Was I okay? Things felt better, somehow. More new and distinctive memories had come back. I’d been able to plan the renovation for the garage without any trouble, put in an order without becoming confused, and now I was spending time with Lily.

“I’m okay,” I said, reaching over to hold her hand.

We figured out the general direction of the coast before stopping to ask one of the locals for the nearest recommendation. He sent us to Sandy Point Bridge, where the tide wasn’t quite in yet, and the beach a combination of pebbles, sandbanks, mud and grass, but hardly any people. Lily and I walked along the shore for a little while, the water squelching beneath our toes.

“This’ll do,” she said, unzipping her jeans. “Last one in’s a loser.” With a whoop she pulled off her shirt and ran to the water shouting something that sounded like, “Towanda!”

I let my gaze wander over her lithe legs, her turquoise boy-shorts and matching bra, her long hair swish-swishing behind her. Everything around me faded, took me back to somewhere in my past. An image of her at a different beach, the sound of her laughing and yelling at me to hurry, except she’d called me Jack. The picture faded only to be replaced by another of us on a squishy blue sofa, watching one of her favorite movies. As the images faded and I came back to reality, I heard Lily calling me again, using my real name.

“Wait,” I shouted. “Lily, wait. Hold on.”

“What’s the matter?” she said, standing calf-deep in the water, her face falling.

“Towanda,” I said, wading in, ignoring the frigid temperatures and my anxiety about being back in the ocean. “Towanda,” I repeated, softly this time as I touched the bracelet on her wrist, the one with the heart-shaped charm I’d carefully hidden inside a box of chocolates. “I remember this. And the film about those fried tomatoes. I remember...you.”

We stared at each other before I pulled her to my chest, held her close as her hands slid up my back, arms looping around my neck. I bent my head toward hers. Our kiss was soft, cautious, and although I didn’t want to, I made myself pull away after a few seconds.

“That was wrong,” I said. “I shouldn’t have...”

She pulled me back in and kissed me again, with more intensity and urgency this time, her hands cupping my face, her mouth open, her tongue gently searching for mine. A voice somewhere in the distance shouted, “Get a room, you two.”

Lily laughed and let me go. “That was...nice,” she whispered.

I raised an eyebrow, putting a hand to my chest. “Nice? I’d better up my game.”