Page 44 of Please Remember

"You screwed up everything!" I scream at the windshield. "I put years into everything, you stupid bitch. And you think an apology will erase all of the pain I've been put through since you stumbled home? Go to hell, Allie. You're not nearly as perfect as everyone wants to believe. Including you!"

Chapter Eighteen

Allie

"What about Danny Tomlin?" I ask Shields on the phone while Sage heads into the nail salon to check us in.

Jax gave me a phone shortly after I got out of the hospital. He’d kept the line with my old number active on his account, but the phone I’d had before disappeared along with me. He bought a new phone and taught me how to use it.

"Where did you get that name?" Shields asks me.

It's like talking to a shrink. At least like the ones on television and the one I had to see in the hospital before I was released. Answer a question with a question.

"I was talking to someone, and they mentioned how similar my disappearance was to someone else over a decade ago. Ms. Moran?"

"And how did you get to Danny Tomlin?"

Annoyed, I sigh. "When she was brought up, so did the rumor that went around when she disappeared, I guess. That she'd been messing around with a student. And the student in question was Danny Tomlin.I was then told that Danny was someone I apparently got fired from the bank I worked at."

"Daniel Tomlin worked at the bank with you, and he was let go when he stole your car keys and broke into your car. He also harassed you. This was all detailed in his personnel files from the bank."

"That would give him a good reason to want to do something to me, right? And if he was obsessed with me, it might explain why I was kept alive instead of killed."

"He has an airtight alibi the night you disappeared."

Rolling my eyes, I shake my head and see Sage waving to me from the window. "And Jax doesn’t?"

She pauses as I walk towards the front entrance of the salon. "I'll look into it again."

"Thank you," I say and hang up.

"What'd she have to say?" Sage asks as we're led to two chairs at the back of the salon and away from others. "Don't worry, I'm a VIP customer here. You were, too. They won't let anyone harass you."

It feels like someone’s watching me. I almost always feel this way out in public after coming home, but I catch a glimpse of someone walking along the sidewalk in a black hoodie and black jeans, their hands shoved in their pockets. I can’t see their face, but I’m brought right back to the basement again.

Stop it. If that was the person who did this to me, they would have tried to take me. I’m safe; Sage is here, and we’re in public. That was not the person who did this. Breathe. It’s okay. I’m okay.

Slipping off my sandals, I put my feet into the water and push the panic still present in my chest down. I pull the skirt I chose to wear up to my knees to keep from getting it wet. Dresses and skirts still fit better than pants, even with the weight I've gained. I'm still just shy of thirtypounds lighter than I was when I purchased the clothes. At this rate, it’ll take forever to wear the beautiful wardrobe I have.

"She's looking into him again."

"Be careful with her feet. She had cuts and scrapes on the bottoms," Sage says and points to the woman sitting in front of me.

"Tell me if I hurt you, okay?" she says, and I nod.

Handing the nail polish to me, Sage smiles. "This was always your color, but you can choose whatever you want."

I look at it in my hand, and I have a strange flash to my feet with this color on them. They're tangled with larger ones, and I realize it must be Jax in the image. A memory? Another strange swirl in my belly hits, and I can't get over how unexpectedly the desires I have come and go.

"I think I'll take this one," I say with a smile.

"Where'd you go just now?"

"It was a weird flash of a memory, I think. I saw this color on my toes."

She smirks. "First of all, you were always weird because you wore the same color all the time. At least on your toes. Never changed it up. And a memory? What kind of memory?"

The hot water starts to scald, and I pull my feet out. "Can we add a little cool water?"

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