The Pages We Forget by Anthony Lamarr

raspberry-scented bath gel she loved so much. He imagined how she looked as the lather covered her breasts and trickled downward to her navel. He put the letter in the duffle bag with the others as he began undressing. He took off the Nike T-shirt and his sweatpants.
    He hesitated before going into the bathroom. What do you plan to do when she leaves? he recalled Bernard asking. What would he do? He turned the doorknob and then opened the door and walked inside.
    â€œAlex, is that you?” June asked from the shower. “Alex?”
    He stepped out of his fitted boxer briefs and opened the shower door.
    â€œAlex, what are you doing?”
    He placed his index finger over her lips and closed the shower door behind him. “Ssshhhh.” He moved to kiss her softly on the lips.
    In his eyes she saw a man who felt forgotten. The man standingin front of her, touching her, saved her once. But now his eyes were showing a side of him that she had never seen. Defeat. Loss. She could see everything he was feeling by looking into his eyes.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
    â€œIt’s not your fault, baby.”
    And there it was again. The thing she loved most about him. After all these years, he was still able to forgive her for not being completely satisfied with his unconditional love.
    â€œI really do love you, Alex.” The tears flowed freely as her emotions came to bear.
    â€œI know.” He gently wiped the water off of her face and the tears streaming from her eyes. He kissed her trembling lips. “I’m here, Junie. Right here, baby.” He kissed her again, first on the lips, moving to that extremely sensitive spot on her neck right below her right earlobe. Then, he moved down to her tender breasts.
    Her knees buckled. “I love you, Alex,” she professed. She opened her arms, her heart and her mind and took him inside of her. “I love you.”

“I Know You From Somewhere”
    (lyrics and arrangement by June)
    It’s been too long
    since I’ve seen your smile.
    Way too long
    since I looked into your eyes.
    But now I see
    someone staring back at me,
    who has your smile
    and that sparkle in your eyes.
    Could it be,
    finally,
    the one I gave my heart to?
    Is it really you?
    CHORUS:
    I know you;
    you know I know you.
    I don’t mean to stand here staring,
    but I know you from somewhere.
    I know it’s you;
    boy you know I know you.
    Because in your eyes I see him there.
    I know you from somewhere.
    If you’re just a dream,
    please don’t wake me.
    Right here is where I want to be,
    loving you eternally.
    But like an old memory,
    your face haunts me
    and takes me back to that day
    when you turned and walked away.
    So please tell me,
    is it you I see?
    The one who said his love was true?
    Is it really you?
    CHORUS
    So please tell me,
    is it you I see?
    The one who said his love was true?
    Is it really you?

Chapter 5
    â€œI t’s been too long since I’ve seen your smile,” June sang as she descended the winding stairway to open her Pages concert. The executives at her label insisted on the Showtime Network exclusive concert, which was broadcast live from Detroit’s Fox Theatre. The concert was a part of the rush marketing of her new CD. Initially, June refused, but Alex and Bernard managed to talk her into it. Same as they talked her into interviews and cover layouts with Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Ebony and Essence magazines. “Way too long,” June’s voice purred. “Since I looked into your eyes.”
    June stopped halfway down the stairs and teased the audience. “Is it you I see?” she asked and stared into one of the cameras as it zoomed in for a close-up. “Is it you?”
    â€œIt’s me, June!” a young man near the stage yelled. “I’m right here, baby!”
    â€œDid you find the fountain of youth or what?” she asked,