License to Love (19 page)

She shrugged, looking away. “I didn’t know them that well.
Just those two years.” What a lie. They were her world, the only people she’d
known. “I mean, I should have known them all my life.” Molly was surprised to
see her pain reflected in Trent’s eyes. Could he possibly understand what she’d
been through?

“Mol, I’m so sorry,” he whispered, and he meant it – they
both could tell that.
Oh no
. He really did know her. The trueness of it
hit her, taking her breath away. For some reason this hadn’t felt real to her
until this moment. Hot tears stung her eyes but she bit down on her lip to stop
them. Shocking her even more, Trent reached across the table and placed his
hand over hers, a warm and friendly gesture. This is what she’d come looking
for. She longed to walk around to his side of the table and lean into his arms,
almost as if by instinct. If only she could stop time with his hand on hers...

“I can help,” he said.

“But I’m sure you have a life of your own to live.” She
suddenly felt like a lost puppy tagging along with the first friendly stranger
it found. While she wanted, and maybe needed his help, she wasn’t sure if it
was asking too much.

“I’m a cop, and I know a few good detectives. The Anderson
case is cold, but now you’re here to help solve it. Don’t you want to know why
you and your parents disappeared? I’ll help you.”

She almost laughed. “You can’t take time off to do this, and
it’s been two years since the accident.”

“I don’t care.” His determination wouldn’t sway. “I’ll ask
to use some of my vacation. I’ve got over a month accrued.”

“Don’t you ever take time off?”

“No, haven’t had a reason to. But now I want to help a
friend. Maybe you’ll remember your old life, but if you don’t, maybe we can
find out what really happened to your parents.”

She pulled in a long, deep breath. “Okay.”

Back in her room an hour later, Molly went in the bathroom
and stared at her reflection saying her name several times. “Molly Avery
Anderson.” She’d tried that many times without results, so this time she added,
“Trent Williams.”

This name sent her head and heart twirling. Rethinking her
day, she wondered if fate had sent her into that police station. Of course, she
had visited several other stations and towns before that one, but it’d been a
gut feeling that she’d find the help she needed there.

Turning, she walked from the bathroom and stood looking
around the hotel room. It was clean and impersonal, the way these rooms usually
are. She felt a connection between this room and her life—she didn’t feel
comfortable in either. However, it felt like a good place to sit and talk to
Trent simply because it wasn’t too personal.

Meeting Trent and hearing him say how she was different made
her look at herself anew. She’d taken on her mother’s style, she supposed,
since she didn’t remember dressing the way Trent described.

He knocked and her stomach tightened as she went to the door
and opened it. He seemed shy coming in, without the hat this time, and his
hands in his pockets. “I got the time off pretty easy.”

“Good. It’s really nice of you to help me out like this.”
She felt clumsy and sat down in a chair by the table, gesturing to the chair
across from her. He, too, looked uneasy.
She said
frankly,
“I want to know the facts about that day, when I disappeared.”

“Okay. On July 23, 2007 your house was found empty. A
neighbor went inside because the door was open. He could tell all of you tore
out of there in a hurry, leaving it a mess. Drawers were open, things thrown
around, clothes missing. He called 911, said he had a funny feeling about it.”

When Trent paused, she asked, “No note? No call to anyone?”

“No. Nothing. That’s why most people think you and your
parents decided to skip town for some reason, though we never found that
reason.”

“And that’s all there is to it still?” She couldn’t believe
that. She wanted answers.

“There were traces of blood on the floor.”

Blood?
Did she hear him correctly? “Whose?”

“We don’t know that either. Everyone in town was tested for
a DNA match.” He watched her closely to say, “I even got tested. We couldn’t
get a DNA match on anyone that knew you. It appears likely it was a relative,
though, because it was close, but not exact, to DNA taken from samples in the
house.”

“I’m completely puzzled. I have no idea what happened.” If
it didn’t match any of them, who could it be? She didn’t have any relatives
that ever visited her in California. Of course, there could have been relatives
before that.

