Tymber Dalton - Pinch Me

He watched as she suppressed a shiver as she looked at the desk, and computer.

“Something?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I saw this in a dream.”

There was a third room, a spare bedroom where her brother or other friends or relatives stayed when visiting. Her bedroom had a master bath, and she spent several minutes in there going over the items on the counter and in the medicine cabinet.

Before, she was a fairly plain dresser. Jeans, T-shirt or blouse, slacks, shorts. She wanted fast and functional, something she could wear around the shop. But she loved bright, wild nail polish.

Rob watched as she examined the various bottles with names like Smokestack, Passion Flame, and Indigo Dreaming.

“You said it was like having tattoos you could take off when you got bored with them,” he offered when she didn’t speak after several minutes.

She looked shocked. “I have tattoos?”

Rob laughed. “No, hon, you don’t,” he assured her.

The nurses had removed her nail polish while she was in the coma, after her nails had been scraped for DNA evidence. When Laura rubbed at her fingers, Rob noticed she had switched her engagement ring to her right hand.

Thomas caught his eye and slowly shook his head at Rob, his message clear. Don’t say anything.

Rob took some comfort that Laura was still wearing it.

Thomas stepped out to give them a few moments alone. Laura looked at the other items—men’s deodorant, shaving cream, an electric shaver, another toothbrush. Then she looked at Rob.

“I stay here a lot,” he explained. “Depending on my shift. You’ve got a lot of stuff at the house, too. We go back and forth all the time.”

Laura nodded. “That makes sense.” He followed her back to the living room.

Det. Thomas looked at his watch. “I’m not trying to rush you, but maybe we should take her over to the shop.”

When both men looked at her, she finally realized they were waiting for an answer. “What?”

Rob stroked her hand. “We’re wondering if taking you to the shop will jog anything.”

“Oh.” She looked dazed, confused.

Overwhelmed.

Just when he thought his heart couldn’t break any more, it did. He’d do anything, including taking her place, to fix this for her.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t fix it. All he could do was swallow back his own emotions and provide the strongest support he could for her.

She nodded. “Okay. If you think that’s best.”

Rob handed Thomas his car keys and asked him to take her out while he used the excuse of closing the blinds and turning off the lights. He also phoned Steve and told him they were coming, and asked him to warn everyone to not react to how she looked.

“I’ll prepare the staff.”

“Prepare yourself.” He watched Thomas helped Laura into the Explorer.

“Yeah.” He hesitated. “Carol said she looks pretty bad.”

“Not as bad as she did.” He yanked the blinds closed. “We’ll see you in a few.”

Laura’s father had founded the dive shop over thirty years ago. Eight years prior, she bought him out and added bait and tackle. Its success grew, and she added on to the original building. She had four employees in the store, two boats, and a full-time captain who also ran fish and dive charters in addition to Steve Moss. Carol, who was a retired accountant, worked part-time and helped with bookkeeping duties.

Everyone stood waiting outside in the parking lot when Rob and Thomas pulled up. Before Rob could get out, Steve had already stepped forward and opened her door.

“How are you, Laura?” he practically screamed as he reached in to help her out.

“I got beat up, Steve. I didn’t go deaf.” Rob and Thomas both froze as they watched the interaction. Laura’s eyes widened as stepped out and looked up at Steve. A smile lit both their faces. “I know you!” she squealed.

Rob felt a twinge of envy that her first spontaneous recognition of someone wasn’t him, but Steve was over thirty years older than her and had been her father’s best friend.

Laura began crying. “I know you.” She wrapped her arms around Steve and sobbed. “I know you!”

Rob didn’t intervene. If she had a memory, he didn’t want to interrupt in case it stopped her from remembering more. Carol walked over to him and patted him on the back.

“He’s like a dad to her,” she whispered in his ear. “It’s okay. Don’t take it personally.”

He nodded but didn’t reply.

Laura’s spirits rose at the revelation, then quickly plummeted again when she realized she didn’t recognize anyone else. When she walked into the store with Steve, closely shadowed by Rob and Det. Thomas, she remembered different items for sale and their functions.

