Bill stepped into the living room. “Hi, sis.”
Rob watched her brow furrow, her focus going from Bill to the picture of her with him on the wall and back again.
“Do you recognize me?” Bill asked.
She shook her head, staring at him. Eventually she spoke. “I’ve seen pictures of you. Rob and Carol and the others have told me about you.”
Bill’s eyes flicked toward Rob, then back to Laura. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.” He walked over to sit next to her on the couch.
She studied his hands and he finally held them up for her. While tough and rugged, they were uninjured. “I’ve got an alibi.” He smiled, and then when she looked away, he put them down. “Sorry, Laur. I guess that wasn’t funny.”
“It’s okay.” She finally looked at him again. “I don’t have very many memories. I’m sorry.”
Rob watched as Bill tried to smile, tried not to stare at her bruises. “I understand.” Bill looked at him and met his gaze before returning his attention to her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner, sis. I should have been here for you. I’m staying two weeks. A friend of mine is helping me out with my charters.”
She nodded and looked away from him, as if afraid to meet his glance.
Laura normally would have been staring Bill right in the eyes and met him with a huge, friendly hug. She sat with her shoulders slumped, pulled in, trying to shrink away. Like a beat dog.
Then again, she looked like a beat dog.
Rob brought her a glass of water, a cup of coffee, and her meds. “It’s getting late. I really need to go. Sweetheart, are you going to be okay?”
She glanced at Bill as she took the meds from Rob and swallowed them with a drink from the water. “I’m okay,” she softly said.
Her weak tone of voice nearly broke his heart.
“I have to work a full twenty-four,” Rob said. “But Bill’s going to be with you. He’ll take you to the shop later, if you want, and stay there with you. And the captain said as long as we’re not on a call, I can take a long break and come home to have dinner with you.”
“Okay.” Doogie had rested his head on her lap and she reached out to stroke his head. “Can Doogie come to work with me?” she tentatively asked.
Rob had to swallow back another hitch in his throat. “He always goes to work with you, sweetheart.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
He took the water from her and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “And you can call me. If you get my voice mail, leave me a message and I’ll call you back as soon as I can. Or you can text me.”
“Okay.”
He took the glass of water back to the kitchen and went to grab the bag he normally took with him to work, with spare clothes and shower stuff.
Bill followed him. “My god,” he whispered. “She looks awful.”
Rob nodded. “I know. I warned you.”
“It’s like I’m a stranger to her.”
Rob nodded again. “I know.”
“This is horrible—”
“You don’t have to tell me that, Bill.”
Bill stopped. “I’m sorry. I know you love her. I know this is rough on you.”
“I almost lost her,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “She almost died. And now she doesn’t even know me. That first day in the hospital when she woke up, she was afraid of me.”
Bill reached out and touched Rob’s shoulder. “She’ll come back. She’s tough. She’ll get her memories back. I know it.”
“I wish I was that sure. She can remember the dog, but she can’t remember me.” He glanced toward the living room. “I called her ‘baby girl’ in the hospital and it was like I’d insulted her. I can’t even talk to her the same way. I don’t know what to do for her, how to help her.”
“Just love her, man. She’ll come back.”
Chapter Fifteen
Laura tried to relax around Bill. Intellectually, she knew if Rob trusted him, he was okay. She had few memories to rely on.
The fact that meeting him didn’t trigger new memories depressed the hell out of her, although she wanted to hide that fact from the men.
“Well,” Bill said once Rob had said his good-byes and left for work, “can I make you some breakfast?”
She nodded. “Thank you. That’d be nice.” She followed him into the kitchen, Doogie on her heels.
“French toast?”
She thought about Shayla’s omelets. “That’s fine.” She leaned against the counter to watch him as he searched for ingredients in the refrigerator and realized she’d be less than helpful.
She had no idea where anything was.
“Are you married?” she asked, unable to remember if she’d already asked that of anyone else.
He laughed from behind the fridge door. “No, happily divorced over six years now.” He peeked at her from over the top of the door. “You despised her, so you weren’t exactly heartbroken when it happened.”
She felt her face heat. “Sorry.”
“No, no need to be. She was a bitch. I just didn’t see it at the time.” He set eggs, milk, and a bottle of vanilla extract on the counter. “Mom and Dad didn’t like her, either. Although I loved you all like hell for keeping your mouths shut about it at the time. I knew she didn’t make a good impression, but you all still tried to welcome her to the family.”
“Um, okay.”
He found a loaf of bread in the pantry closet. “Don’t worry. Mom and Dad loved Rob.” He paused, a sad look on his face. “They adored him. They’d be happy to know you guys are getting married.”
She stared at the engagement ring, that she’d put on her right hand. She didn’t know why she’d moved it there.
He spotted it and met her gaze again. “Are you two still getting married?”
“I…” Her mouth snapped closed. Rob hadn’t said anything else about it.
And she’d been too busy struggling to corral her free-ranging memories that she really hadn’t thought much about it, either, other than her conversations with Shayla.
Bill didn’t speak. She knew he was waiting for her answer.
