August Unknown (18 page)

August sat at the kitchen table as those soft kisses repeated
in her thoughts. While her head knew they had been wrong, her heart had enjoyed
them so much. They had been wonderful, beautiful, delightful. She wouldn’t
trade last night for anything.

But now she realized the risk Geoffrey and his family faced
just for knowing her. She had nothing to offer him but danger. Nothing to
promise him but uncertainty.

Would her answers lie somewhere between here and California?
She was almost afraid of what she would find. She might be a bad person,
someone Geoffrey would never otherwise associate with.

A small part of her didn’t want to know, but the rest of her
had to.

Chapter Thirteen

“You’re awfully quiet.” Geoffrey glanced over from the
driver’s seat. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention the woman.”

She put on her best smile. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. You
can’t be suspicious of every unfamiliar person.”

“I should have realized. She looked so out of place.”

“You said it yourself. We don’t even know if there is a woman from
my past, red-haired or otherwise. Maybe I’m reliving that age-old feud between
blondes and redheads.”

He laughed. “There’s such a thing?”

“Of course. Don’t you know? Blondes have more fun, but
redheads have more fire.”

“I think I’ll take fun over fire any day.”

She sighed and glanced out the passenger window. “I’m afraid
I’m not much fun today.”

“Nonsense. We can have some fun while we drive. My family used
to play a game called ‘The Alphabet List’ to pass the time on road trips.”

He’d opted for the ocean highway instead of heading inland to
the interstate freeway. Despite the terror of the morning, it had blossomed
into a beautiful autumn day.

“Alright, how do you play?”

“Just call out a sign with a word starting with
A
, and
so on. First person to get through the alphabet wins. Cannon City Animal
Shelter.”

“No fair. I wasn’t prepared.” She laughed, grateful for his
efforts to lift her spirits.

“You can’t use the same word, unless you see it written
again.”

“Asphalt. Watch out, Barthlow, I’m right on your tail.”

“Bed and—”

“Breakfast!” She grabbed the next one, too. “County—”

“Courthouse, next right. You’re good at this.”

The ocean highway wove in and out of the rolling coastline,
each time catching a glance of the sparkling sea disappearing into a misty sky.
The effect was magical and August felt a melancholy tightening in her chest that
she couldn’t exactly identify.

“Detour ahead—”

“Expect Delays.
D
and
E
.” She laughed, wishing
it sounded more enthusiastic. “I think I’ve played this game before.”

A moment passed where August could sense Geoffrey’s unspoken
tension. “Have you thought about what you’ll do if you recognize one of these
places?” He phrased the question carefully.

She could tell from his tone it had been lingering on his
mind. “Not really. I’m more scared than anything.”

“About what happened this morning?”

“Yes, about what happened this morning, and about what I might
find today.” August sighed. “About what I’m going to do tomorrow.”

He glanced her way. “Tomorrow?”

Bad things had followed her out of her mysterious past. How
good could her life have been if someone wanted her dead? She wished she could
forget the past—write it off, and start new.

With Geoffrey.

But she couldn’t, not while his life, and the lives of his
family, were in danger. She didn’t doubt for a minute that someone had been in
the house—that someone had been after her. Gone as far as to take a knife from
the butcher block to stalk her with, and then return it to the dishwasher to
mess with her mind and make her look like a fool.

Whoever it was, they were smart and calculating, effectively destroying
her credibility with her new friends
and
the police.

“I can’t keep living at your house if someone is after me.”
The words burned in the back of her throat. Whoever this was who had tried to
kill her was now threatening her future with Geoffrey. “What if Leah and
Jocelyn had come home before you got back to the house? I don’t want to even
think—”

He reached over and gently grasped the fingers extending from
her cast. “They didn’t. Nothing happened. Hey look, Evergreen Fairways Golf and
Country Club.
E
-
F
-
G
.”

He was trying to make light of the situation. She knew he was
doing it to ease her fears, and she couldn’t help but smile. That was her sweet
Geoffrey. She felt another sad pull as she realized he wasn’t
her
Geoffrey, and he probably never would be.

