Forget Me Not

Absidee had prepared herself to hear the worst at the doctor's office, so when the doctor told her and Julie that Mac had a sinus infection that the doctor wasn't at all concerned about evolving to anything more serious, she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

After picking up a prescription for Mac, the girls got Mac home and back to bed where he promptly fell asleep. Absidee laid down in her bed to try and rest, but she was feeling to excited to sleep. Digging for her phone, she texted Beau.

Dr appt went well. Just a sinus infection.

Beau's response was almost immediate. Good to hear! How are you?

Tired. Supposed to be taking a nap.

Then stop texting :P

Absidee smiled. It was funny how in such a short time, Beau had become the person she wanted to tell things to first. She realized how much she enjoyed his company and hoped once again that the attraction would eventually fade and they could have a simple friendship.

Are you still good for supper?

If you are. I'll send you the address.

Okay, good. See you around six-thirty.

I'll be ready. Sleep well, Absidee.

Setting the phone to the side, Absidee nestled comfortably against her pillow. Maybe she didn't want more than friendship with Beau, but she could certainly use the distraction in the meantime while things settled down.



Beau sat on the front porch of his house. Absidee wasn't going to show up for at least another five minutes, but he was enjoying the weather. He heard the screen door open and shut behind him and turned to see his father.

"Mind if I join you?" Owen asked.

"Not at all."

"Nervous?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Beau sighed. "I'm debating about whether or not I want to tell her about the whole memory thing."

Owen frowned. "You haven't told her?"

"Nope. I told her there was a seizure thing, which I guess is part of the truth. I just … I keep thinking about Heather and how I lost her. Don't get me wrong, I'm over it. I feel like I am anyway, but I just don't want to walk into that again. Plus, Absidee's got all this stuff going on with grandfather's Alzheimer's."

"Well, son, I know it must be difficult. I keep trying to put myself in your shoes, and I know that you're interested in this girl. Just take it slow. You'll tell her when you're ready; maybe in the meantime, just be there for her."

Beau gave a tight smile. "You're right, Dad. Thanks."

"Speaking of …" Owen motioned to the driveway where Absidee had just parked her car.

"Hi, Mr. Montgomery."

"Hello, Absidee. How are you?"

"Not too bad. Thanks for letting me steal Beau for a little bit."

"No problem. You kids have fun."

They both bid him goodbye and Absidee got back behind the wheel. She waited for Beau to be buckled into the passenger seat, then pulled back out to the street.

"Kind of feels like high school all over again," Beau chuckled nervously.

"A little bit, but it's not so bad," Absidee smiled. "I'm really glad you're coming over."

"Me too," he smiled. He wanted to take her hand, but felt like maybe that would be too much.

It was about a fifteen minute drive with traffic, and although the conversation was light, it wasn't awkward at all. When they got back to Absidee's house, she paused before going inside.

"I just want to warn you. My grandfather's Alzheimer's is very advanced. He'll probably ask you the same question multiple times, or he might not even realize that you're someone new. He seems to be in better spirits since this morning, but with the sinus infection, he's still pretty tired. I guess what I'm trying to say is, you just have to be patient with him." Absidee looked at him nervously, as though she was waiting for him to turn and run for the hills.

"Really, it's fine. I promise."

She smiled and led him into the house. Julie was sitting at the kitchen table with Mac, reading the newspaper. She looked up when Absidee stepped in, and gathered her things.

"He did just fine while you were gone," Julie assured her, before noticing Beau. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Julie."

Beau shook her hand. "I'm Beau, Absidee's friend."

"Julie is Grandpa's nurse. She's really great."

"Nice to meet you, but I've got to run," Julie said. She slipped behind Beau, mouthing He's cute! to Absidee as she headed for the front door. Absidee tried to blush as she waved goodbye.

"Grandpa, how are you doing?" Absidee asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Fair to middlin', I suppose," Mac answered. "Who is this?"

"This is my friend, Beau. Beau, this is my grandfather, Mac Clemens."

"Nice to meet you," Beau said, giving the older man a firm handshake. "I hope it's okay if I join you for supper."

"Is it supper time already?" Mac asked.

Beau nodded. "Seems to be. The days just go by so fast anymore."

