Authors: Kristen James
Except now Molly was back. Trent said as much to Kevin.
“But without her memory of why she left. Everyone’s heard
the story. Beverly Marshall really enjoyed spreading it.”
Bev. Great.
“Something in your voice sounds like you’re more than just
irritated this time,” Trent said as he walked back down the hill, not wanting
to have this conversation in this spot – his and Molly’s spot. It felt like he
was talking in the middle of church.
“People are listening to Judy. They’re calling me, actually.
She wants you put on leave and an investigation started.”
“Kevin, you’re buying into that?” Trent didn’t mask the
anger he felt. If the entire planet couldn’t see how much he loved Molly, good
grief, how could he ever prove it to them?
“You’re already on vacation. We’re looking at the case
again. If only her parents weren’t dead, they could have cleared this up.”
Kevin paused. Trent stopped walking and allowed the silence to linger as he
thought about the implications of Kevin’s words.
Finally, Trent said, “That’s what this is all about? Judy
Lofton heard Molly’s parents are dead and thinks she can pin it on me. Or at
least make me look bad yet another time?”
The
suspicious looks Trent received every so often wearied him. The gossip. Knowing
people
thought he hurt Molly, or anyone
for that matter.
He called Mark the minute he hung up the phone with Kevin.
Trent had reached his truck, but leaned against it to talk to his friend.
“Sounds like you’ve heard,” Mark said.
“From Kevin himself. That’s what makes me worried. I’m never
going to get around this.” He rubbed his face, closing his eyes to the trees
beside the country road. The wind sang above him along with a few birds, but
that didn’t drown out his maddening thoughts.
“If Molly remembers, it’ll clear everything up.”
Trent made a fist, wanting to hit his truck, but controlled
himself.
“What if she doesn’t?” Trent asked. “I don’t want her
knowing about this, feeling even more pressure.”
“Trent, I don’t know how you’ll keep it from her. The town’s
having a hay day. Nothing this big has happened since the Andersons
disappeared.”
He groaned. “We have to try. I’m supposed to head over to
see her now. Could you give Alicia a call and ask her not to say anything?”
“Alright. Didn’t you say you wanted to drive down to Redding
and search her parent’s things?”
“Yes, we need to, but she seems to be discovering her old
self here. Plus I think she’s afraid of finding out what really happened.”
“That’s not going to stop her, though, is it? She’s always
been determined once her mind is set, and she still has the same character.”
“Molly wants the truth,” Trent said. “You’re right, we need
to get things moving and make sure there isn’t anyone looking for her.” Trent
ended the call and drove to Molly’s hotel under a dark cloud speeding across
the sky behind him. It passed over him and he wished his dark mood could pass
as quickly. Somehow he needed to protect Molly from the town’s talk. She didn’t
need more to deal with, more that could keep her memory from returning.
He couldn’t let Judy Lofton
get
to Molly.
Molly lay face up across the bed, an arm thrown over her
eyes, pulling all the facts together to see if they amounted to anything. She
knew she and Trent had been in a serious relationship and he hadn’t even dated
while she was missing. She knew merely looking at him, or smelling his scent,
evoked something in her. And, finally, she knew even if she didn’t remember her
life before, she already felt at home in this town
with t
he people she’d met here. Even though she’d arrived nervous about
how people would react to her, she now felt safe knowing people around town
knew her. She liked Ridge City, so why did she ever leave?
She longed for things to be simple so she could go about her
life and stop trying to look back. She trusted Trent and felt thankful that
came easy. Then again, he was looking into all of this, and maybe wondering if
she had something to do with her parents’ deaths. That thought chilled her and
she pushed it aside.
She would rather think about Trent, even though she had
doubts about their future. If she never regained her memory, maybe they could
start from scratch and simply move forward. Except their past would haunt her
whether or not she remembered it. These questions nagged at her daily but she
couldn’t answer them. However, she had no problems picturing Trent and she
could easily guess why she fell for him in the first place back in high school.
