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“I’m here to see Mercedes Richmond.”

She nods. “Your name?”

“Juliette Shaw.”

“And is she expecting you?” she asks as she picks up the phone and I nod.

“Jett!”

I whirl around as Mercedes struts into the lobby, looking every bit the successful, sexy mogul she is on her way to becoming in her pale pink pencil skirt and black v-neck shirt. Her honey blonde hair hangs in waves around her face and I swear, she hasn’t aged a day since the last time I remember seeing her.

“Oh my God, Mer!” I exclaim, abandoning the girl behind the desk as I close the distance between us. “Look at you! You look incredible.”

As soon as I’m within her reach, she reaches out and pulls me into a hug, squeezing me tightly to her body and a wave of relief washes through me. My life may be a complete mess right now and I may not be able to remember anything since I moved away from this city but at least this, our friendship, never changes.

“Me? Look at you,” she parrots as she pulls away and grips my shoulders to inspect my face. “You’re fucking glowing, babe.”

I fight back a smile as heat rushes to my cheeks and the kiss Sawyer gave me last night plays through my mind. Her brow arches.

“Oh, I definitely want to know what that look was all about.” Her gaze drops to the bag in my hand. “Is that lunch?”

I nod. “Yeah. I stopped by Nina’s and picked up our favorites.”

“Oh my gosh, I haven’t been to Nina’s since you moved away. Let’s go eat in my office,” she says, looping her arm through mine as we walk into a large room with a long oval table right down the middle of one side and individual cubbies on the other side. Along the walls on either side of me are doors and windows leading to more private office spaces and at the very back of the room is an office decked out in gold.

“Gee, let me guess which one is your office,” I tease and she grins at me.

“Good taste never dies, Jett.”

I laugh, shaking my head at her as she leads me into the office and clears off one of the chairs for me. After handing her the bag of food, I sit down and turn to look out the window at the hustle and bustle in her office.

“This place is amazing, Mer. I’m so proud of you.”

She beams at me as she passes me my sandwich. “Thank you but I want to hear about you.”

“Oh? What about me?”

She shakes her head as she points a finger at me. “Don’t play with me, Jett! You call me three days ago to tell me that you don’t remember any part of your life and now you’re sitting across from me eating lunch plus I’m certain that there’s something going on between you and Sawyer and I need every single detail.”

“Okay.” I laugh. “What do you want to know?”

“Start at the very beginning.”

My eyes widen. “Waking up back in the hospital?”

She nods enthusiastically as she takes a bite out of her sandwich and I sigh as I launch into the story, telling her how I heard Gavin’s voice calling out to me but it felt like I was just floating through darkness.

“That sounds terrifying.”

“It wasn’t, really. It was actually kind of soothing, like falling to sleep, except for when I did want to communicate and couldn’t.”

She flashes me a sympathetic look. “What did you do when you woke up and there was a stranger beside you?”

“Honestly, I think I just stared at him. It was so disorienting, Mer. I mean, I knew I was in a hospital but I couldn’t figure out how I got there and then trying to piece together the last thing I remembered…” I shake my head. “And then they told me my dad was dead and I was engaged to the man next to me.”

“It’s so crazy,” she whispers. “Why do you think that night we went out to celebrate your move is where your memories cut off?”

“I have no clue. Maybe I was unhappy in Miami and I wanted to be back here.”