Page 59 of Amnesia

The cool fall air danced around my bare legs when I stepped out the door he held open, and my newly cut hair floated out around me.

“I was thinking,” I said as we started down the sidewalk.

“Dangerous,” Eddie teased.

“I should probably get a job.”

“A job?” he echoed.

“Yeah, I can’t just let Maggie and you pay for everything. Besides, I’m sure I’ll have a ton of hospital bills coming soon.”

He was quiet as we walked. I looked up at him. The muscle in the side of his jaw worked, a small movement I was quite drawn to. It spoke of restrained strength. Maybe of frustration.

“You don’t like the idea,” I surmised.

“I’m just worried it will be too much, too soon.”

“It’s been almost a month since I woke up. How much longer is too soon?” I asked, feeling frustrated myself.

Eddie caught my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m just protective of you, Am. You have to understand that. If you think you’re ready for a job, then I’ll help you find one.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

As we approached the end of the street, Loch General became more prominent. It was the biggest building on the street, so large it took up the entire end. It sort of sat on the street like a king at the head of a table.

“The store is beautiful,” I said, gazing up at it as we approached. “It looks almost like a house.”

He nodded. “Yeah, it was built to look that way,” he explained. “The man who built it actually lived there when it first opened. My family was part of the group of people who founded this town.”

That was a lot of history. Very deep roots. It was fascinating to me because I didn’t have any at all.

“But as the years and decades went on, the store got bigger. Things were added on, and of course, no one lives in it.”

“Where do your parents live?” I asked, curious.

“One street behind the lake,” he said, gesturing behind the store. The lake was there in the distance, not too far away, but not so close that Main Street was on top of it.

“I’m not sure they like me,” I said, thinking of the times his parents would come and visit me at the hospital. They were always friendly, but they were also slightly reserved. It was just a feeling I got when they came that they were there more for Eddie than for me.

“They like you. They’re just helicopter parents,” he murmured.

“What’s a helicopter parent?” I wondered.

He laughed. “It means they’re all up in my business all the time.”

“Oh,” I murmured and drank more of the rich, warm drink.

He chuckled and tugged me along, across the street the stretched out in front of the general store. There was a big wooden sign on front with a Loch Ness image on it and the words Loch General Store.

He saw me gazing at it, then nudged me in the side. “That sign was my idea. It’s only a few years old.”

“I like it. He’s kind of like the mascot of the place,” I said, still looking at the creature.

“Exactly!”

There was a huge bin of large orange pumpkins on the sidewalk outside. I was drawn to their shiny skin, spicy color, and rough stems. “That’s a lot of pumpkins,” I said, running my hand over a couple, looking down into the heaping bin.

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