Back at Peyton’s apartment, Desmond stood in the kitchen. “They hated me.”
“They loved you.”
“I’m a country boy, but I’m not stupid. They don’t think I’m good enough for you, Peyton.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
“And so will your family.”
“Maybe, but they don’t make my decisions for me. I do. And I don’t care if you don’t have a college degree.” Before he could speak, she added, “All I want is you, Desmond.”
Desmond opened his eyes. The helicopter was vibrating even more. Avery was pushing it to its limits. Peyton’s head still rested on his shoulder. She was out cold. He desperately wanted to wake her, to ask what had happened to them, how they had lost what he felt all those years ago. Somehow, he knew he was nearing the end of the memories he could access, like a faraway signpost he could just make out through a fog. He wondered if the programmer, Byron, had been right on the ship: had Desmond made these memories of his youth and his years with Peyton available via cues? The cold in Berlin. The cell in the barn. The picture of Orville. Seeing Peyton again, touching her skin. Each seemed to have opened the door to a chapter of his past.
But he sensed that his most crucial memories would not be so easily retrieved—especially the location of Rendition. That secret was the reason for his amnesia in the first place—the reason he had built this labyrinth.
That’s it: the Labyrinth Reality app. It’s the key.
His breadcrumbs had led him to the app; he was now more certain than ever that it would unlock the rest of his past. He needed to get a phone and re-download the app.
What he didn’t know was whether he was ready to know exactly what he had done—and exactly what kind of man he was.
There was one memory left that he could reach now, and he closed his eyes, willing it to come.
Chapter 67
After what Desmond considered to be a disastrous lunch with Peyton’s family, he didn’t see them much.
He interviewed at half a dozen startups, but he found himself with a new problem: he was gun-shy, afraid to commit. What if it was another xTV? He didn’t want to make the same mistake.
Another startup he had options in failed that week. He would be out of money for the trailer park rent within a month. He needed to take one of the job offers soon.
Christmas was a week away. He was terrified Peyton was going to ask him to come home with her. She didn’t. She seemed to instinctively know his boundaries.
“Just so you don’t get carried away and buy me an island or something for Christmas, let’s set some ground rules,” she said.
“All right.”
“We can each spend ten dollars on each other.”
“Okay.”
“And the gift has to reveal something about each of us.”
That confused him.
“I want to know something about you, Desmond. It has to reveal something about your past. An experience that shaped you somehow. Understand?”
He did. And he had no idea what to give her. He obsessed in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
He also turned over the job offers. Yet another company he had options in failed. His stack of lottery tickets was slowly migrating to the trash can, as fate took the numbered balls out of the hopper and more startups closed.
He drove his truck to Portola Redwoods State Park one night, hiked in, and cut down a small redwood, then cut the limbs away.
He brought it home, whittled away at it for a few days, checked the local events calendar, and found what he needed.
Two days before Christmas, in her apartment, Peyton set her gift on the coffee table. It was wrapped immaculately. Desmond hadn’t wrapped his. He felt nervous instantly.
He tore off the wrapping paper, revealing a cardboard box. He opened it and found a map lying on top of another box, also wrapped. He picked up the map and unfolded it. Cities were highlighted in yellow: London, England. Heidelberg, Germany. Hong Kong. Two small towns in Scotland, one in Ireland, and another in southern China.
“Yellow is where my family is from,” Peyton said. “Parents. Grandparents.”
Desmond studied the rest of the map. There were two dozen green marks.
“Green is all the places I’d like to go with you, Des. Someday.”
He swallowed and fell silent, staring at it like he was reading a judge’s death sentence. She had plans for them. And she’d been thinking about them for a while.
“Open the next one,” she said, excited, oblivious to his anxiety.
The next box contained a miniature figure of a mermaid on a small spring. The base was emblazoned with the words “Palo Alto.”
“Closest I could get,” she said. She stared at him expectantly. “Any guesses?”
“Uh…”
“Come on.”
“Your favorite movie is The Little Mermaid?”
She socked him hard in the shoulder.
“No. I was on the swim team. In high school.”
“Oh. Of course. How could I have missed it? It’s so obvious now.”
Beneath the mermaid was a third box. She didn’t encourage him to open this one. In fact, she seemed nervous about it, as if she had changed her mind. She looked away as Desmond tore the wrapping paper.
The object inside the last box was small. His fingers wrapped around it, lifted it out.
It was a glass object, heart-shaped, red.
“I love you, Des,” she said.
He tucked it in his pocket, leaned forward, and kissed her.
“I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” he said.
She smiled quickly, clearly disappointed, but rolled her eyes, trying to seem playful, unbothered. “Jeez, what are you, a lawyer now?”
“I mean it.” He held up the glass heart. “But I’m not like you. My heart isn’t like yours.”
“There’s nothing wrong with your heart, Desmond.” She stared at him.
With increasing frequency, he had wondered if that was true.
“Okay, what did you get me?” she asked, eager.