Page 9 of Guarding Fable

“It’s so wonderfully quiet here. I like how cozy it is. It looks lived in. I really hate living in a house that looks like a mausoleum.”

I blink as some of my present world fades away. Another world shimmers just out of my memory. I know that I wasn’t happy there that I felt sad and cloistered. But there is one bright light. A person. I feel her happiness, and I try to grasp onto it, pull it closer. But as I do, it dissolves, and the cabin comes back into view.

The progression only took a few seconds. I close my eyes, trying to gain my wits again because I feel as if I’m on a rollercoaster that’s jerked me around. Although, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been on a rollercoaster.

The sound of the bowl being set down on the table in front of me pulls me all the way back, and I open my eyes slowly.

“Did you remember something?” Leo asks, his deep, baritone voice washing over me. He isn’t pushy, which I appreciate.

“Just another feeling.” I groan. “Why can’t I rememberanything?”

“You got hit in the head and apparently went through something awful. That will do a number on the mind. Believe me, I understand. Your memory will return soon enough.”

His calm voice and the certainty I see in his gaze quiets all my fears. I know the doctor told me to take it easy, but I’m so frustrated.

“Have you always lived here?”

“In this house?” he asks with a smile.

I chuckle. “No, this area. You said, Pottsville, Virginia?”

He nods. “I grew up here, then I went into the Air Force for a decade.”

“Did you fly a plane?”

“No.” He smiles. “It’s funny. That’s the question I always get. But I was a PJ.”

“A PJ?”

“Parachute Jumper.”

My eyes widen. “Oh, wow.” Then, I think about it. “What did you do after you jumped?”

He lets out a bark of laughter. The sound makes me smile. “I worked rescue. If they needed people to go in and save people, but it was hard to get to them, they sent us. We go through the same kind of training SEALs do, but we have medic training. It’s one of the reasons the doc let you come home with me. He knew I could handle the situation.”

I’m not surprised at all. He’s so competent at everything. All I know how to do is art. I frown.

“You had another memory.”

Not a question but a statement. He’s so perceptive.

I nod. “I think I’m an artist. I don’t know why but you were talking about being a parachute jumper and I thought all I do is art. I have no idea what kind, but apparently, it’s something I do?”

Before he can answer, there’s a knock at the door.Immediately, fear surges in me, and I hate it. I wish I could be strong like Destiny.

Memories of a funny girl hit me, us laughing, playing pranks…my best friend. But then it fades away, and all I have is just wisps as I try to grasp hold of the memory.

“Fable?” I look up at him.

I shake my head. “Just had a little memory, but it isn’t going anywhere.”

“What memory?”

God, that voice. He softens it when he talks to me, making sure that he doesn’t freak me out. It sinks beneath my skin and seems to brighten my soul. It’s silly to be this attached to a man who I barely know, but for some reason, I’m sure that I will always be safe with him.

“A friend. Someone I knew, and I remember us laughing, and that’s it.”

He nods. “They are all little pieces of you. Pretty soon, we’ll have all of those pieces to put your past back together.”

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