Page 62 of Amnesia

Suddenly, I lost my balance and fell into the shelf. A few boxes dumped to the floor, making a loud banging sound.

Wincing, I hurried to pick them up, setting them back the way they’d been. When I was done, I listened for more of the women’s words, but they had moved on.

Still, the whispered conversation stuck with me. Haunted me even.

They said I looked familiar, implied I might be someone they knew. And Eddie… They acted like I was going to hurt him. That me being here was the last thing he needed.

I knew he said the people here liked to gossip, but this went beyond silly speculation. This seemed as if it were rooted in truth, a truth no one bothered to mention.

And Eddie was right in the center of it.

What wasn’t he telling me?

There were moments of affinity, moments of distance. Our relationship wasn’t so much a push and pull because neither of us pushed away, yet sometimes an invisible current swelled between us, carrying us apart.

I treaded the water, fighting against it and swimming up shore to stay next to her. I wouldn’t lose her again.

Never again.

Always, though, the current would shift and change, and we would find our way back to each other.

Cross my heart.

Hope to die.

You will be forever mine.

In this moment, we were drifting and I was swimming, trying to get back to her side. When I left her at the cooler, everything was fine, but when I returned just moments later, there was a noticeable partition between us.

“Well, you’ve seen the entire street,” I said, gazing out over the small “business” district of Lake Loch. “What next?”

Amnesia stood silently beside me for a moment. She was looking out over the street we’d just been up and down. I was worried she would say back to Maggie’s. If she did, that’s where I would take her, but that would mean saying good-bye for today. I wanted more time. I was always going to want more time.

Her body shifted, angled toward me. “How about a tour of your place?”

It was the last thing I thought she would say but the first thing I wanted to hear. “My place is a disaster.” I warned. “It’s still a construction zone.”

“I want to see.” She cajoled.

“C’mon, then,” I said, holding out my hand, hoping she would take it.

She did, a smile lighting her face.

I’d parked around the back of Loch Gen since I’d worked this morning. We jogged around the back, and then I loaded her giant pumpkin into the bed before driving off. We drove with the windows down. The air was cold, but she seemed not to care. Her fingertips trailed out the window, catching the wind. Golden strands of hair blew around her face, and it was as if she were letting go of whatever seemed to try and drag her down.

The trip to my place was short, and I turned off the road down a driveway that wasn’t really. It used to be, but it was overgrown now, the gravel that used to be here pretty much all gone. It was on my list of things to do, but my top priority was the house.

“It’s so cute,” she said, sitting forward when I drove up.

“That’s not the look I was going for,” I muttered, shutting off the engine.

“It’s like a little cabin,” she exclaimed and flung open her door.

I joined her at the front of the truck, looking at my place. “That’s what it was used for years ago. A vacation cabin because it’s on the lake.”

Amnesia followed my gaze past the house, across the yard to where the lake met land. “What a beautiful view.”

“The lake calls me,” I said simply.

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