“Unless the police missed someone in Ridge City, which could
happen, someone was there that other people didn’t know about, someone from out
of town.”

“Why did you say the police might have missed someone in
Ridge City?” she asked.

“It’s possible someone was there and lied about it, but it’d
have to be someone who usually wouldn’t visit you.”

“Oh.” She paused for a long minute. “I suddenly don’t want
everyone knowing I’m here, not right away. You’ve told me so much. I don’t know
what to think.”

Trent looked like he wanted to touch her, reach out to her.
He didn’t, of course. Maybe she was being silly.

“That’s fine,” he said. “Just in case someone is looking for
you, it might be a good idea. And maybe you’ll remember now that you’re back in
your hometown.”

“Hometown?”

He looked puzzled now. “Oh, I was going to ask you about
that. Mol, you lived your whole life here.”

Molly felt stunned and knew it showed. Why had her parents
told her they moved around often? She had to blink back sudden tears.

Looking up, Molly saw the concern on Trent’s face. She
couldn’t miss how rugged and handsome he was, or how he made emotions swirl
through her. She didn’t remember feeling attraction in the last four years. Her
neighbor in Redding sure felt it for her and wasn’t shy about it. She just
didn’t feel the same, and had tried to tell him she only wanted to be friends.
She needed friends.

“I searched all over for you.”

Why would you do that?
She didn’t respond, and was
glad she didn’t when he continued.

“We followed all kinds of empty leads.”

She realized he was speaking as a police officer. All this
time, she’d wondered why no one seemed to miss her.

“We got coverage in the news, sent your pictures to police
here and in Washington, California, and Idaho.”

The conversation lagged. She didn’t want him to leave,
though. “So who are you, Trent Williams?”

“Me?” Trent studied her like she was somehow the answer to
her own question. “I grew up here, too, on a farm a little ways out of town
with my one sibling, Alicia. I grew up wanting to be a cop, and now I am.
That’s about it.”

She didn’t believe that. “I’ve noticed a few things about
you.”

He gave her a small, slow smile. “So tell me.”

“The way you stand.” She pulled her body up straight,
demonstrating, and started laughing without any unease at teasing him. It made
him grin.

“It’s not about being cocky, you know. I know what you’re
thinking. But stand up and I’ll show you.”

She rose, arms folded across her chest because she felt like
she was under a microscope now that his attention was on her.

“See?”

“I don’t get it.”

He gave her a nudge and caught her by the arm before she
stumbled. He pointed down to her feet. “Put your feet out like this.” He nudged
her again. “It’s about safety. Now pretend you have a gun under this arm and
you don’t want me to get it.”

“Can I run?”

He didn’t smile or laugh, so she looked up at him, wondering
what he was thinking. She had to look away so his eyes wouldn’t hypnotize her.

“Put this foot back. It’s your gun leg.” He tapped her
thigh. “Keep this side of your body turned away.”

“So if I ever carry a gun, I’ll know how to keep it safe,”
she said.

“Well, now you know why cops stand the way they do.”

She liked that smile of his. It felt so nice to be laughing
and talking with someone like him. They sat again and he told her about Mark
Stone, his friend and fellow cop, who was a few years older than him but single
as well, so they hung out often and had things in common. He told her, “We’re
the only single guys on the force in this one horse town, so we stick
together.”

There was a hint of loneliness in his voice that made her
want to reach out to him. She didn’t feel so alone anymore with him sitting by
her. This time, it was her that reached for his hand. Their gazes met and held
until he cleared his throat.

“I came here meaning to tell you something important.” His
tone scared her, so she reminded herself she’d come to Ridge City to discover
who she was. “The department is reopening the case now that you’re back. It’s
strange anyway, but it’s even more complicated now that we know your parents
died. This could possibly be a double murder.”

The uneasiness she noticed when he had first arrived
returned, and she had to say, “I don’t know why we left.” She didn’t add that
it could be her fault. Or maybe she did something awful that forced them to
leave. She felt in her heart it couldn’t be true, but she didn’t remember. One
look at Trent’s eyes told her he didn’t know, either.

