The Boyfriend I Made Up Ordered A Ride I Never Booked Chapter 06
The days that followed got weirder and weirder.
Cramps hit me so bad I was breaking out in cold sweat. By afternoon, ThermaCare wraps and a
bottle of Midol were sitting on my desk.
I realized I was missing a pen while flipping through my notes. The next day, a Montblanc rollerball was tucked neatly in my drawer.
Every time I asked Morgan about it, she said she’d bought it for me, or she’d ordered it for me.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that all of this had happened before.
That weekend, I went home. Mom was on the couch, rubbing her lower back, wincing in pain.
Without thinking, I said, “Mom, let me get you a Shiatsu back massager. You shouldn’t have to
suffer like this.”
It wasn’t even five minutes later when there was a knock at the door.
A delivery guy stood there, holding a huge box.
“Package for Elena Hayes. Sign here, please.”
I tore it open. Inside was a Shiatsu Back Massager with Heat. A small card was tucked underneath.
The handwriting was beautiful. I stared at it for a long moment. Then the tears just started falling.
I knew this handwriting.
I’d seen it a hundred times.
“Did you guys know I was going to say that?”
I whipped my head toward Mom, my voice shaking.
“Are you all in on this together? What are you hiding from me?”
Mom’s face went pale. She stood there, frozen, unable to speak.
That’s when Morgan walked in.
She wasn’t in her usual casual clothes today. She was wearing a white coat. A hospital ID badge
hung around her neck.
–
–
I leaned in and read it. “Fairwood General Hospital – Psychiatry Department – Dr. Morgan
- Chase.”
I was completely thrown.
“You’re not my roommate? You’re a psychiatrist?”
Morgan sighed and guided me to the couch.
“Elena, it’s time we told you the truth.”
“You’re not a sophomore. You graduated two years ago. You did have a boyfriend. His name was Samuel Roth. You two were crazy about each other-already talking about marriage. But then…’
My head throbbed. The blurry figure finally had a name.
Samuel.
Yes. Samuel.
I remembered.
On my graduation day, he pulled up in his Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van.
He was carrying Gourmet Lobster Rolls-my favorite-and said he was taking me to meet his
parents.
On the way, we talked about moving Mom in with us after the wedding. Getting her the best back massager on the market. If she couldn’t sit still, she could keep running the fruit market-become a supplier for Samuel’s family restaurant group.
Then a box truck ran a red light and slammed right into us.
The guardrail was about to pierce through the window.
Samuel threw himself over me, shielding me with his body. He used every ounce of strength to
shove me out of the passenger seat.
I hit the pavement. When I looked back, the car exploded. Flames shot into the sky.
The man who said he was going to marry me-they never even found his remains.
The truck took off. The intersection camera just happened to be broken.
The trauma was too much. When I woke up, I had trauma-induced amnesia.
My memory had frozen at sophomore year. I’d forgotten every detail of the crash.
My parents had no choice. They reached out to my high school friend-who also happened to be a
psychiatrist. Morgan.
She’d been doing reconstruction therapy with me.
The Mercedes vans. The Lobster Rolls. The makeup. The heat wraps. All of it-recreating my daily life with Samuel.
Even that $250,000 wire transfer. That was Samuel’s engagement ring fund-the money he’d set aside for my ring.
Everything. Recreated down to the smallest detail.
All to help me remember. To bring back the information about the hit-and-run truck.
“I remember…”
I held my head in my hands. Tears hit the floor in heavy drops.
“I remember the truck! It had a logo that said…’