She found herself thinking about him, him and her together.
His house with those beautiful roses planted outside.
They’d popped into her thoughts several times, usually as a picture of them in
bloom in shades of red. This time she also thought of a small, wrought iron
table lamp, the base shaped like a vine with iron leaves and the glass shaped
like the rose at the top. In her mind, it glowed in the corner of a warm living
room, enchanting the space. While trying to picture the inside of Trent’s home,
she dozed off.
“Oh, no!” Molly jerked straight up in bed, suddenly awake
and not wanting Trent to find her asleep again.
Getting ready turned out to be quite a lengthy task. Should
she dress up in the clothes she’d brought with her? Or wear the ones she’d
bought here in Ridge City, ones that supposedly looked like the old Molly? All
the questions about their past and her feelings now toward Trent made her
question her choice of clothing
repeatedly. She
wanted
him to notice she took time getting ready, but she didn’t want him to think she
was falling for him again. Or should she say in love with him still or
subconsciously in love with him? She needed a drink.
She put on nylons and heels, thinking
what the heck
,
it was dinner after all and she enjoyed looking nice.
When Trent knocked, Molly threw open the door, proud of
herself for being ready in the lavender shirt she’d bought earlier and a floral
skirt. Trent stood, flowers in hand, in an olive dress shirt that set off his
brown eyes and a nice pair of slacks.
What caught her then and held her motionless was the gleam
in his eyes and his smile as he gazed at
her
from top to bottom.
“I’m read
y. On ti
me.”
Now
that was a classy ‘hello.’
“And looking gorgeous.” He handed her the flowers and
followed her inside. She murmured a thank you while smelling them, and realized
he must have picked them himself because the bouquet included wild irises and
violets. They were growing on the hills around the town, she’d noticed. They
did every spring . . . and he picked them for her each time he came over to her
house.
One ti
me, in the second grade, he’d
handed her flowers and planted a kiss right on her mouth and took off running
before she could say a word.
“Molly?”
She became aware of her hotel room and Trent beside her, and
could see how strange she must look standing still and staring at those
flowers.
She looked at him and whispered, “You brought me flowers in
the second grade and kissed me.”
At first he turned red, then a lop-sided grin appeared on
his face. “You remembered something.”
She did remember! Staring into his eyes now, she could
picture his childish face and the glow in his eyes. He’d plunked that kiss on
her mouth and looked so shocked with himself, or maybe the sensation of their
lips meeting ever so briefly. She felt the breeze that had been lightly
blowing, carrying the smells of Oregon spring in all its wet glory.
“That’s it. One little memory in a big, blank sea.” She sat
on the bed, looking at the flowers again, wanting to get lost in the memory
that felt so real like it was really happening all over again. “The doctor said
I’d probably remember earlier memories first, and then slowly move closer and
closer to present day.”
“So you’re on your way.” The tremble in his voice piqued her
attentio
n. She gla
nced up and saw the
intensity in his eyes. He seemed to want her memory back as much as she did.
The excitement in his voice was too much, she wanted to jump up, grab him
around the waist, and dance. She finally felt she’d done the right thing by
returning to Ridge City.
Maybe he felt it, too, that she wanted to step into his
arms, share the moment, enjoy it. Yet, she felt they knew each other in some
other world. Trent sat on the bed next to her for a strained minute, their arms
barely touching, but she felt his warmth. Then, they both stood, ready to
leave. She stopped him first.
“I want to hear something from you, want you to admit it.”
Molly started slow, nervous, but collected her words after that. “I want you to
tell me we were dating.”
She couldn’t read his brown eyes, just felt the sensation he
wanted to hide something. “All right,” Trent said. “We were dating when you
disappeared.” The words slipped out easily, telling her there was so much more
to the story.
That “more” m
ust be the part he
didn’t want to share with her yet. She pleaded with her eyes, wanting and
needing to hear the rest. For a second, he stared at her while she held her
breath. The moment faded.
