More Than Memories (10 page)

David called out a “hello” as he came in the side
fence with Alicia, toting drinks.

“Hey,” Alicia greeted Molly, cheerful, beaming
even, and Molly knew today must be like old times for the rest of them. Seeing
Alicia’s devotion and concern for her made Molly want to be the same kind of
friend back, do her part of the relationship.

“We need to celebrate!” David set an ice chest
down and dumped ice into it before setting the drinks in to chill. “My wife’s
best friend is back.”

Molly could swear David’s smile didn’t reach his
eyes as he spoke, and something told her he wasn’t being sincere. Didn’t he
seem overly enthusiastic? She covered her thoughts with a forced smile and
decided to ignore it.

Mark entered through the fence as David spoke, and
Molly noticed how he checked for Bev, who wasn’t there yet. He joined Trent,
who was putting the hamburgers on, and started a conversation about work. It
turned to the trip to California, and what Trent hoped to find there.

That’s when Beverly slipped through the gate and
took a seat. Alicia murmured a “hello” to Bev while Mark talked. He gave Bev a
big smile that Molly couldn’t miss and raised his beer her way.

Everyone was listening to Trent and Mark at this
point, and Molly felt thankful when the topic dried up. She wanted to get to
know them more, not talk about her.

“You’ll call with an update, won’t you?” Alicia
asked more to Molly than Trent.

“Of course. Every day till we’re back.” As she
hoped, Alicia relaxed. They broke out the drinks and soon the food was done.
Bev never did say much to Molly except a soft “hello,” but she kept a watchful
eye on her.

The conversation stayed light after that. Mark was
full of interesting facts, some learned from law enforcement, others from
personal experience, like the multicolored egg he found in his refrigerator –
he swore it’d been white when he bought it a year before.

Laughing, Alicia asked, “Don’t you ever clean your
fridge?”

“I do. It was one sneaky little egg,” Mark said.
Molly liked his generous smile because it gave him an honest, open look. With
his dark curly hair and skinny, long build, he just had to be funny. There
wasn’t any way around it.

“Did you hear the weather forecast?” Alicia asked
all of them. “We’re going to hit 70 degrees tomorrow, and it’s supposed to be
an awesome day on the coast.”

“Is that an idea?” Mark had a smile on his face
already. “Who’s up for a day trip?”

Molly glanced at Trent to see his opinion. He
grinned at her. “Guess I’m in,” she said. “We can put off the trip to
California.”

Everyone raised beers and wine coolers in
agreement. They sat around and talked until they were losing daylight. This
time of year, the night air felt ten degrees cooler just after sunset. Everyone
helped pick up before leaving, and Trent drove Molly back to the hotel.

Almost giggling, Molly told him, “I think I have a
buzz.”

“Well, scoot over here. I wouldn’t want you
falling over.” He pulled her over and she rested her head on his shoulder while
he drove. She liked the fresh, outdoor smell that clung to them, along with the
charcoaly smell from the grill. Not to mention his cologne. A potpourri of
sentimental smells.

She told him, “I’m so glad I’m getting to know
your friends.”

“At some point, you’ll have to admit they’re
yours, too.”

“I know,” she said. Ever since she found Trent
she’d been forming a mental picture of the person she was before, but she had
trouble stepping into that picture. She wasn’t used to having a lot of friends.
He said she loved being a cheerleader, but she tried to hide now. Or she did in
California. Her mother said she didn’t like drawing attention to herself. Ellen
even talked her into staying home from shopping trips or outings.

Molly had many things she needed to admit,
including her feelings about her parents.
Just not now
. She thought of
the happy afternoon at Trent’s. “I’m glad you have Mark around. He seems like a
really good friend.”

Trent pulled into the hotel parking lot and turned
off the engine. “He listened to me whenever I needed a friend, which was a lot,
and he answered all my questions the best he could.” He took her hand as they
slid out Trent’s side of the truck and walked to her room.

She squeezed his hand.
“I can’t imagine how awful it must have been these last four years.”

