All Chapters of Promises Forgotten: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

His back was turned to me and he was looking out the window. I thanked the gods that I didn’t meet his eyes. I think right there I would have crumbled. But seeing his back, being reminded that all I would ever see is this man’s back made me angrier. It helped me look back down at the page and fight through the pain that now hammered in my heart. Reading over the first couple pages, I went back and started crossing out paragraphs. Fifteen million. They were offering me fifteen fucking million and part of me wanted to be a petty bitch and take them for all their pennies. I couldn’t, though. I couldn’t even take them for more than what I was thinking to help Elliot in the future. Reading through more of it, fifteen million wasn’t even all of it. They also added in a trust of five million, which I crossed out and put one million. That would cover all of Elliot’s college and then some if he wanted to invest in something for his future. Everything else I crossed out. I came to a fun clause

Peeling my eyes open, I was met with the familiar throbbing headache. It hit differently with an extra burn in the stomach and throat. Slowly sitting up, I looked around. I was in bed, which I didn’t remember being in. Hell, I didn’t even remember coming inside. The last thing I remembered sitting out in the rain, strumming and singing. I felt better. I felt better minus the copious amount of whiskey that was burning its way through my veins. Sitting up, I was still in my dress shirt and slacks. I discarded them and pulled on some sweats. Making my way down the stairs, I opened up the fridge and grabbed some milk. I needed something to coat my stomach at this point. I didn’t even know what time it was. There was still an edge of fuzziness that confirmed I’d drank enough that I hadn’t slept it off. “Welcome back to the land of the living.” Spewing milk over the counter, I nearly jumped out of my skin as Adrian popped his head up over the couch. “Fucking hell. Dumbass, don’t scare th

“Are you sure you want to continue?” I laughed through the tears. “I mean, it can’t hurt any worse than it does, right?” “I think we need Jason and more liquor, though.” Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes. Fuck, when was the last time I cried like this? College maybe? No, before that. High school after my dad told us that he didn’t care that Adrian and I didn’t approve of Claudia. He had married her already and so she was our mother whether or not we liked it. “Adrian was with him, so I guess we get double trouble. But that means double the liquor.” I sighed. “I didn’t tell Adrian yet. He kept asking questions but I didn’t say.” “It’s fine. I’m sure Jason already spilled the beans. He sounded drunk already.” “Great. Now, I’m never going to hear the end of this.” Stacy laughed. “What? Them catching us sitting on the floor of your office, looking like a mess because we just cried through those photos and that was the smaller of the four folders? Yeah. No doubt. How old are we

We spent another two hours going through photos and videos of Greece. I started to recognize more places. The last few of my memories that I had slowly recovered over the past few weeks had the setting correctly backdropped. Some of the photos I knew were direct from the memories I had already recalled. Everyone was in tears after seeing the seventy or so photos that I had apparently taken. Evie’s photos and videos were more candid, but there were fewer of them than there were at Vegas. We sat in silence, finishing our drinks as I closed the laptop. Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes. Stacy was right about one thing. After looking at these, even if I never got my memories back, this fundamentally changed me. The path going forward for my life was now altered. I could never go back. Not after seeing these. Knowing what I had and what I lost, I never wanted to love again. Everything would pale. Even Adrian was struggling with the concept of it. I knew I would never love Jennifer.

Leaning over, he put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath through his guffawing. “M*****a chica, te llevaré a donde quieras ir.” [Damn girl, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.] I felt strong hands on my shoulders and Zach pulled me back. The smirk he was wearing earlier was gone. Clear irritation was written all over his face. The chef straightened up and looked at him for a moment before chuckling. “A couple specials, coming up! I can’t make a beautiful woman pay, though. It’s on the house.” He turned and walked into the small space. Making quick work, he moved nimbly around the kitchen. It was surprising between the size of the space and the size of him, but he whipped up two orders of tacos and came back over, handing them to us. Zach reached over me and grabbed the two containers from him. “Oh shit! Let me get…” He turned in to the truck and opened a mini fridge in the corner. “Mamá just made a new batch today.” Pouring out two drinks, I took them from him an