Remember Me by Laura Browning Page A

shone through the one small window, casting a patch of warm light on the snow. This would be over soon. She buried the end of the flare in the snow, feeling like she was closing the door on an entire life. In reality, it was four days, but they were four days that had changed her existence. She had believed for a while they had changed Brandon’s too. But that was just a fantasy. He didn’t remember them, didn’t remember meeting her on the plane, teaching her to ski, dancing with her, making love to her. Those memories would stand out forever in her mind. She would never forget, never forget the moment he had turned around in the Cessna and told her he loved her. She would always remember, but it seemed he would not.
    Lucy bent close to the flare and struck a match to the edge of the box. The first two went out before she could get the flare to light, but the third match connected. With a hiss and a sizzle, the flare lit, sending out its reddish chemical glare and highlighting even more the darker letters of her wooden SOS.
    In the distance, she thought she heard the faint thump-thump-thump of helicopter rotors. Brandon would get help now. Wanting at least a moment or two alone with him, she jogged along the path and entered the cabin. He might not remember, but she would and she could at least savor these last couple minutes. He lay on his back with one arm across his chest and the other thrown above his head. His golden hair was tousled like it had been–was it just yesterday morning she had awakened with him next to her?–in his room. He looked like he would open his eyes any moment. She wished he would and tell her this had all been a dream or a joke.
    The speed of the rotors increased and the sound of snow crystals peppering the cabin joined the rhythmic thumping of the motor. Her throat ached even more than her chest, but this wasn’t a time for tears. She crossed the room to his side and rubbed his shoulder.
    “Brandon? Wake up. Help’s arrived. We’re going to get you out of here now.”
    He blinked at her, and the blankness of his gaze was like a knife cutting her heart in two.
    The next several hours passed in a daze. She vaguely remembered the arrival of a medevac chopper right on the heels of Matt and Jim Hanson’s arrival. She remembered the look on Jim’s face when he’d stepped into the cabin and seen Tom was not with them. As they left in the air ambulance for the hospital in Falcon’s Head, she had answered the questions directed at her perfunctorily, her eyes glued to what was going on with Brandon. They hooked fluids to him, someone was unwrapping the ankle she’d splinted and taped. Lucy heard the word surgery bandied about. Not surprising. There would be only the best for Brandon Barlow-Barrett.
    When they arrived at the hospital’s landing pad, she saw a tall, silver-haired man in a long, black wool coat, a blond woman tucked into his side and wrapped from neck to ankles in fur. The man looked like Brandon, but he was harder, more arrogant. The couple’s eyes skated over her, through her, as if she were not there. And to them, she wasn’t. All but one of the paramedics rushed alongside Brandon’s stretcher, the older couple hurrying in its wake. Lucy watched them go, a small twisting wrench in her gut leaving her feeling empty and alone.
    “Come, Miss Cameron. Let’s get you to the ER. They’ll do an evaluation on you, but I suspect you’ll be treated and released. You were lucky. The shoulder injury appears to be some blunt force trauma, but nothing serious. Your scratches seem to be healing fine on their own. It’s a miracle.”
    “Thanks. Treated and released would be good.” The only serious injury was to her emotions, but she would get better. Once she got home and back to her regular routine, she would get better.
    With just a bruised shoulder, the medical staff had a few other cases that had to be seen in front of her. After a wait that seemed interminable, they got her