“No fair. You’ve been here before. Gas, food and lodging next
exit.
F
and
G
. Ha!”

She sensed he didn’t truly believe someone had been in the
house, but she was certain. That meant the threat, and her past life, was close
to Newport. Obviously someone had seen her at the award ceremony, or at the
Mirthful Mermaid.

The miles passed in silence except for the game, and they were
both stuck on the letter
Q
by the time they reached the first burger
joint in southern Oregon. August was deep in thought, wondering how she would
move out of Geoffrey’s house—how she would find work with a broken arm to
afford
to move out—when his GPS told him to turn into the driveway at a remodeled fast-food
joint.

“It doesn’t look like a 50s sock hop,” he said, glancing at
the paper showing the address. They got out and walked halfway around it. If
she had ever seen the place before, she didn’t recognize it now.

August looked at the roof. Under the remodeled gutter, there
was a band of bright green paint and bracket marks where neon used to be
attached. She turned around, looking at the quaint streets surrounding them.
The small Oregon town was a jewel in an emerald green forest, but held not a
sliver of familiarity.

“Why don’t we take a short walk, stretch our legs?” He locked
the SUV remotely. “Are you hungry?”

“Not for burgers,” she said sourly, but in truth she was
ravenous. After this morning’s fright, her stomach had been too jittery to eat.
Now, almost four hours later, it rumbled with emptiness, and she was beginning
to feel run-down.

One block over, they found a pub restaurant similar to the
Mirthful Mermaid, but with a motorcycle kind of feel. They sat in a corner of
the darkly paneled room decorated with unique, roadside memorabilia, listening
to honky-tonk music emanating from an old-fashioned jukebox.

Geoffrey ordered a barbequed beef sandwich and August ordered
what turned out to be a gorgeous mountain of delicious pasta Alfredo with
fresh, succulent vegetables.

“Did Dr. Carlson ever give you the information on that woman’s
shelter in Corvallis?”

About to take a bite, Geoffrey put down his sandwich and
picked up his napkin, slowly wiping away a small dab of barbeque sauce from one
finger. His expression turned dark.

“We told him it wouldn’t be necessary. Look, August, you don’t
need to worry. You’re safe at my house.”

“But
you
aren’t. And Leah isn’t, and Jocelyn isn’t.
Even Derek isn’t, despite his city street-smarts. I can’t live with myself if
someone breaks in again.”

“We don’t even know for sure someone did.”

She glanced away, not wanting to start an argument.

“Okay, someone may have been there,” he conceded. “Maybe it
was even the red-haired woman. But we called the police so fast it made whoever
it was run like hell. I doubt they’ll be back.”

“This is a
killer
we’re talking about.” At least Gran
Millie understood that. August glanced down at her plate, but her appetite was lost.
“Someone who has to finish the job before I can identify them.”

“Jesus, August.” Geoffrey’s tone fell low with horror. “Don’t
talk that way.”

“It could be true!” She lowered her voice when a young man at
a nearby table glanced over. “It makes perfect sense, when almost nothing else
does.”

“How would this person even know you’ve lost your memory? The
only people who know are family, Dr. Lohman, and Mike. No one else at the
police station even knows. Derek and Leah sure wouldn’t tell anybody.”

“Jocelyn?”

“Jocelyn is smart enough to tell her mom if any strangers
tried to talk to her—about
anything
.”

“What about Gran Millie? There are lots of people in and out
of the Mirthful Mermaid.”

Geoffrey reached across the table and grasped her good hand.
She laced her fingers with his. “You’re safer with me.”

“But you’re safer
without
me,” she argued.

“I’m not putting you out because of that.”

She hadn’t wanted an argument, but that was exactly what she
got. It was pointless, she realized, because her mind was set.

“I’ll take you to Portland if you want. My loft has a doorman
and a security system. No one can get in.”

August speared a crisp snow pea and forced herself to eat it.
“Maybe.”

“Stop thinking of yourself as a burden.”