Steve quizzed her about basic diving safety rules and she answered them all correctly. He moved into some more advanced areas and they discovered her knowledge remained intact.

“Well, it seems you’re all right on your diving. At least you can teach,” Steve laughed. He realized what he said and turned to Rob. “Sorry, son. It’s just—”

“I know, Steve. It’s a mixed bag. It’s okay. I’m just glad she’s alive.”

Thomas patted Rob on the shoulder. “Call me if she remembers anything about the attack. You’ve got my cell. I don’t care if it’s in the middle of the night—call me.”

“I will.”

Rob ordered them all Chinese take-out for lunch. They ate it at a table on the dock behind the shop. When Carol and Steve finished they excused themselves and left Rob alone with Laura.

Laura’s nervousness had abated somewhat in the quasi-familiar setting. At the condo, she felt like she’d walked uninvited into a stranger’s home. Here, at least, she felt connected in some small way. She still knew her business, to a certain extent. And she knew Steve’s name and a lot of things about him, even though some of her memories of him still seemed murky.

She’d caught herself looking at his hands for any signs of recent injury. Over the last few days in the hospital, any time a man came near her she looked at his hands, wondering who the attacker was. It could be anyone, including someone she knew well.

What scared her even more than the possibility of never getting her memory back was the thought that her attacker might be someone she dealt with on a daily basis. If so, as long as her memory was gone she could be exposing herself to danger.

Can I ever trust anyone again?

Laura felt more than useless as she watched Steve and Carol go through closing procedures at the store. When there was nothing left to do except lock up and set the alarm, she looked to Rob.

“What now?”

“I figured we’d go back to my place and pick up Doogie. I’m sure he’d love to see you. Then we’ll go back to your place. Bill can drive you to work in the morning. He’s flying in late tonight.”

She nodded and remembered her thoughts. “I guess I’m a morning person, huh?”

Steve, Carol, and Rob all looked at each other before breaking into laughter.

“What?”

“You hate mornings,” Rob said. “You’re so used to getting up early that your body pretty much goes on auto-pilot, but you are definitely not a morning person.”

“You don’t get to the store until eleven on a lot of days,” Steve said. “You usually close up. The only mornings you work are weekends when you have to go out on dives with us.”

Rob helped her back into his Explorer and they headed over to his house. It felt familiar driving there, but didn’t trigger any memories.

He helped her out of the SUV and to the front door. “Let me go in first,” he said. “He’s going to need a walk. Carol’s husband came over and walked him, but he’ll be excited to see you.”

He slipped in through the front door, shutting it behind him. She heard a dog’s happy barking and Rob’s voice.

“Guess who’s home? Mommy’s home! That’s right—whoa, hold on. Hold still. Doogie—ow!”

She’d started to reach for the door when he called out, “Okay, it’s safe.”

Cautiously, she eased the door open and peeked through. Rob had a large black Lab at the end of a leash, and seemed to have trouble holding him back.

“Are you sure they took stuff out when they neutered him?”

He laughed. “We’ve been wondering that ourselves.”

“What happened?”

“He got me in the nuts.”

“Ouch.”

“Tell me about it.”

The dog whined, his club-like tail frantically swishing back and forth at light speed as he tried to gain traction on the tile floor to reach her.

“Easy, Doog,” he said as he took another wrap of the leash around his hand. “Let me get him outside real fast and then bring him in. Go ahead and sit on the couch. We won’t be here long. I need to grab a couple of things.” He headed toward the front door after she’d cleared the way. “Come on, puppy. Let’s go.”

She walked into the living room. It felt more familiar to her than her own condo.

Like she belonged here.

Rob said we spent a lot of time at each other’s places.

Maybe that was the answer.

On the shelves flanking his flat-screen TV were an assortment of pictures. Quite a few were of the two of them, or of her, or her and Doogie, or her and other people. And a lot of the pictures were duplicates of ones she had in her condo.

She reached out and picked one up, the two of them walking along a beach near sunset. They’d been looking at each other.

If that wasn’t love on both of their faces, she didn’t know what was.