Second Chances(25)

"I never said you were."

He glanced at the plate again, a frown on his face.

"I know," she said. "I'm just talking out loud. Trying to work it out."

"Okay, sorry."

"And even if I were a twin and we'd been separated at birth..."

"You both couldn't have the same memories, the same past."

Paige nodded her head. She looked at Nathan from her balcony. He was leaning against the railing between them. When she'd woken, she had been surprised not only that she'd been able to fall asleep, but also by the fact that she was in her bed. She figured it had been Nathan and wanted to thank him but couldn't bring herself to say the words. She'd found him exactly where he'd been the previous night, out on his balcony, and wondered if he'd spent the entire night there.

"True. It seems obvious that this person knew my past. The things you know about me..."

"But it can't be you?"

"No," Paige said, shaking her head. "I am sorry, Nathan. I don't know who your wife was, but it was never me. Until yesterday I had never seen you before. I had never spent any time with you. Never posed for those pictures with you. And I certainly never married you."

"All evidence to the contrary."

"To you, all evidence to the contrary. Evidence. Evidence. Nathan, your wife...your Paige..."

He waited for her to continue but she remained silence.

"Paige?"

"I want to ask you a question, but..."

"But?"

"I don't want to hurt you. I know you think you know me, but I don't know you. Even so, I know that I don't want to hurt you."

"You could only hurt me by leaving...again."

Paige shook her head and sighed.

"Well then it is inevitable that I am going to hurt you. I am not your wife and so eventually we will part ways."

"Unless I prove..."

"If you prove I am your wife then we'll still be parting ways. I'll have to have myself committed."

"You aren't crazy."

"I know."

"I'm not crazy either."

"I did not mean to imply you were, Nathan. I was just joking, or attempting to. What I am saying is that I know who I am. I do not know who your wife was or why she was pretending to be me, but I know I was never her."

"Pretending to be you?"

"Yes. I mean look at everything you know about me She must have been mimicking me."

"And who is to say you aren't mimicking her?"

She gasped.

"Why would I?"

"I don't know. But it's as valid a question as why would she mimic you. Isn't it?"

"No! Listen, I know who I am and I am not mimicking anyone."

Nathan smiled at her anger.

"You are trying to push my buttons, aren't you?"

"Just testing," he admitted. "You reacted exactly as my Paige would have. And you reacted that way because you are my Paige."

"No, Nathan, I am not. Hell, maybe on some level I actually wish I were. The passion you have for that woman in your pictures is obvious and who wouldn't want to be loved that way? However, the fact remains that I know who I am. I am Paige Kendall. I am twenty-four years old and I happen to be very single."

Nathan shuddered briefly, as if hit by a sudden chill, but remained silent for a few moments lost in thought.

"But, you say that she, my Paige if that is how you want me to refer to her, was mimicking you."

"Well since I am quite certain of who I am, she would be the one pretending to be me and not the other way around."

"Then explain something to me."

"I will if I can," she assured him.

"The fire."

"The fire?"

"Yes, the one that just happened, where you lost everything. If my Paige was mimicking you, how is it that she told me about the fire years ago?"

Paige sat there for a moment. She chewed her lower lip, a determined expression upon her face as her mind raced to comprehend what Nathan had just said.

He noticed that it began in her hands first, a slight trembling. Then her teeth began to chatter and the determined expression was gone from her face, as well as all her color. He silently cursed himself. He should have been more careful, he needed to stop this before it went too far.

"So, your question?"

She blinked and looked at him, a puzzled expression upon her face.

"What?"

He reached over and took her trembling hands in his, trying very hard to control his own, to make it seem like an innocent gesture.

"You wanted to ask me a question. You wanted to ask me a question, but didn't want to hurt me. Remember?"

"I...umm"

She squeezed his hands, consciously or unconsciously Nathan didn't know or care because he felt her trembling subside. She gave a weak smile, maybe in thanks, maybe in relief.