“Let’s see if we’ll agree to agree after our dinner tomorrow.” He laughed and leaned over to kiss me goodbye.

I giggled, grateful that he seemed to always have a way of making me feel comfortable.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He headed out of the kitchen and then stopped and turned around to look back at me.

“What is it?” I looked at him expectantly, thinking he had forgotten something.

He flashed me a beautiful smile and winked at me. “I love you, gorgeous.” And without another word, he turned, rounded the corner, and disappeared from view, leaving me standing in the kitchen smiling after him.

***

After Connor left, I spent the rest of the morning going through one of the oldest-looking photo albums that I’d found of mine, which was filled with photos from my childhood. I laughed through the first half of the album as it was filled page after page of just me as a very chubby and very happy baby. It wasn’t until the second half of the album that more pictures of my parents appeared.

I smiled at the sight of them—they looked as happy and beautiful as I had seen them in my most recent memory this morning. Tears fell down my face when my eyes landed on several pictures of me in front of the same light blue house from my flashback. There was one of my parents and me standing together in front of the house next to a “SOLD” sign on the lawn. There was another of my mom chasing me around on the lawn, threatening to tickle me with her hands if she caught up to me. There was an unadulterated look of pure joy and innocence on my face and I could almost hear the high-pitched squeals of happiness that had undoubtedly escaped my mouth. Then I got to the next picture in the album, and it caused a grin to spread across my face. It was me smiling as wide as my tiny lips would go. I had my arms around a girl and a boy—the same two kids that I had seen in my flashback, the ones having a tea party in the treehouse next door.

“So we did become friends,” I heard myself say out loud as my fingers traced the edges of the photograph.

Just then, a middle-aged woman in a black and white maid’s outfit walked into the room, causing me to look up from the photo album.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Stuart.” I could hear a hint of her Puerto Rican accent come through in her voice.

“Hi, Debra.” I smiled. “What did I ask you to call me?”

She paused and smiled uncomfortably. “I’m sorry Ms. St—Liv. You know it’s just that Mr. Brady, he prefers that I greet you formally.”

I rolled my eyes. One thing I’d learned about Connor in the last two weeks was how serious he could be about things. He had reminded me early on that Debra, Jim, and Bill were employees and we needed to try and keep things professional. What was it that he had said? “They may be working in our house, but they’re still employees, so there needs to be some boundaries. Becoming too informal with them will only blur those boundaries.”

I knew Connor did not become a thirty-two-year-old multi-millionaire by accident. I knew he was great at managing people and money. I knew that to some extent he was right—that being informal with your employees may cause some professional lines to be blurred. But I also knew that even if Connor felt like he had to maintain that clear separation between himself and his employees, it didn’t necessarily mean that I had to treat them the same way. I didn’t know how I was before I’d lost my memory, but I knew how I felt now.

I smiled up at Debra. “I know Connor likes to keep things professional, but,” I closed the photo album and stood up, “I’m not Connor. So please call me Liv.”

“But…” She shifted uncomfortably in place.

I sighed. “How about this? When he’s at home, you can address me as Ms. Stuart. But when it’s just me, please call me Liv.”

She thought about it and nodded as she looked at me with kind eyes. “That’d be good.”

“Great.”

“Ms.—I mean, Liv, it’s noon. Would you like some lunch?”

“I had something in the late morning, so I’m not hungry. Thank you, though.”

“I can make you something light. You really should eat something,” she insisted.

“It’s really okay, Debra. I’m not hungry. I was actually thinking about going for a walk.”

“I can fix you a quick snack or salad, or would you like me to pack you something to go?”

One look at her and I knew she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Sure, maybe a snack I can take with me.”

“Thank you.”

Thank me for what? I thought to myself and wanted to ask. But I held my tongue, knowing that I was putting her in a tough situation as it was. “Can I help in any way?” I asked as I followed her into the kitchen.

She gave me a polite smile. “No, thank you for the offer, but I am fine. Do you want me to tell Jim that you want to go out? He can get the car ready.”

“No, I was planning on walking.”

She frowned. “Where were you going to go?”

I thought about it. “Mmm, I don’t know. I was thinking about walking over to the running trail that runs alongside the Schuylkill River. Anna said I used to run along that trail every morning before work. I was hoping it’d jog some memories.” I giggled. “Pun intended,” I teased playfully, hoping it’d help Debra relax a bit.

Her polite smile returned on her face but she didn’t seem to relax. “Are you sure you don’t want Jim to drop you off? It’s quite a walk and—”

“Debra, I’ll be fine,” quickly cutting her off as a wave of annoyance came over me. “I’m not a child. I’m sure Jim has better things to do than to drive me the six or seven blocks so I can walk along a running trail.”

Her face turned red. “I’m sorry, Ms.—Liv. I…I’m just worried that you’ll get lost. Mr. Brady asked me to look after you while he was gone, and I just want to make sure you’re looked after.”

“I’m sorry, Debra. I really appreciate that.” I instantly felt ashamed for lashing out at her. I could tell that Connor was strict and demanded nothing but the best from his employees. I knew she was just doing her job. “But really, I’m okay. I have my iPhone, I can look up directions or hail an Uber if I get lost and need a ride back home.”

“Uber?”

“Yeah, it’s a cool new app on my phone that Anna showed me. You just pull it up and hail a car. It has GPS tracking so one of their drivers in the area will be instantly assigned to you. They’ll pick you up and take to wherever you want. It’s great.”

“Oh, yes. I think my daughter has used that before.”

“Sure beats a taxi if you’re not in a busy area of the city. So you see, you have nothing to worry about. I won’t get lost.”

“You can also call Jim, too. Do you have his number?”

I smiled and tried to remind myself that she was just looking out for me. “I do. Connor gave it to me when I first got back from the hospital. But I just prefer Uber. It’s connected to my own credit card, and well…I prefer to do some things on my own, without relying on Connor.” I looked at my phone and realized I hadn’t known this was how I felt until I’d just admitted it to Debra.

Debra smiled at me in understanding—it was a warm and genuine smile, different from the polite smile she’d made earlier. “I understand. I tell my daughter to always be independent and strong.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For understanding.” My eyes became misty and I quickly blinked away any signs of tears from my eyes. “It’s been an overwhelming few weeks and I want to figure things out myself—I want to feel like I could stand on my own.”

Then to my surprise, Debra outstretched her arms and pulled me into her embrace. “You’ll be okay. Ever since I first met you when you first started dating Mr. Brady, you always seemed like a strong and independent woman.”

I hugged Debra back before pulling away. “Really?” I sniffled. “Thank you.”

She smiled as she straightened up her uniform.