She couldn’t bear the weight of his gaze any longer and looked down to where Doogie was curled up in the corner of the kitchen, watching them. “I think so. Eventually.” She shrugged and that hurt her aching ribs. “I guess so.”
“Laur,” he softly said, “if you have any doubts about Rob, don’t.”
“I don’t. I guess. I just…” She closed her eyes and tried to condense her jungle of emotions into a coherent, short sentence. “I have doubts about me,” she admitted.
“What?”
“I don’t know who I am yet. What if he doesn’t like the new me?”
When she finally looked at him again, the sadness in his expression nearly started her crying. “Rob will love you no matter what.” He carefully engulfed her in a hug. After a few seconds, she relaxed into his embrace, familiar comfort, different than she felt with Rob.
“Let him be the one to decide whether he can love you or not,” he told her. “Don’t pull away from him because of all of this.”
“He’s so upset.”
“Not at you. No one’s upset at you.”
“Because of me.”
“No.” He held her at arm’s length. “Because of the fucker that did this. And that guy’s a sick, sadistic bastard. Don’t let him win like this by driving you away from Rob out of fear.”
He pulled her close again. She closed her eyes and let her fractured mind drift. “Strawberries,” she whispered, unsure what it meant.
“What?”
“Strawberries.” This time she said it firmly as a mental picture tried to swim into focus.
“Yes?”
She held her breath as the puzzle piece went from fuzzy to solid and slid into place with a click only she could hear. “You love strawberries and try to get them every time you come home because they grow them up in Plant City.”
She sucked in a bre
ath, her words spinning out of her, faster and faster, Laura unwilling to reel them in until they twirled themselves out for fear of blocking the memory. “I make you strawberry shortcake from scratch whenever you come to visit.”
Now her tears did flow. “I make it from Grandma’s recipe, that Mom used to make.”
He buried his face in her hair. “Yeah?”
“I made it for you when I came out and visited you after Mom and Dad died. We had to use frozen strawberries because we couldn’t find them fresh out there.” Her heart pounded, more memories sliding into place.
“When you came home after I called you about Mom and Dad, Rob drove me to the airport. When you made it into the terminal you hugged me and we both broke down crying right there.”
“Yeah.”
Pain echoed through her heart, feeling as fresh as it had that day. “You told me it was you and me and you’d always be there for me, no matter what,” she sobbed. “No matter what.”
He kissed the top of her head and she heard the tears in his voice. “Yeah, sis. No matter what.”
Like a shattered mosaic pulling itself magically, seamlessly back together, a huge chunk of her childhood and teen years returned. She let out a gasp, her grip on him tightening. “I remember you.” Her cries renewed. “I remember you, so why can’t I remember Rob?”
* * * *
Bill wasn’t sure he’d be able to get her calmed down at first. He helped her out to the couch where he sat, holding her while she cried herself out in his lap.
After getting her a handful of tissues, he said, “Why don’t we just stay here today, huh?”
She sat up and shook her head, a familiar, determined look on her face. “No. I need to go to the shop. Maybe it’ll trigger something. I’m tired of sitting around waiting for things to happen to me.”
He brushed the hair out of her face. “I don’t want you to stress yourself.”
She took a deep breath. “Like you said, I can’t let the fucker win.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “Well, at least your ability to argue to get your own way is still intact.”
“Is that good?”
He hugged her again, unwilling to let her go after nearly losing her, his only living family other than some distant cousins. “Yes. Very good.”
After he cooked her breakfast, she went to take a shower. When the condo phone rang, he picked it up. “Hello?”
A dial tone met him.
He stared at the phone for a minute, unsure what to do. Then he called Rob.
“Fuck, call Det. Thomas. Hold on.” Bill got a piece of paper to write the info down while Rob dug the card out of his pocket. “Tell him about it. How is she?”
“In the shower. She doesn’t know.”
“I wouldn’t tell her.”
“I don’t plan on it. In fact, I’m going to unplug the damn phone here, so call my cell.” He hung up and relayed the information to the detective, who said he’d handle it. Then Bill reached behind the phone and unplugged the cord from the wall.
He went around and found two other bases and unplugged the phone cords from them, too. After trying her phone number from his cell and not hearing any ringing in the condo, he nodded to himself.
One problem solved. For now.
* * * *
Laura ended up giving Bill her cell phone and asked him to handle it for her. She kept getting texts from people who, while their names showed up in the contacts, didn’t show up at all in her mind.
Except for Shayla and Rob, of course.
She paid close attention while Steve went through things with her, like showing her how to rebuild a regulator in the repair area in the back of the shop.
“I used to do this?”
Steve looked sad. “Since you were a kid.”
“Oh.” As she worked, more things came back to her until she was able to work on a regulator while Steve watched.
She showed him. “Like that?”
He hooked it to a tank they kept in back for that purpose and took a test breath from it. “Perfect.” He offered her a smile. “Like you’ve never been gone.”
Bill quietly sat on a stool at the other end of the repair counter and watched.
“I feel bad you’re just sitting there,” she said.
