Remember Me

REMEMBER ME PROLOGUE SPRING 2019 Nicholas Wentworth re-read the text he had just received from his lawyer as he sat at the outdoor café on the Barcelona waterfront. The wind from the sea was brisk as it found the cord for the canvas umbrella and swung it rhythmically against the iron table. Tap Tap, Tap Tap, Tap Tap. Finally, after all these years he was divorced. His pulse kicked up a few beats as he stared down at the coffee in his cup and tried to process the news. Nick’s lawyer had even included a picture of his now ex-wife Susan and her new husband Steve, who had been her live-in for years. Nick still had a hard time believing he had fallen for her story of a pregnancy after a one-night stand nineteen years ago. He had just completed a secret eighteen-month project for the U.S. government when he hooked up with Susan. He had project earnings of one hundred fifty thousand dollars in his bank account and was celebrating being together with his fellow marines in a bar in San Diego. He never could remember meeting her that night. He had woken up in her apartment on a stained brown plaid couch and snuck out the door before being discovered. While jogging away to find a cab he admonished himself and swore he wouldn’t drink so much again. They were married by a Justice of the Peace six weeks later after a tearful phone call from Susan saying that she was pregnant and telling Nick he was the father. He always wondered which of his so-called friends had given her his phone number. Years later his father asked him why he had not asked a few pointed questions before hastily marrying her and leaving for his next mission. Immediately following the ceremony Nick left for an overseas deployment. The alleged one night was the only time they had spent together and Susan called two weeks after the marriage ceremony and said she had miscarried. Nick had no recollection of the night they spent together or of even meeting her in the bar because of the amount of liquor he had that night. He had been uncharacteristically drinking as if he had been trying to drown his sorrows or forget something that played at the edges of his memory every so often. The details of his eighteen-month project weren’t clear in his mind and whenever he tried to recall that time, he would get a headache. Nick was never sure how he had ended up with Susan that night but it had set the tone for his future. They never lived together after he returned home, and she demanded a monthly allowance which seemed to satisfy her. Having many girlfriends and never settling down became the story of Nick’s life. If he got close to a woman, Susan somehow found out and always interfered by demanding more money and refusing to grant him a divorce. She constantly threatened to tell a judge creative lies and enjoyed telling his latest girlfriend that he got her pregnant, abandoned her and purposely shipped out. The truth was he had orders to leave on his next deployment before that fateful night. Nick’s phone buzzed with another incoming text from Joey, his best friend, co-pilot and co-owner of their private security firm. The plane would be ready in one hour and they would return to the United States after an uncomplicated three-week contract, watching over a wealthy Spanish family while they were on a vacation in Italy. After leaving the marines Nick and Joey had established their successful security business escorting mostly wealthy vacationing families around the world and keeping their clients safe from real or imagined threats. Nick loved his business and it gave him pride to have established his own wealth. The busines gave him financial freedom and no pressure to be involved in his father’s billionaire real estate empire when he left the marines. Trying to identify his feelings about his divorce was a complicated mix of emotions. Relief at not having to pay anymore now that a financial settlement had been reached was one of his first thoughts. He had never had any emotional ties to Susan except for guilt that he had no feelings for her and some self-disgust that he had allowed himself to get into that situation. Nick was fairly certain that his current girlfriend Amanda would push for marriage the minute she found out about his newly single state. He had a comfortable arrangement with Amanda. They were sexually compatible and liked to do many of the same things. They did not live together and although she had suggested it numerous times, he put her off using the excuse of his overseas travel for his business. The real reason was that he did not love her and had vowed if he ever married again or lived with a woman, she would be someone he loved. SPRING 1999 ––––––––