"I agree. Have a seat, Beau."

Absidee left the two of them at the kitchen table to talk and got started on supper. It seemed that Beau was mostly sticking to answering Mac's statements and questions, but Absidee figured that was for the best. Low-key was good.

By the time she had chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes on the table, both men had been after her to hurry up with the cooking. She set a basket of rolls in front of them, served drinks, and then sat down across from Beau.

"This is yummy, Sidee," Mac said. He seemed to be picking at his food, but Absidee has expected as much with him being sick.

"I'm glad you like it," she smiled at her grandfather. "Taste okay for you?"

"Absolutely," Beau replied. "I would have said so sooner if my mouth wasn't so full of food. Don't tell my mom I told you to give it to her, but maybe you could sneak her the recipe for this chicken one day."

Absidee laughed. "I'll see what I can do."

They ate in silence for a few minutes before a Mac was overcome by a sneezing attack. Absidee hurried to get him some tissue, but his hand coordination was deteriorating along with the rest of him, so she got up and helped him blow his nose.

"Better?" she asked, tossing the tissue in a nearby trashcan.

"Better," Mac agreed.

Beau watched her as she watched her hands and then checked on her grandfather once more before taking a seat. He knew it had to be hard; he tried to picture the parent and child roles reversing, but he couldn't even do that. He couldn't imagine having to blow his grandfather's nose, let alone take care of every little thing every hour of every day. He admired her for it, but it also made him even less desirable of telling her about his brain cyst. Absidee had so much on her plate already, but even on a friendship level, he couldn't stand to think of putting something else on her plate.

"Something wrong?" Absidee asked.

Beau shook his head, unaware of how long he'd been staring. "No, everything's fine. Sorry about that."

"It's all right. Eat as much as you want, by the way. Grandpa and I are the only ones around here, and Julie isn't much for leftovers. I don't know why I always cook more than I need to."

"You're pretty on top of things. I'm impressed."

She smiled. "Thanks."

Once they'd had their fill, Absidee filled the table. Mac wasn't up for dessert, so Absidee decided it was best to get him back to his room. Normally it wasn't so difficult to get him up from the chair, but feeling sick had Mac even weaker than he usually was.

"Here, let me help you," Beau insisted, pushing up from his chair. With Absidee on one side and Beau on the other, they got Mac out of the chair. Beau kept the man steady while Absidee showed him where to go.

"Do you want to sit in your recliner or you want to lay down?" Absidee asked Mac.

"Recliner is fine. I think I'll watch some TV."

Beau carefully set Mac into his recliner and Absidee covered the old man's lap with a throw blanket. She turned the television to the station that played black and white movies, made sure that Mac had a glass of water, and then went back to the kitchen to clean up what was left on the table.

"I appreciate your help," she said, sitting across from him at the kitchen table again.

"More than happy to do it," Beau assured her. "What now?"

"Do you need to get home? I was hoping I could wait until Grandpa was asleep, if you don't mind. I don't really leave him alone very often, and if I do, I try to wait until he's asleep."

"No, that's fine. You know, one of my parents could probably come get me, if you need to be here."

"I just wasn't expecting Julie to leave so soon," Absidee confessed. "But the company is nice."

"I'll text my dad and tell him to head over in about thirty minutes or so." Absidee agreed that was fine and waited for Beau to send the text.

"Why did you move to Kansas?" Absidee blurted out. She saw the slight panic that crossed Beau's features and immediately apologized. "I didn't mean to pry, I've just been curious."

"It's fine," Beau told her. "I moved to Kansas for the doctors. Doctor Turner is apparently pretty amazing. She's supposed to be helping me figure out what's going on with the, um, seizures."

"Supposed to be?"

"Well, we're making progress. I'll say that much. It's just been so long that all of this is going on, and there's been a lot of doctors with not a lot of answers."

Absidee found his gaze. "You don't have to be embarrassed to talk to me about this, you know? I mean, some medical conditions aren't easy to live with at all. I of all people should know that the best. Maybe I don't completely understand, but you don't have to not talk to me about it just because you think I'm going to get weird."

Beau sighed. "I'd really like to tell you about all of this, why I don't like talking to you about it. Maybe it's more than you want to hear."