“You have no reason to do this. You’ve already done too much
as it is.”

“I have a good reason.”

And she was dying to know what that reason was. But just
because she was curious wasn’t a good enough reason to endanger his family.
Whatever obligation he felt he owed, he would get over it.

And she had enough of her own problems. She’d developed
feelings for this man. Her first mistake.

She’d endangered his family, and his home. Her second mistake.

She had a life to return to, even if it was a lonely
apartment, a dull job and an old cat.

“I’m running out of clean clothes anyway,” he told her.

“You have a maid come once a week.”

The waitress brought the check and collected Geoffrey’s empty
plate. “You want a box for that, hon?”

“No, thank you. I’m finished.”

“Y’all come back real soon, ya hear?”

“Definitely,” Geoffrey told her. “That was the best pulled
pork I’ve ever had.” He rose and helped August out of her chair. “Back on the
road again?”

She nodded and took a deep breath. “Back on the road.”

* * *

It was four thirty in the afternoon when they reached the
third burger joint. The second had been a run-down pit in a not-so-good part of
town, and August was almost thankful when she didn’t recognize a thing.

This one was run-down, too, but only because it was abandoned,
a falling-down relic of yesteryear. Geoffrey stood by the SUV on the cracked
asphalt parking lot while August walked around and faced the front.

She tried to imagine it freshly painted, with gleaming neon
lights running from the empty outlets at the edges of the face.

A gas station attendant told them the town had once been
bustling, but when the nickel mine petered out, the only industry left was
fishing.

Had she lived here then? Was she from a fishing family? A
mining family?

It was picking up again, though, the man at the station had
explained in an enthusiastic voice. A shoe company that used only natural and
environmentally friendly products had moved its factory here and created a
thousand new jobs.

She turned around to find Geoffrey watching her expectantly.
She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“I’m sorry, August.”

A convertible raced past on the main road with a group of
smiling teenagers listening to too-loud music. Once, somewhere, that had been
her.

“Don’t be,” she told him as they trudged back to the SUV. “It
was a long shot.”

“There’s one more.”

She slipped back inside the SUV and waited for Geoffrey to get
in on the driver’s side. “It’s too late. We’ll never make it back tonight. You
must be exhausted from all this driving.”

“Let me worry about that.”

“It’s a waste of time. Let’s just go.” She was beginning to
feel sorry for herself, and in a wretched way, the pity felt comforting.

“The last one is only six miles away. We’ve come too far to
turn away so close.”

She sighed. “All right.”

* * *

When they swung open the hotel door to the room, both August
and Geoffrey froze.

“He said this room had double beds,” August snapped. She
stalked across the room and picked up the phone. She winced as she jerked her
arm in an instinctive effort to dial with her left hand. She bit back an oath
and punched zero with a finger of the hand clutching the receiver. She was sick
and tired of struggling through life with one arm.

“Yes, Mrs. Barthlow?” the operator answered automatically.
August gritted her teeth with irritation but didn’t correct the woman.

“May I speak to the man who checked us in?”

“He’s on his dinner break. Is there a problem I can help you
with?”

“He promised us a room with double beds, but this room has one
king. My arm is broken. I can’t share a bed.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Barthlow, but it’s the last room in the
hotel. We’re sold out for the Seafood Festival tomorrow. If you’d like, I can
call our sister hotel in Grandview.”

“Where is that?” August asked her.

“It’s nine miles south of here on Highway 101.”

She glanced at Geoffrey. He was tired; she could see it in his
sloping shoulders and the weak smile he mustered.

“Never mind. This will have to do, thank you.”

Geoffrey tossed his jacket on the chair beside the bed. “I can
sleep on the floor.”

“Good. That’ll work.”

He stared at her, and she laughed. “That was a joke. Of course
you won’t. I trust you to behave yourself.”

He sank into the chair. “Good, because I’m bushed.”

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. She’d been
acting cranky and rude. Geoffrey had done her a great favor today. She went
over and sat on the edge of the bed near him.