Finding Carrie by C. E. Snyder

turned to hold her arm out so Carrie could use it to lean on. She noticed the necklace around Carrie’s neck. She knew it was Isaac’s gift for her on their anniversary, because she and Dave had helped him pick it out. “You’re still wearing that?” Carrie looked down.
    “What? This?” She picked up the pendent and draped it over her hand to show Amy how it matched. “Look, it matches my ring.”
    Amy looked at her and smiled. “I know,” Amy said. Carrie dropped her hand and stepped into the shower. Amy jumped to the sink and brought out her cell phone. She wrote a text to Isaac. You could have warned me about her injured side! Pushing send, she laid it beside her on the sink. “Are you all right? Do you need me?”
    “No, I’m managing. My arm doesn’t want to reach up to my head, so I have to do it one-handed. Isaac washes my hair for me.” As she said the last about Isaac, she heard music going off. “Amy, what is that?” Amy picked up her phone. She had gotten a reply from Isaac. Sorry, I know it’s bad, but I don’t want her to think it’s bad. She has two broken ribs.
    “Oh, it’s just my phone,” Amy said as she texted him back. It looks like her whole side is broken. Do you know what happened?
    “Oh,” Carrie said, rinsing her hair. “I’m ready to get out,” she announced. Amy jumped off the sink and grabbed a towel. Carrie turned off the water and stepped out. Amy wrapped her in a towel. Again, Amy’s phone went off. “I’ll go get dressed,” Carrie announced.
    “I’ll be there in a minute to help,” Amy said, reading the text from Isaac. I know. No one knows exactly, but the doctor says she was thrown. Amy brought her hand up to her mouth; she was feeling anguish for her friend. She wished that she had been there so she could have protected her, but she didn’t even know that they had gone to California until they were already there. She went to help Carrie get dressed.
     

     
    Isaac got Amy’s text back and set his phone on the rehearsal piano. He was in his cat costume, with the exception of makeup. He had orange fur, and they were making sure he fit in the costume. “Isaac, I think you were born to be a cat,” the costume manager said.
    “Yes, it does seem to be purr-fect doesn’t it,” he replied, looking down at his body.
    “Yep. Oh, Isaac, I heard about your mother. Is everything okay?” Maggie, the costume manager said.
    “Well, no,” Isaac started to say. “My wife was attacked in the hospital, and my mother was kidnapped.”
    “Oh no, is Carrie all right?” she said, her hand at her mouth.
    “Yes and no. She has amnesia, and she’s pretty bruised. She has cuts on her face. Oh, and she has two broken ribs on her side,” he explained with a catch in his voice, he was close to tears. Maggie gave him a hug of sympathy.
    “I’m so sorry. She doesn’t remember anything?” she asked, letting go of him.
    “Nothing, not even her family. The weird thing is that last night she didn’t want me to sleep in bed with her, but this morning she was laying on the floor next to me in the living room.” He wasn’t going to add that he put his feet on her side and made her feel severe pain. Just hurting her made him sad.
    “Well, maybe she is starting to remember something,” she said to reassure him.
    “I don’t think she is remembering anything. This morning I had to tell her how to tell her daughters apart. I still have trouble sometimes,” he said, leaning against the piano for support.
    “Well, maybe she is starting to fall in love with you again and not realizing it,” she said with a smile.
    “I think she might.” He smiled. “She told me that she had a dream that I was going to leave her,” he said, thinking about this morning.
    “That’s it; it’s coming back to her,” she said, smiling so wide that she showed her teeth. She loved Carrie and was secretly jealous of the love they shared. Their love was a once in a lifetime kind of love. “I