"Anything you have to say, I want to hear," Absidee told him without missing a beat. "Let's go sit on the front porch. Maybe the fresh air will help."

Beau followed her out front, noting the baby monitor in her hand. She explained that she used it to listen for Mac when she was in another room or outside.

"Clever," he told her as they sat on the porch swing. "All right, so, the sticky subject."

"I'm listening, and I'm not judging. Go for it."

He drew in a deep breath. "I haven't always been like this. A few years ago, it all just started out of nowhere, and then it got worse. I had been dating the same girl for six years at the time - since we were seniors in high school. I was getting ready to propose, and then all of this started. I held off because I didn't know where I was going to end up. There was a lot of brain scans and bloodwork and all sorts of tests. If anything, it just raised more questions. After two years of all the back and forth, she just started getting distant. Then, one day, she was helping me find something in my room and she found the ring. It was still in the bag, with the receipt. She saw the date and realized how long I'd had the ring, and she freaked out. She wanted to know why I'd waited so long. I explained to her that I wanted to be healthy before we settled down, but she wasn't having it. She walked out that day and I haven't seen or talked to her since."

Absidee couldn't believe what she was hearing. Maybe she had only known Beau for a couple of weeks, but she knew he was a good guy. She could understand why he wanted to wait to marry that girl; then again, her situation benefited her on that front, she guessed.

"She broke your heart," Absidee said quietly.

"Into a million pieces," Beau admitted. "So, when we got referred to Doctor Turner, I couldn't get out of Carolina fast enough."

"It was recent then."

Beau nodded. "Just a few months ago. Eight years, down the drain."

"I'm sorry," Absidee whispered. She wasn't ready to share her own sob story, but she could certainly relate to Beau. She hadn't lost a boyfriend, but she'd lost everything else when she came back home to take care of her grandfather.

"Don't be," Beau said, trying his best to smile. "It all worked out for the best. If Heather couldn't wait for me to be healthy, then the whole 'in sickness and health' would have kind have been blown out of the water, right?"

"I guess so." Absidee reached over and interlaced his fingers with his. "Thanks for telling me."

"Thanks for being so great about listening."

He looked at her and saw that Absidee was already looking at him. Her breath seemed to be stuck in her throat, just exactly like his was. He moved his fingers from her hand and ran them up her arm as he leaned in. At the last second, however, she turned away.

"I'm sorry, Beau. I can't do this. I've been home for months and I haven't had any friends besides my dad and Julie. Being around you is refreshing, and I think we could have a really good friendship. I can't complicate that."

Beau nodded. "I'm sorry. You made that clear before, and I should respect what you said."

"I know you weren't trying to push," she assured him. "And please don't think that I don't wish things were so much different than they are."

A pair of headlights drew their attention to the front of the house where Owen parked his truck to wait for his son. They both stood and hugged, not feeling awkward at all. As they pulled away, Beau couldn't help but to reach a hand up to brush the back of his knuckles across her cheek.

"Night, Sidee."

She couldn't help but smile. "Good night, Beau."



The call from Heather came the next day, as if she knew that Beau had been talking about her the night before. He contemplated not answering it, but figured it was best to just get these things over with.

"Hello," he answered indifferently.

"Hey, Beau. It's me. I mean, it's Heather."

"I still know your voice, Heather. It hasn't been that long."

"Um, how are you doing?"

"Fine. Did you need something?"

Heather sighed. "Look, I wanted to apologize to you. I know that walking out like I did was wrong and that I handled the whole situation poorly. I was scared, you know? The possibility of the man I had loved for so long not remembering me one day was too much."

"Can't blame you for that, I guess."

"I was wondering if maybe I could come see you for a few days," she said. "Maybe we could talk things out, you know. Fix things."

Beau wished that he couldn't remember she'd offered that. He truly believed that things worked out for the best, like he told Absidee the night before, but that didn't necessarily mean that he was over Heather.

"Yeah, maybe. When were you thinking about coming?"

"First week of next month."

"That's not even three weeks away."

"Is that too soon? I can try and get some different days off of work."

Well, it certainly seemed like she had already put in the effort to make this trip work out. "No, that's fine. Tell me the exact dates so I can write them down."

