Page 27 of Found By You
Sky grinned at me, an unguarded smile that I’d never seen before. “She did. Man, your sister’s a good cook.”
That made me laugh, and I inhaled food and coughed.
Kayla filled a cup of water and handed it to me, rolling her eyes. “The big lug is laughing because this is about the only thingI know how to make. In fact, my brothers are all better cooks than me. Mom and Dad are too, of course. That’s probably why I don’t cook much, because I come over here and mooch off them all the time, but I can do a good breakfast when I have to.” She shook her head and looked at me curiously. “What time do you go into work?”
I shot to my feet, stuffing one more slice of bacon into my mouth. “Shoot. I need to call and let them know I’m going to be a little bit late.”
“You do have to go to work today?” Sky asked.
“I do.” I slipped my plate into the sink and took a gulp of water. “Damon’s not in town, and we’re short-staffed.” I was internally chastising myself. How could I have forgotten that?
I paused and stared at her. She looked disappointed, and I realized I didn’t want to leave her.
Kayla looked back and forth between us, then grunted. “Hey, it’s Saturday. I don’t have to work unless I want to, and I don’t want to today.” She turned to Sky. “So I’ll show you around town, and I’ll make it fun.” Winking at me, she added, “Don’t worry,officer, she’s taken care of. We’re going to have fun today, and then we can all grab dinner later together, if that works.”
I nodded. “Thanks.” She must have known that I instinctively didn’t want to leave. “You okay today?” I asked Sky.
Sky looked embarrassed. Her face turned red, but she shrugged. “Yeah, I’m great.” She smiled at Kayla. “We’ll have a good day together.”
I rushed upstairs and put on an extra uniform that I kept at my parents’ house. I was about to leave the house when I realized something had changed. Sky was doing dishes. Kayla was gone. Feeling uncertain, I moved into the kitchen.
She turned to look at me. “Hey, are you going?”
I hesitated. “Are you really okay?” She still had the bandage on her head, and the bruises on her face seemed a little worse, especially without makeup.
She shrugged. “I’m okay. It’s just, you know, the same stupid stuff. I can’t remember anything, and no one’s come for me. So if anyone calls, or if you get any leads, you’ll call me, right? Or Kayla, I guess.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“Thank you for everything. I’m glad you’re here for me.”
Man, this woman had no idea what she was doing to my heart. “I’ll check in at lunch.”
At the police station,I was still mulling over a million questions when Bill Hanks intercepted me in the hallway. “So I just got a phone call from Casper, a guy named Pete,” he told me. “He was out fishing for a few days, now he’s back.”
That got my attention. “What did he say?”
Bill shrugged. “He says he doesn’t know who the woman was. He didn’t know it was a fake name, but he did say something that matches up; whoever rented the car was a redhead.”
“So we know that she was in Casper. It wasn’t like she got into the car somewhere else. Okay, great.”
Bill nodded. “I took the liberty of calling around to other police stations throughout the state, making sure no one has inquired, and I haven’t gotten anything back.”
“Thanks. Let me know if that changes.” Maybe we were starting to get somewhere.
Chapter 12
Sky
After McCrae left, the house felt empty. I couldn’t forget how he’d read Bible stories in such a tender, loving way the night before. A way that helped me sleep. I finished up the dishes and then moved upstairs, still feeling a bit unsure about this home, about all of the rooms, and the casual way it enveloped me in this happiness. It was strange, like my body didn’t know if I could accept it.
Kayla was just getting out of the shower, wrapped up in a towel, and she grinned at me. Droplets of water glistened in her hair, and the scent of lavender soap lingered in the hallway. “We have a kind of sporty outfit in that suitcase. Why don’t you wear something with tennis shoes, and we’ll go hike a little bit? I’ll take you on some search and rescue trails.”
I hesitated. “Do I hike?” But I smiled at her.
She grunted. “Girl, you can do anything you want. Maybe think about this amnesia as a gift; you can be or do anything you want.”
I quickly showered, put on some makeup, and pulled my hair back into a simple ponytail. It was a shock to me that I lookeddecent today. After I put on the makeup, you could still see some of the bruising. The bathroom mirror reflected a woman who looked almost normal, despite everything she’d been through.
