those stupid overpriced necklaces that you insist on buying. You can't tell me who I can and cannot spend my time with. For all I care, you could pack up and leave and it wouldn't change a thing for me! So you need to stop, because I am sick of it."

She stands in front of me, a frown on her face and fire practically coming out of her ears. Danny claws at the hem of her shirt. "Fine. Whatever. Hang out with her. She's going to ruin you. Ruin us. Ruin the life of our child. I'm warning you now, Caleb," she tells me. "She will inch her broken self into our lives and steal you away. And when you're gone. How do you think it will be for Danny? Having separated parents? His life will be hard. I know you don't love me anymore, okay? You can stop hiding it. I know you still keep an entire album of pictures of her on your phone. I know that you still re-read your text conversations. I've seen your face whenever anybody ever mentions her name. You're two are like magnets. Just drawn to each other. Hell, she doesn't even know who you are anymore, yet she shows up at our door. I know you love her. I can tell." Her voice is laced with disgust. "But stay with me for the sake of our baby."