She gave him the four days that she planned on being there, and they ended the call not long after. Beau hung up and took the dates to his mother who was working at the computer.

"You look confused," Evelyn noted.

"Yeah, Heather just called. She wants to come out here for a few days so we can talk things over."

"Do you want her to come?"

Beau shrugged. "It's worth talking over, I guess. We were together for a long time, Mom."

"That's true, you were. How do you think Absidee will feel about your ex-girlfriend being here?"

"What does Absidee have to do with anything? She and I are just friends." The truth was, Absidee had been the first thought in his mind. No, he wasn't over Heather, but the more time he spent with Absidee, the less what Heather had done hurt him.

"Well, I don't think your father meant to spy, but he said that you and Absidee were looking pretty close when he picked you up last night."

Beau sighed. "I don't know, Mom. She's got so much on her plate, and I can't ask her to add to it."

"Oh, but it's okay to ask Heather to do it?" Evelyn stood and put a hand on her son's shoulder. "Now, I'm not siding with Heather. You know she wasn't really my favorite to begin with; I've always thought she was a little bit spoiled. Thing is, I don't want you getting back with her just because you two were together for so long - especially if there's someone else you're interested in."

Beau nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Just, don't let me forget Heather's coming, okay?"

"All right."

Beau hugged his mother and then walked out to the garage. Maybe he couldn't get on a motorcycle, but just being in the garage was helpful. He could feel the memory of the two conversations he'd just had fading away, but he tried to hold onto it for as long as he could; he really want to think all of this over. Grabbing a permanent marker from the workbench, he wrote a note to himself on his forearm.

Heather's coming to visit in a few weeks.

Now he could be reminded throughout the day. Absidee had texted him that morning that she was going to work but that she would be busy catching up from the day before, but she would call him as soon as she was off work. As much as he wanted to talk to her just then, he knew he would just have to wait.



"I haven't seen you all day," Michael commented when he finally crossed paths with his daughter as she was getting ready to leave.

"It's been busy," Absidee replied. "You doing okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm doing fine. How about you? Didn't see that young man around here today."

"His name is Beau," Absidee smiled. "And I figured it would be busy today, so I told him I would call him when I got off work. He came over for supper yesterday."

"Really?" Michael said. "So he met your grandfather?"

Absidee nodded. "He did really well with Grandpa, actually. Grandpa was quiet since he wasn't feeling well anyway, but it was nice to have some other company. Is that a horrible thing to say?"

Michael shook his head. "I don't think so. I always think that I should spend more time over there with you, but things get crazy here sometimes."

"I understand."

"Absidee, I want you to know that if this all gets to be too much, you can tell me. We can figure something else out."

Knowing full well that "something else" would be to put Mac in a nursing home, Absidee immediately shook her head. "It's fine, Dad. Having Beau around is already making things easier. He's very understanding, and he doesn't mind just being at the house when we hang out."

"Think things will ever evolve between the two of you?"

Absidee shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. We both have a lot going on right now, so we just want to be friends first."

"That certainly never hurt anything." He reached over to hug his daughter. "Be safe going home. I'll see you tomorrow."

Absidee kissed her father's cheek and hurried out to her truck. She called Beau to let him know she was heading home and asked if she should pick him up on the way. He agreed and told her he'd be waiting outside again.

Traffic was a little busy as she navigated, so she just took her time and thought things over. Up until that last second, she had every intention of letting Beau kiss her the night before. In fact, she had regretted not letting him kiss her as she lay in bed, replaying the day's events in her head. He smelled so wonderful and he made her feel so at ease. Giving in to him wouldn't have been difficult at all.

Except that her life was difficult just now. She had to concentrate on her grandfather and keeping him well enough to be at home for as long as possible. She was thankful that Beau understood that and agreed that he still wanted to be her friend, but what if there was another almost-kiss? How many could Beau withstand before giving up on her?

"He agreed to be friends with you, Absidee," she said out loud. "Let it go at that. He probably won't even try to kiss you again any time soon, so don't get your hopes up."

She focused back on the road, but couldn't help but wonder just how many almost-kisses she could withstand before letting it happen. Sighing, she admitted to herself that resistance may have been a one-time occurrence.