Trent walked toward the door despite her beseeching looks.
She sighed and let it go. Maybe she didn’t need him to tell her just yet.
“I want to take you into the city and eat somewhere nice.”
That sounded like a date to her, and that meant they
were acknowledging there was something
between them.
Maybe something more than just their past.
They took Trent’s midsize pickup
and Molly recounted her day with Alicia and cautiously added, “She asked me
what I plan to do, if I’m staying.”
“Do you intend to return to
California?” His voice
held steady, but somehow she knew his insides weren’t.
“I didn’t have plans, really. It’s hard to plan with so many
things undecided. I know I want to figure all this out, see if I can remember
my life here.” She couldn’t be truthful and tell him she was afraid to plan.
“I guess that’s good enough for now.” He shifted the
conversation. “Speaking of answers, I looked over the police record from Arnold
and Ellen’s accident.”
“And?”
“Well, it really does look like an accident. But you seem to
think otherwise?”
She sighed
.
“I’ll admit I
don’t have any reason to, not any proof anyway. It just seemed curious that I
lost my memory and then that happened. I was mad and wanted someone to blame,
but it still seems strange.”
Trent nodded. They’d reached the city and slowed down to
drive through traffic. She studied his profile in the fading daylight,
wondering if she used to sit next to him in the middle seat when they were
dating. Instead she asked, “What now?”
“I think we’re starting from the wrong point.”
“How’s that?” she asked.
“Maybe we should go all the way back to when you
disappeared. Tomorrow we can go to the station and go over the file on you.
There are interviews of neighbors and friends that lived in Ridge City four
years ago. We didn’t see anything there, but you might.”
“But I don’t remember.”
H
e pulled into the
restaurant parking lot and shut off the engine. “You might.”
“What if I don’t, then what?”
Instead of answering her, he surprised her with a laugh.
“Usually I’m the one asking all the questions. You used to tell me to forget
the details.” Glancing at her, he went serious again. “I thought of that, too.
Let’s go inside and talk about it.”
Inside, Trent asked for a corner booth and the hostess took
them past a gas fireplace to the back. The lights were dimmed and a hanging
lamp shone a soft light down on their table, creating a cozy atmosphere. Molly
ordered the drink she’d been wanting and looked through the menu. The waiter
came before she decided, so many things sounded good. Trent ordered, then
added, “I think she wants the salmon filet.”
A small smile lit her face while one curious eyebrow rose.
“I do.”
The soft lighting, the country music, and the look in his
eyes sent warm shivers through her, funny shivers that tickled and felt nice.
Their eyes locked and it wasn’t uncomfortable at all. While looking at his
adult face, she could see the little boy from her one memory. His face had been
narrower then, like the rest of him.
After a minute, she asked, “So what are your plans after
going over the police interviews?”
He leaned forward and clasped his hands. “I thought it’d be
a good place to start, just to cover all our bases. I want to make sure we
don’t miss anything that we might need later on. After that, I’d like to visit
your home in California.”
“Why?” she asked. “You think that’ll help?”
“I want to talk to your neighbors there. I also wanted to
ask you, did you keep your parents’ belongings?”
“I haven’t packed their things away.” In fact, she hadn’t
changed the house at all. “They didn’t unpack everything, though, from the
move. Our basement has a file cabinet and tons of boxes. Everything’s still
there.”
“Good, we might find some answers.” He wouldn’t have
hesitated asking Molly before, but now, without her
memory, he felt unsure of himself. “Are you okay with that?”
“Driving back down?”
“You and I driving down and spending a few days there.”
“Yes. I like the thought of a trip.” She did feel completely
comfortable with the idea, liked the thought of spending more time with Trent,
but knew clearly she wanted to come back to Ridge City. “Just a trip, down and
back.”
Trent nodded, a half smile on his face acknowledging her
decision. Molly quieted. She was nagged by a question she was trying not to ask
herself, but she had to ask someone. “How does it look to you? Do you think my
parents were into something illegal?”