“We don’t know much at this point, but I’d like to answer
these questions for all of us.”

Did he trust her? And could she trust him? Her words were
about to gush out, when he said, “I’ll let you go to bed now, but I’ll come
back tomorrow.”

They rose in unison and slowly walked to the door.

“Goodnight, Molly, and welcome home.”

Molly couldn’t help the grin on her face as her brown and
tan horse trotted beside Thunder, Trent’s charcoal colored stallion. They rode
side by side at the edge of the pasture, next to the tree line. “I know how to
do this. I still can’t believe it!”

Trent had told her how much they
used to ride together and she’d been intrigued. The experience felt new and yet
familiar when she placed her foot and swung up on Galaxy like she’d been riding
for years.

She was too afraid to venture away
from her parent’s home in California, but riding through the countryside took
her mind off her problems and new worries
that coming to Ridge City had
brought. Sitting atop the horse, sh
e felt free
and happy, and she wondered, even hoped, the feeling was a memory of how she
felt years ago when she rode.

“This sure beats yesterday,” she said with a giggle and then
realized her slip. “I mean, this is a lot more fun than visiting the police
station.”

She had been thinking about how nervous she was at first.
Now Trent wore casual clothes and they laughed with ease.

“Galaxy sure was happy to see you,” he said. “And you hopped
up there before I showed you how, so you must remember some things.”

He
had
noticed. Molly tingled with pride in herself.
It felt so good knowing she could do something. She smiled at him. “Things like
walking, riding a bike, and I guess riding a horse.”

While Trent smiled back, it wasn’t a sure smile as he
searched her face. He seemed to shake himself and look away. Maybe, when she’d
felt so comfortable about mounting the horse, he thought she remembered
everything. If only she could.

Molly looked down at Galax
y’s
shaking tan
mane as they rode. When she first saw the horses and how
majestic they looked dancing around each other, she knew she loved to ride.
Maybe she didn’t remember, but she felt it. The horse had whinnied and danced
when Tr
ent b
rought her from the pasture to see
Molly.

“Did I tell you that Alicia let you help name him?”

“Really?” Molly loo
ked f
orward
to meeting his sister, sometime. That name still didn’t bring any emotion back
except anxiety about meeting someone who had known her so well.

She patted her horse and breathed in a deep breath of moist
forest smell. She wore blue jeans and a pink sweater, enjoying the soft feel of
it since warmer weather was on the way. Spring daffodils bloomed beside their
trail. The tr
ees were still
wet from a recent
rain, but everything was budding or starting to bloom. The sun shone through
the leaves fo
r parts of the day, and the wind
wasn’t as cold as when she first arrived.

“Yesterday and today went by so fast,” Molly mused out loud.
“Everything went by so slow in California.”

“Life here did, too.” He didn’t look at her so she couldn’t
see the emotion in his eyes, but his soft tone sounded sad.

Trent n
odded to their right
and they turned the horses to follow the trail, winding uphill through the pine
and oak trees. He moved his horse ahead of hers on the path lined with ferns.
Water drops fell out of the tree branches, landing on them
and creating their own personal rain shower. Molly
giggled.

“It’s beautiful here,” she told
Trent, knowing she did
n’t need to. She could see how much he loved the
land and his horses.

“We spent half our childhoods out here in these woods.”

“Was I a tomboy?”

“No, but you didn’t mind getting dirty.” He got a gleam in
his eyes, and she wanted to stare but needed to watch where she was going. He
said, “I feel a little selfish, keeping you all to myself. Other people are
going to be glad to see you. My sister Alicia has been waiting for you as much
as me.”

As much as me
? The phrase ca
ught her off guard, and he probably
saw it when she turned to stare at him. She didn’t need a memory to know her
eyes usually told everyone what she was feeling. His gaze searched her again,
looking for the old Molly, she guessed, and she had to look away. Alicia would
look at her and want to see her old friend as well. Could Molly give them that
person? Could she face them knowing they so desperately wanted to find the
person they knew? Again, she felt the urge to run back to California and just
move on,
pretending
her old life hadn’t existed.