“Maybe you can.” He
turned toward he
r as they stood outside her door. She felt herself
wondering why it all had to happen, but she decided to live in the moment,
enjoy standing close to him. Their earlier kiss
circulated through
both their minds. When Trent put his hand on her back
and pulled her close, she tilted her head expectantly.

Two greedy people had
never kissed so wildly. It pulled the breath right out of Molly.
His
mouth on hers made her tingle and his hands gave her hot chills. She felt his
need in his touch and found herself tightening her hold on him.

Though there was a light above them, she suddenly
saw herself in darkness with Trent, kissing just like this, and looking over
his shoulder. Feelings dove through her. She remembered feeling the hair on his
chest against her bare skin, his arms on her bare back. His hands felt gentle
as they ran over her skin. She’d been excited, nervous.

She jolted back with the strange feeling that she
was remembering them being intimate.

“Are you okay?” His voice sounded throaty and
filled with concern.

She had t
rouble talking
herself. “I’m alright. So many feelings just hit me.” She kissed him once
softly on the lips before saying goodnight and turning inside.

The sky looked pink on
the horizon when Trent and Molly pulled into Alicia’s driveway the next
morning. Molly realized how serious Alicia and David were about starting their
family when she saw their second vehicle was a minivan big
enough to
hold everyone for the trip. She imagined Alicia had talked about babies while
they grew up, and wondered if she had, too.

She didn’t understand why seeing Alicia didn’t
bring her memory back. And Trent. She hoped they didn’t think they weren’t
important enough to her to spark her memory.

Mark loaded an ice chest into the back of the van
as they got out. “Morning!” he called.

Molly saw Bev inside the van already and quietly
asked Trent, “Does Beverly have a grudge against me?”

His overly surprised look said everything.

“For how long?” she asked. “Since I got back or
has it been long standing?”

His look hardened as he peered at Bev’s back
inside the vehicle. “You know how it is when two girls are in the same grade
and so different from each other. She was the quiet type. You were where things
were happening. Bev was on the pep band while you were cheerleading. I’m just
surprised she held onto it after school. And after you’ve been gone for so
long.”

“Seems she’s mad I’m back.” Molly wished she
hadn’t noticed Bev’s attitude toward her.

He grabbed her hand. “Don’t take it personal.
She’ll warm up to you.”

She didn’t before
. Molly tried to smile,
deciding to drop the topic since Alicia and David came outside, bags in hand.
Molly, too, had packed sweats to keep warm or in case she got wet.

“I’m ready,” Alicia announced, jumping in the
front passenger seat. They laughed and followed. Mark joined Bev in the back,
and Molly felt the urge to crack a high school joke and tell them not to
make-out back there. That’s where it ended, an urge. She almost laughed, wondering
how Bev would react to that. So she sat, silent, beside Trent in the middle
seat.

“How often did we go to the coast before?” she
asked Trent when the van reached the edge of town and started on the coast
highway.

“It’s only an hour away,” he said. “You went with
your own parents and with Alicia and me when our family went for a weekend.”

Alicia turned in her seat. “We’d spend several
days driving from town to town, playing on the beach and junk shopping.” She
paused to laugh before continuing. “You and I got stuck on a big rock one time
when the tide came in, scared the tar out of us. We were rock climbing. You
could see miles of beach from the top. We didn’t pay any attention to the water
coming in. It got real deep and we were too scared to try to swim in it, so we
sat there till the tide went back out.”

Trent said in her ear, “I was at camp or I’d have
come out and got you.”

Molly wasn’t sure if she was picturing the story
as Alicia told it or remembering that day.

“Mol?” Trent asked.

Molly looked at him and back to Alicia. “I
remember the waves.” So dark blue, mad, crashing into the rock below them. It
looked so steep and far down once the ocean engulfed them. She saw Alicia’s
childlike face, those fine features on perfect cream skin and her blue eyes
sparkling with tears of fear.

“Just the waves?” Bev’s flat voice asked from
behind them.

Molly didn’t want to share the rest. “And Alicia.”

“Well, hey, isn’t that your second memory?” Alicia
asked excitedly while she grinned. Yeah, it was, sort of. Molly had a few
unclear pictures now and a few actual memories. Many memories were feelings
about Trent.

