The Important Parts, Chapter 6
Chapter 6
I watched you die. The words echoed in his head. Dropping his hand from the doorknob, Reid slowly turned and replied, “You what now?”
Luke really had not wanted to broach this part of the story this early, but it was naïve thinking he could avoid it. “First, my name is Luke Snyder. But to answer your question, it’s a long story. You went to Bay City to get a heart for your best friend’s boyfriend who needed a transplant. On the way there, your car got stuck on some railroad tracks, a train came, and I don’t know if it was your claustrophobia or what, but you didn’t make it out of the car.” He stopped for a moment trying to gauge Reid’s reaction but the auburn-haired man’s face was unreadable.
“By the time the medics got you to the hospital, the doctors told me you were beyond saving. They gave you medicine to keep you comfortable. I sat with you and tried to argue you into staying with me, but you were too injured. You died. Your last wish had been to give your heart to the man who needed the transplant and that’s what I thought had happened until I saw you this morning.” Luke’s eyes started to shimmer with tears as he told this story, but he managed to hold it together. He couldn’t get over it-Reid was here.
“You saw me this morning?” Reid asked distractedly, his mind unable to process everything he had heard.
“Just after your consult with Dr. Holmes. I saw you get on the elevator.”
He watched Reid weigh Luke’s story. Reid clenched his jaw and then finally said, “Look, your story is interesting, but I can’t possibly be Reid Oliver. I have a past; I don’t’ remember it, but there are records. I’ve got a birth certificate, a social security number, and people who remember me.” Admittedly, not very many.
Letting out a breath of air, Luke replied, “Okay, I don’t know how that all came about. Unfortunately, that probably has something to do with someone I know-no, I don’t know who-but there are people in my life with the kind of money and power to pull something like this off. I’ll find out everything, though, even if I have to spend every last dime I have. But, let me prove to you that you’re Reid. I know things about you that no one else does.”
“This should be good,” Reid snorted.
“Always the skeptic,” Luke commented with a weak grin. Then he began rapidly talking about the man he still remembered so well after five-and-a-half years. “Fine, you babble when you’re nervous. You secretly like babies even though you call them germ-breeders. You hate elevators. You do yoga in the middle of the night-your best friend actually told me that one. You love sandwiches and food in general. Most people think you’re a great surgeon because you’re so dispassionate and clinical, but it’s the opposite.”
Luke peeked out from underneath his eyelashes to see if he was affecting Reid at all. He saw that he was and so he continued, “You care about your patients greatly; when a patient dies you hold yourself completely responsible. You kept pictures of the patients who meant the most to you so that you could better yourself for the next time. Shall I go on?”
Reid had listened to Luke in growing amazement. Luke knew more about him than anyone in New York. It was terrifying. Everything but the yoga was true. He held up his hand to stop Luke from talking anymore. This couldn’t be real. He watched as Luke was pulling something out of his wallet and handing it to Reid. The doctor slowly held out his hand and grasped it, knowing somehow that it would forever alter his world. He gazed downward, his eyes at first not focusing, and then he saw a picture of himself in a lab coat, smiling. His hair did not have white threaded in it and he looked slightly younger. This picture was the only candid one Reid had ever seen of himself as an adult prior to five years ago. Reid’s hand started shaking. Hell, his whole body was shaking. He closed his eyes trying to quiet his nerves.
Gently, Luke spoke, “I took that picture of you a few weeks before the accident. You were up for chief-of-staff and had met with some union reps to discuss the hospital. You’d completely ignored my fashion advice, but the meeting went great and you were really happy. I got that picture of you on our way out. That’s a diner we frequented in the background.”
Luke watched Reid carefully. The doctor was generally impossible for people to read, but Luke’s talent in life seemed to be understanding Reid more than anyone else. He was going to use that to his advantage now. “I know you would never admit to it, but it must have hurt that no one claimed you after the accident. I can’t imagine how scared you were and I wish to God I’d been here. But, Reid, know that you were wanted desperately. You changed my life. You stuck by me. You made me grow up. I would have never left you. I thought that you left me. Forever.”
Reid looked at the man before him. He couldn’t even fathom that he had experienced anything remotely like the relationship Luke was describing. This kid--good God, how much younger is he than me?-wore his emotions on his face. There was nothing secretive, nothing hidden. It was overwhelming. He did not remember Luke, he did not remember being in love, and he was pretty sure he was not interested in it.
Sensing that he had pushed Reid too far, Luke decided to change the subject quickly. “For the record, you would have gotten the chief-of-staff job. Bob, the former chief and your mentor, told me as much later after the accident.”
“What do you want, Mr. Snyder?” Reid asked on a sigh.
Luke smiled at the use of his surname, memories surging. He shrugged one shoulder upward and replied, “I’d like to help you, to get to know you again. Whatever you’re comfortable with. I’d also like to find out who is responsible for what has happened.” No need to tell him I have every intention of us being together for the rest of our lives.
“Look. I’ll meet with you again and see if we can jog a few memories, but I don’t know you and I have spent the past five years just fine without you. Let’s not romanticize a four-month relationship just because there’s some long lost amnesiac twist at the end.”
“You were ever the blunt one, Dr. Oliver. Deal. Let’s do lunch tomorrow in the cafeteria at noon?” Luke could not believe Reid had not put up more of a fight.
“It’s Dr. Mitchell and I’ll see you then.”
There was an awkward pause as neither man knew quite what to do. Reid finally turned and walked out of the room. Luke walked forward, turned, and collapsed against the closing door.
Reid is alive and he believes me!