Her Eyes (23 page)

"What?"

"Oh, it's crazy, never mind.” He sulked a bit and looked toward the sky as if searching for a sign.

"No, tell me."

"It's heebee-jeebee stuff."

"Like I'm possessed or something?” She couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up. “Well, if I am, she sure is a decent person. I've remembered some things, growing up things, so I guess my memory is coming back, slowly, but coming back."

"That's good. A person should know who they are."

Her sentiments exactly. She only wished Mike shared them. Whenever she tried to remember things, he would distract her, try to start a conversation, anything to keep her mind focused on him.

"So how has the rest of your week gone?"

"All right. We've gotten a few new jobs, and I'll tell you, keeping up with the paperwork has had me working fourteen, fifteen hour days seven days a week. It's fine because, well, I'm going to sound pathetic, but it's not like I have anything else to do."

"Oh, Frank, I'm sorry. Maybe if you had something else to do the work part wouldn't take as long?"

"Nice thought, but with the volume of working coming in it's hard to keep up. I guess that's good news, but I do need to deal with it as it comes.” He ran his fingers through his hair, and Claudia wished she could to that. She would love to touch him, just once.

"I have an idea!"

"Yeah?"

"How about I come to work for you? I'm sure that I know something about receivables and payables. How hard can it be to answer the phone? What do you think?"

Frank smiled, and the sight warmed her heart. “You sure you want to go to work? I thought you and this Mike fella had an arrangement."

She rolled her eyes. Mike had the arrangement. He arranged to keep her under lock and key. “I am dying to get back to work."

"For me?"

"Especially for you.” She couldn't think of any better way to spend her day. “What do you think? I mean if you don't want me to, I won't. I wasn't trying to be pushy."

"Claudia, I think you have solved the problem. It's a great idea. When can you start?"

"Monday?"

"Monday it is. Do you need me to pick you up or—"

"No, no, I can get a ride. I don't want to take you out of your way or add to the things you need to do.” She looked around and felt so guilty. What in the world would Mike say?

"All right, but if you ever need a ride, just let me know."

Claudia glanced at her watch. Mike might be home early. He'd been popping in during the day, and once she could have sworn Mike had followed her to the park. It seemed silly but with him she could never be certain. He'd been slowly growing more possessive.

"I need to go. Will you be here tomorrow?"

"Sure.” He looked over at the dogs. “I can't wait for Monday to get here, though."

"Me, either. Come on, Blooper."

Claudia hooked the leash onto her collar and started down the sidewalk. She wasn't sure how Mike would take the news about her job. She honestly didn't care. Being cooped up all day in his house drove her crazy, but she couldn't spend all her time at the park. She also didn't like the idea of being supported. She wanted her own money and an identity not associated with Mike. Not that being a couple with him was bad. She just needed to be her own person. A small headache started, just like it did every time she would start to remember things.

Only they were conflicting things, or things that didn't add up. She would see herself with red hair and gray eyes playing in the snow. It was like she was watching someone else's life. Then suddenly her hair was blonde, her eyes would be green, and she was some how taller. As the blonde, she'd see an older man, rougher. It felt it was like there were two different people.

Then, she would get glimpses of Frank. Frank walking down the hall, like in the hospital. Frank walking into the park. When she'd see snips of starting to kiss Frank, the headache would grow worse and the memory would fade.

Odd, there were no memories of Mike. Oh, yeah, she remembered him from the hospital—waking up and seeing him, his voice. But while she felt she'd known Frank a lifetime or more, there was none of that with Mike. Mike was new. He was falling hard for her, and a part of her was falling for Frank.

She wondered if that was one of the reasons she was so drawn to Frank. Mike's obsessive behavior drove her away. Every day he would start that stuff, trying to keep her locked behind closed doors, keep her from remembering her past. She doubted he really cared about her at all and only wanted a doll around the house, something he could control and take care of.

With Frank, everything was different. She was complete with him, comfortable. She couldn't blame her attraction on Mike's behavior. At the end of the day, she was responsible for her actions, and all her actions seem to bring her closer to Frank.

"My best friend.” She smiled as Blooper led her down the sidewalk.

She reached their house when Mike pulled in the driveway in front of her. He looked at the dog, then at her. Instead of being happy to see them, he looked angry and hurt. She didn't understand why.

"You're home.” She reached down and took the leash off of Blooper, who jumped up on Mike, licking his face.

"I thought I would take you out to dinner tonight."

"That sounds great. We can celebrate."

His anger melted, but she wasn't sure for how long. The best way to approach this would be to show him how happy she was and hope he could be happy for her too. Somehow, she doubted he could be.

"Celebrate what?"

She wanted this so much. It was hard but she decided to tell him everything. Most of it anyway. Her story consisted of her meeting a friend at the park and listening to a need for a job. She had volunteered and now she would be a gainfully employed member of society. She could start paying him back.

Mike did not seem amused as they walked inside the house.

"You did
what
?"

"I took a job.” Her smile faded with the edge in his voice.

"Claudia, you don't need to work. I can support us just fine."

"Mike, I
do
need to work. I need to feel like I'm pulling my own weight, that I'm putting something in."

"You have a job. Here. You keep house, you cook."