“You told Alicia about your first?” Trent asked.
Molly hid her smile because she knew what he was thinking.

“I told her about seeing you with flowers in your
hand.” Molly turned to Alicia again and said, “Keep going, what else did we
do?” Maybe all these feelings and pictures would start mending themselves
together into a memory of her life.

Bev and Mark were quiet in back while Alicia and
Trent took turns sharing stories about trips, summer vacation, or times in
school. Sometimes Molly could see pictures from the stories, but again she
wasn’t sure if it was imagination or memory. Still, it felt good to piece
together her past. Before she knew it, they arrived at the coast and drove on a
road beside the beach.

Mark pointed a road out to Molly. “There’s a great
park up there by the lighthouse. We usually grill up there after going on the
beach.”

Trent added, “It’s got a small lake that’s great
for swimming in the summer.”

“Or spring if you’re man enough.” David joked from
the driver’s seat.

“So you’re getting in?” Molly shot back as they
pulled into a parking space facing a sand dune. She followed Trent’s lead and
left her shoes in the van and rolled up her pant legs.

Alicia took off and was at the top of the dune as
the rest of them started up. Molly asked, laughing, “Is she always like that?”

“You used to be right beside her.” They reached
the top as he spoke, and Molly stopped to stare at the ocean stretching out
before her. So blue and endless. The wind whipped her hair and she didn’t care.
She almost didn’t notice the long expanse of sand between them and the water
until she saw Alicia half running, half trudging on it to the water.

“I like your hair today.” Trent said next to her
ear, an arm around her waist.

“I didn’t do anything with it.” She laughed. “I
figured the wind would ruin it anyway.”

“I don’t think it looks ruined.” He was so close
his lips brushed her cheek and she leaned into the caress.

“It’s so absolutely beautiful.” She tilted her
head to look into his eyes, which weren’t on the view of the ocean, but her. A
floating sensation
wafted ov
er her, like she
was lying on the waves, barely touching them, and magically flying there as
they rose and crashed again. The roar, steady and moving, seemed to shout how
she felt. Trent’s lips came down on hers. Soft, sensual, then harder and
asking. Her arms found him and wrapped around his waist
as they stood, kissing like no one else was around to see, even though
everyone on the beach had a perfect view of them.

Heaven above, she knew this. Maybe didn’t
remember, but
knew
. Kissing Trent filled a craving she hadn’t known
about and filled her with a hot, vicious need that actually hurt. She pushed
against him at first before she gasped in embarrassment and pulled away.

The look in his eyes overtook her.

“Don’t worry, baby,” he whispered. “I want you
more than you can know.”

She wanted him, too. Wordless, thoughtless really,
she gazed up into those eyes until her brain kicked back on. Then she glanced
down the beach to where their friends were already jumping in the waves.

They shared a laugh and started down the dune.
Mark, Alicia, and David were letting the waves chase them, but Bev stood, toes
only in the water, and gave Molly a nasty look when they arrived.

Trent completely ignored Bev. He grabbed Molly’s
hand and charged the incoming waves, jumping over the first one and wading in
deeper. Molly wondered why they’d rolled their pants up when they were now wet
up to the waist.

They were laughing, and falling, and freezing, but
it felt wonderful. She couldn’t get enough. The group made its way down the
beach to the jetty, but they decided they were all too soaked for the walk out
and back.

“Wow, I’ve missed you.” Alicia all but fell onto
Molly. “Coming here wasn’t the same.”

“You’re completely wet!” Molly cried.

“So are you!” They tumbled back into a wave and
Molly fell on her butt. Alicia dove into the water with her, so they were both
floating in the coldest water Molly had ever felt. Trent and Mark were having a
good laugh at the girls.

Though they were laughing, too, Molly called out
to Trent, “Save me!”

He came in after her, scooping her up in his arms,
and heard fake coos from Mark and David. Alicia yelled to David, “Don’t you
love me enough to save me?”

“Do I have to?” he said on his way in. His sour
comment killed the laughter a bit.