We clink our bottles together and we take a long sip, letting go a silent sigh at the same time.

Right then, Shane’s cell rings.

**

Flashback – Months earlier – McCutcheon/Morales’ house

I freeze the frame on the TV screen. It’s me and Carmen making a toast. We are looking into each other’s eyes with that look full of wonder that people have when something unexpectedly and unhopefully beautiful happens.

Carmen is smiling her million dollar smile at me, on the screen. I turn my head and I meet her eyes, and they’re full of a bittersweet emotion. She just shakes her head, wincing briefly in frustration.

“I am sorry babe…”, she whispers rubbing her forehead, “…I don’t remember”.

She closes her eyes and I can see the sparkle of tears wetting her long eyelashes. I just take a long breath and hug her tightly, rocking gently. Carmen rests her head on my chest as I lay down on the couch. The trembling frame on the screen spreads quivering shadows all over the room.

“Don’t cry, Carm. It’s okay”, I murmur huskily, “It doesn’t matter”.

“Yes, it does, Shane. It does matter to me”, she replies, her voice cracking.

I kiss the top of her head and rake my fingers through her long, thick hair. I know she does care. I know she would like to remember that day so much. But she doesn’t and, at this point, there is nothing we can really do about it. Maybe what happened before the wedding was so sad, so painful for her that her mind just erased it permanently. Maybe that gap is all my fault.

“It’s not your fault”, Carmen says abruptly and apparently out of the blue. Her face is still buried into my shirt.

I lift my head slightly.

“What?”.

“I told you it’s not your fault. If I don’t remember, it’s because my temporal lobe is damaged. It’s not because you did something awful and my mind chose to forget that day purposefully”.

“I did something awful”.

“You were about to, but you ended doing something incredible”, Carmen replies softly.

My hand rests on her shoulder as she interweaves her legs with mine.

“Are you reading my mind, now?”, I ask, smiling in the dim light, “Do you have some superpower that I’m not aware of?”.

Carmen giggles and her fingers trace invisible paths on my chest.

“No, honey”, she replies slowly, “I don’t have any superpower. I just know the way you reason. And I know how much you underestimate yourself”.

“Aaawww!”, I gasp, “I so wanted to keep that part of me hidden from this new you!”.

She giggles again and props on her elbow, looking at me straight in the eyes.

“You’re full of shit”, she says smiling, biting her lower lip in that sexy way of hers.

“You’re offending me”.

“You’re funny”.

“Okay, now you’re teasing me”.

“You’re…”.

I silent her with a kiss.

End Flashback

Shane grabs her phone from the counter and flips it open with no hesitation.

“Yeah…”, she says and the tension in her voice is obvious, adamantine.

“…Hey Chase… What?”, her eyes pop out and she parts her lips. I put the bottle back on the table, standing up.

“…What… No, no, I got it… I… “, she shakes her head and rakes her hand through her messy hair.

“…Okay, okay… Just call… I’ll be right there, okay? I’m on my way”.

She hangs up and turns her head to me, slowly.

“WAX is burning”.

She’s shocked. I purse my lips and head towards the living room.

“I’m gonna call Carmen”.

TBC