Learning to Remember

15. Sunday Dinner

"I was thinking about taking the boat out to the lake Wednesday. You want to come?"

John sat there pushing his food around on his plate, not hearing his father speaking to him.

His parents glanced at each other before his mother spoke. "How was the block party yesterday? I'm sorry we didn't make it back in town in time. You know how your aunt is the worst at saying goodbye at the end of our visits. But we weren't going to miss Sunday dinner with our son, of course."

When John didn't seem to notice them speaking, his father reached over and touched his shoulder. John sat up abruptly in alarm.

"Sorry, son, I didn't mean to scare you." He said, chuckling. "You're pretty spaced out. Something on your mind?"

John sighed and looked back down at his plate. "Yeah, you could say that." he said before forcing himself to take a bite of mashed potatoes.

"I'd say that was an understatement, John." His mother said. "I've never seen you so distracted at dinner."

John sighed as he put his fork down on his plate and leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hand through his red hair. "I don't even know where to begin."

"The beginning is always a good place to start." His father chuckled before sipping his water.

"I don't know if you remember me mentioning the woman that moved next door to me last December. The one who turned up at the school in January where I learned she was also a teacher?"

"Seems like I remember that, yes." His mother nodded.

John spent the next half hour telling his parents everything from the time he found Amelia bleeding on the street up to through everything that transpired at the block party the day before.

"You didn't tell her you weren't interested in that other girl, that it was all a misunderstanding?" His mother asked, obviously concerned.

"I didn't really have a chance to." He said as he twisted his water glass in his hands.

"So you go over there right now and explain." His father said sternly. "You really like this girl, and I'm sure she likes you too. You don't want to let the opportunity pass you by, son. The longer she thinks you're not interested, the closer she'll get to that Ben fella."

John groaned and ran his hand behind his neck. "There's one more thing I haven't told you."

"What is it?" His mother asked, sitting on the edge of her seat as if she were watching one of her soap operas. John thought he would laugh if he weren't so miserable.

"The only time she and I had any real interaction before she lost her memory was at a staff party several months ago. I thought she was beautiful. And then when I had a chance to talk with her later in the evening, I thought we'd gotten along well so I asked her out."

"And?" His mom asked and this time he did chuckle slightly before shaking his head.

"She gave me a quick and firm no."

"But she didn't really know you then, right?" She asked.

"No, we'd just talked maybe around ten minutes I guess. I honestly don't know what I was thinking, asking out someone I work with like that." He shook his head in disbelief.

"Well there you go. Now she's gotten to know you better. The situation is different now.

"We've only really known each other a couple weeks." He sighed.

"Son." His father got his attention. "I'm not saying run out to propose to the woman. But she's obviously made a strong impression on you. And I'm sure you've done the same to her. That's how a genuine love story begins." He reached over and took his mothers hand.