Linked by Heather Bowhay

out – to find a way to make
your life easier. He really is a good guy, and I’ve never known him to be
anything but thoughtful.” I snorted but she ignored me. “Not to mention, he’s
never let me erase any memories for him in the past; I doubt he’d start now.”
    “How
convenient,” I said sarcastically. I drummed my fingers against the bench.
After a few minutes, I slapped the bench and said, “You know what? You can just
tell him I did have you erase the memories.”
    “What?”
She raised her shoulders and put her hands up in the air. “Now you want me to
do it?” She looked perplexed.
    “Oh
no! Absolutely not. I want you to tell him you did, even though you didn’t.”
    “That
doesn’t make any sense.” Her brows narrowed. “Besides, I don’t want to lie to
him.”
    “Listen
Hannah,” I said and grabbed her arm, “He wants to make it easier for the two of
us to be around each other, to keep our relationship strictly on a friendship
level. Maybe he’s hoping that if you erased the memories of our kisses that
would mute my feelings, and…and maybe he’s right.”
    She
was staring at me like I was a conundrum. “Why not just have me take the
memories away for real then?”
    “Close
your eyes,” I said firmly, and she gave me a funny look. “I’m serious. Close
your eyes.” At length she complied. “Now, think back to the most extraordinary
kiss you’ve ever experienced. Recreate the atmosphere and remember where you
were and how you felt.” I gave her several seconds to place the image in her
head. “You got it?”
    She
smiled, almost dreamily, and nodded. “Yes, it was with Daniel.”
    “Okay,
great. So now you’re ready for me to completely obliterate that memory from
your mind?” Her eyes popped open, growing wide. Slowly, she shook her head from
side to side. “Well, neither am I,” I said adamantly. “Please do this Hannah.
At least for your brother if not for me. You don’t have to outright lie to him,
but if he asks you could just nod your head that it’s been done.”
    “You
already care deeply for him, don’t you?” She sounded worried.
    I
ignored her question. “Please say yes. It will make things easier between him
and me.”
    Fiddling
with her clip, she rotated it nervously between her hands. “Okay, fine. If he
asks, I’ll pretend I did it.”
    “Thanks,”
I said quietly. “And don’t worry, I won’t hurt him.”
    Frown
lines formed around her lips. “It’s not him I’m worried about.”
    “I’ll
be fine,” I assured her with a smile and gazed down at a small crowd forming by
the dock. “Wonder what they’re doing?” I pointed.
    She
glanced at the group of people and said, “Oh, it looks like they’re feeding
Popeye. He’s the local, one-eyed harbor seal – grossly overweight from being
overfed by tourists. He’s quite the crowd pleaser.” She smiled.
    I
turned and faced sideways on the bench. “You said Jason has a hard time letting
people in.” I hesitated. “Is there a story behind that?”
    Her
face looked stormy as she wrapped her hair tightly on top of her head and
hastily fastened it together with the clip. “Yes, he was hurt pretty bad by a
girl he’d been dating pretty seriously for more than a year.”
    She stopped,
so I prompted her. “Yeah, what happened?”
    “Well,
the Bellingham Circle was hosting one of the annual events at the Retreat; it
was like a four day event. We had a huge crowd of Guardians from all over the
country, especially a lot of younger people. Jason’s girlfriend at the time, Carissa ,”
she said the name distastefully, like she’d just swallowed a tablespoon of Cod
Liver Oil, “hooked up with another guy, a Guardian from Chicago. Within a week
she’d broken Jason’s heart, packed her bags, and caught a plane to Illinois
where she joined her new boyfriend’s Circle.”
    “She
must have been a complete idiot,” I said with chagrin. I couldn’t imagine
finding someone better than