Bill shook his head. “Try making me leave, sis. You just keep doing what you need to do. I’m your shadow for the next couple of weeks.”
She thought about Thursday. “I’m supposed to meet with Shayla and some others for a girls’ morning on Thursday.”
He smiled. “I know.” He held up her phone. “She texted to confirm. Brunch and then nails.”
Laura grinned. “Are you getting your nails done, too?”
He held his hand out in front of him, fingers spread, nails up. “I could do with a mani-pedi. They’re in kind of rough shape.”
Laura burst out laughing. This was the big brother she…
She took a hitching gulp of air before the tears hit again. Steve and Bill gathered close.
“What is it, sweetie?” Bill asked.
She let out a laugh that mixed with her tears. “Just more memories of you came through. Good tears, guys.”
“You sure?” Steve asked. “I can’t tell the difference.”
She hugged them before wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Yeah, good ones.”
* * * *
Bill and Steve put their collective feet down around five o’clock that afternoon. Even though it wasn’t closing time yet, they could tell Laura was exhausted. Steve helped herd her toward her truck, which Bill had driven them in that morning. Bill had Doogie by the leash and loaded him into the backseat while Steve helped her into the passenger seat.
“Am I being given my marching orders?” she quipped.
Bill nodded. “Absolutely, sis. I’m pulling big brother rank on you.”
“And I’m pulling age rank on you, kiddo,” Steve added. “Go home, get some sleep. Rob said you’ve got gun lessons tomorrow. Don’t bother coming in. Go do that.”
“I feel guilty not being here.”
Bill slid behind the wheel and leaned forward. “You believe her?” he asked Steve. “The first vacation she’s had in a while and she’s fighting it.” He smiled.
He took her home, keeping her distracted with the TV and by going through her photo albums again until he got dinner started in preparation for Rob’s arrival.
When Rob returned, he gave her a kiss but sent Bill a look that told him Rob wanted to talk to him. Alone.
Bill followed him back to the master bedroom. “She okay?” Rob asked.
“Yeah. I unplugged the phones here, though.”
“Good.”
“She…” Bill felt horrible, but knew it was the situation. “She got some memories back about me.”
He watched Rob’s face as the man schooled it into professional neutrality. “Nothing about me?”
“It doesn’t mean anything. Don’t give it weight.”
His shoulders slumped. “I know.”
The three sat and talked after dinner. Laura yawned and looked at the time. “I’m sorry, but I need to go to bed. I’m really tired.”
Bill and Rob both stood when she did. She hugged Rob. Bill watched as she reluctantly let him go. “When do you come back?”
He tucked her hair behind her ears. “Tomorrow morning. But then I need to go in at six tomorrow night to cover for one of the guys who covered for me.”
“Okay.” It looked like she was debating something, then she rose up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss, brushing her lips over his.
She hugged Bill. “Night, sis. See you in the morning.”
When she closed the bedroom door behind her, both men heavily sat and stared at each other, the strain each felt mirrored on the other’s face. Bill spoke first.
“She doesn’t even sound the same,” Bill said. “She talks differently. Did you notice that?”
Rob nodded. “Tell me about it. You want a beer???
? Rob headed for the kitchen.
“Got anything stronger?”
“Jack Daniel’s.”
“Bring the bottle.”
Rob reappeared with a glass of iced tea for him, and the bottle of liquor and a glass for Bill. “God, I wish I could have a drink,” Rob said.
Bill held up the bottle. “Want some?”
Rob shook his head before he took a sip of tea. “Nothing stronger than this. I have to get back to work.” He took a long swallow. “And I’m afraid if I start on that, I won’t want to stop.”
Bill started to pour his own drink and stopped at two fingers. “Good point.” He capped the bottle and took a swallow, grimacing. “I don’t know how you’ve managed to hold it together.”
“I have to.” Rob looked at his glass. “She’s my life. If I lose her, everything else is pointless.”
Bill studied him. “Don’t give up on her, okay? I remember how she talked about you last summer. She’s madly in love with you. As upset as she was, she told me the only thing that got her through losing Mom and Dad was you.”
Rob looked away before he took another swallow. “I just wish I could believe that. You’d think she’d at least remember a few things about us if that was the case.” He stared out into space. “She put her engagement ring on her right hand.”
“Stop it.”
Rob looked at him.
“Rob, she loves you. Trust me, she does. I talked to her, what, a week before the attack? She was raving about the fricking wedding invitations. At the time, I could have cared less. She was describing them to me, babbling on. She was so happy and I was just listening to her, letting her talk.”
Bill stared at his drink, feeling guilty. “I wish I’d paid more attention now. I was just letting her go on and on. Man, you are her world. She has no doubts about you.” He took another swig of whiskey and swirled the glass. “I know few things with certainty, but I have no doubt about her love for you.”
* * * *
Bill was already up and watching TV when Laura awoke a little after five thirty the next morning. She felt comforted by the delicious aroma of coffee filling the condo.
Her night had been filled with nightmares about someone pounding on her door, waking up every time she reached for the knob.