They Said I Was Lying, They Forgot I Couldn’t Speak Chapter 07

They Said I Was Lying, They Forgot I Couldn’t Speak Chapter 07

That was it.

The entire recording lasted less than seven seconds.

Derek crouched on the floor with the recorder still in his hand and didn’t move for a long time.

My flight landed in Germany that evening.

My phone was still switched off when I came through arrivals with my suitcase.

At the pickup area, a middle-aged man with glasses was holding a sign with my name on it. When he spotted me, he smiled and waved.

“Tessa Monroe? I’m Martin Keller, a doctor and a friend of your director’s. You must be exhausted after that flight.”

I nodded and pulled out the note I’d prepared in advance.

[Thank you for coming all this way to pick me up.]

Dr. Keller waved it off.

“No need. Your director owes me more than a few favors. I’ll just add this one to his tab. Come on. Let’s get

you settled first. We’ll do a full evaluation at the hospital tomorrow.”

He drove me to the apartment that had been rented for me. Before leaving, he handed me the key and his

business card.

“I’ll pick you up at nine tomorrow morning. Get some sleep tonight and give yourself a chance to adjust to

the time difference.”

I took out my phone and stared at it for a long time.

I still didn’t turn it on.

Before I knew it, more than half a year had passed.

One day, I walked out of the hospital and stood by the entrance for a long moment.

Then I cleared my throat experimentally and said, clearly and completely, “I can speak.”

The words came out clear and bright in a voice that was finally mine.

Standing on a street half a world away from home, I suddenly started laughing.

Then, before I knew it, I was crying too.

On the way back to my apartment, I finally powered on the phone I’d kept off all this time.

The first thing I did was send my director a voice message.

His reply came almost instantly. The second I played it, his laughter burst through the speaker.

“That’s incredible! That’s incredible! When are you coming back? We’ve got a management position waiting

for you here!”

I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Soon. Give me two more months. I want to wrap up my work here first.”

“All right, all right. I won’t rush you. Oh, and that ex of yours just got promoted to manager. But don’t worry. You’ll be coming back at the same level, so he won’t be your boss.”

I paused for a moment, then typed back.

Me: [He has nothing to do with me anymore.]

I slipped my phone into my pocket and watched the now-familiar streets pass outside the window.

My thoughts drifted back to that night.

Sienna had walked into the bedroom Derek and I shared.

A few minutes later, I heard their moans coming from the bedroom.

Derek, you weren’t blackout drunk.

There was no way you could have mistaken Sienna for me.

I left that night smiling.

Back in the States, my director came to the airport himself.

The moment he saw me, he pulled me into a huge hug.

“Welcome back! Finally! We’ve been waiting for you. Come on, I’m taking you out for a welcome-back dinner.”

He ushered me into the car and talked a mile a minute about everything that had changed at the company

since I’d left.

I listened, chiming in every now and then.

Every time he heard me speak, he couldn’t resist praising me all over again.

I didn’t return to the office until the next day.

When I walked into the department, many of my longtime coworkers stood up from their desks. People l recognized and people I didn’t were all greeting me.

Someone called out, “Tessa’s back!”

Every head in the department turned toward me.

A little self-conscious, I smiled and waved.

“Long time no see.”

I sat down and had barely opened my laptop when I realized someone had been staring at me from behind.

I turned around.

Derek stood frozen at the entrance to the department, a cup of coffee in his hand.

He was wearing a dark gray shirt, and his hair was shorter than when I’d last seen him.

He looked different too. There was a heaviness to him now, a weariness that hadn’t been there before.