When I approached, she turned around and the light streaming in behind her lit up her hair like a golden halo. Man, she was beautiful. My belly clenched, which was ridiculous considering we’d dated for ages, but as heat rose to my cheeks I crossed over to the cupboard and pretended to look for something so she couldn’t see my face. Spending the night with her had felt relaxed and comfortable, like being with a good friend I happened to also find very attractive. I’d wanted to kiss her on more than one occasion, but what would she have thought if a man who claimed to have no memory of her tried to get it on anyway? No clue how good or bad I’d been at relationships before, but either way, it would’ve been a crass move. Thankfully, Lily interrupted my thoughts of what kissing her might have led to by asking if I wanted to have a look at the garage so we could finalize the plans, and we headed outside.

It didn’t take long for us to move Maya’s workbench, band saw, sander and nail gun out of the way so I could get a proper look at the framing Maya had worked on a while ago. She told me she’d made a start after I’d left only to abandon the project midway, her motivation having disappeared. It gave me another reason to do this for her because I sensed my departure had affected her even more deeply than she cared to admit. I grabbed my tape measure and some chalk I’d found, ready to mark the outline for the new shower pan. As I looked at the cracked tiles an image hit me. Maya laughing at the old pattern as she removed them and threw them into a pile in the corner. I pressed my eyes shut. I’d worked in here with my father, not her. It had to be another false memory, another stupid confabulation, just like when I’d believed he’d loved soccer.

“What’s this?” Lily said, pulling me out of the thoughts.

When I looked over, I saw her pointing to the floor where she’d rolled up the tatty orange rug I’d tripped over the other day. I frowned at the sight of a trapdoor in the floor. It was about three feet wide and had a large, rusty metal ring.

“Let’s find out,” I said, pulling the door open to reveal a thin wooden ladder propped against the top frame, and which disappeared into the darkness.

Lily pressed the switch on the inside of the trapdoor and within an instant the faint glow of a light bulb emanated from below. “I’m going to check it out,” she said, her face full of excitement, and she clambered onto the rickety ladder with me following behind.