She tried to hide how stunned she was not so much at his words, which were archaic at best, but at his tone, at the possessiveness coming through, at the evident anger flashing in his eyes. This was not the Mike she had come to know. Again, on the fringe was a memory, a man trying to control her, telling her what to do, not like a parent, but like he owned her or thought he did. Hands around her neck, a knife coming at her, a tree ahead, cold rushing water, standing looking at her body ... another woman, a sad woman who just couldn't do it anymore.

"What? Claudia, are you all right? Sweetheart?” Mike's tone gentled, his hands warm and supportive on her shoulders. “Come, sit down. Do I need to call the doctor? Do you want some water?” He guided her to a chair, his tone worried and contrite.

"I'm fine. I just...” She debated how much to tell him, and something told her not to tell him about the flashes of memory. He was already upset enough as it was. Why run the risk of making it worse? “I just need to eat I think."

Claudia decided she needed to get the job thing settled once and for all. “Mike, I know you want to be the provider and all, but we aren't married, we don't even have a commitment, and I need to do this, for me."

"I think it's too soon, and I
am
committed to you. I waited a long time to meet someone, or rather it took a long time for me to find someone that I felt I could commit to. Someone I might want to spend the rest of my life with. You don't know what it's been like."

Almost as if she didn't hear his softly spoken comments, her own need took precedence for the first time. “Too soon. I've been out of the hospital for a few months now. Who knows, maybe going to work will trigger some memories. I need to remember. I don't feel like a complete person.” Some part of her wondered if he wasn't trying to keep her locked up. Make sure she didn't owe him for the rest of her life. “Why don't you want me to remember?"

He looked sad, so sad. “Yeah, you could remember a husband or someone who could take you away from me. Claudia, I've fallen in love with you. I think I did when you were still in the hospital. I don't know. All I know is from the day I met you, I felt something I never have before."

"That's sweet, Mike, and I know you care, but think about it. You have only seen who I am since I woke. We don't know anything about me before. Not much anyway. What happens when my full memory comes back and I'm not the kind of person you want to be with?"

"What if it does and you are exactly the kind of person I want to be with? What if you never get your memory back?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? To never have my memory come back."

He threaded his fingers through his hair, clearly trying to calm down. As he stood and paced, Claudia became aware that this was a side of him she had never seen before and certainly didn't want to see again. Another memory filtered through ... a man angry because she wouldn't do what he wanted, but that man had light brown hair and was shorter than Mike.

"Mike?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"Mike, we didn't know each other before the accident, did we? We only met in the hospital, when you came to investigate my case, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

She took in his puzzled expression. His confusion made sense because the change of subject seemed sudden. “I just wondered. I wondered if maybe I just had a thing for guys who were domineering."

"You think I'm domineering? Claudia, I want us to be equal partners, a couple. I don't want to boss you around, and yeah, I'll admit, sometimes I do get worried that you will remember something about a man you want to be with and leave me. But, honey, I don't want you to stay lost not knowing who you are. I want us to have a future, and I hope some day we may get married, you know, do the whole family thing.” He paused, stress clenching the muscles in his face. “Claudia, what would you do if you found out you were married to someone else?"

"I don't know. Mike, if I was, he would have come forward, there would have been some record, right? Listen, there's no need for either of us to get all riled up, you know? Let's just keep taking it one day at a time."

"You're right. But, are you sure about the job?"

"Yeah. My boss is a decent sort, Blooper plays with his dog in the park.” She could give him that and actually thought a few more details might help. It didn't. His face twisted more, and a vein started pulsing in his forehead. Without warning, he stomped out of the room and didn't speak to her the rest of the night.

Frank hung up the cell phone and pulled back onto the road. His fears were confirmed. The woman he had heard calling his name had been released from the hospital weeks ago and left no message for anyone named Frank. He didn't even know if she had received his note. She had never called him.

Here he was grasping at straws, again. There was no way of knowing if the woman in the hospital had really called his name or if it were possible for Pam to find another body to inhabit. The concept still seemed foreign, more than his mind could take. And Parsons was pretty sure it couldn't happen again.

There was more. He had been raised as a tough guy with old-fashioned values. A man took care of his woman, managed the house. He failed in all respects. His Pam was lost years ago when he slept with Catherine the first time. When Pam returned to him, instead of finding a man that could take care of her, she became lost again. Even if Pam returned, she would find a more suitable mate. It was time for him to let go.

He stopped at the next red light and looked at the car stopped next to him. Although he had given up, he couldn't help checking for green eyes. It had become an unconscious habit. Thankfully, the woman next to him had brown eyes. Every time he found green, he had to talk to the woman. That no one had him arrested yet amazed him.

At the next light, he turned right, then followed a series of road into the country. According to the court documents, Catherine was supposed to have vacated the house today. He had requested a deputy go out there but they weren't able to do anything until Monday. For curiosity's sake, Frank drove toward his house, hoping that woman was gone.

He was willing to let her keep her car, her jewelry, all the things he had bought for her. He also had given her three thousand dollars toward finding other accommodations. All this was more than she deserved, but Frank knew he could be compassionate to a fault. He also wanted her out of his life.

Claudia would be starting work on Monday, and he didn't want her to find out that he lived in that trailer. Her opinion of him meant everything. Living at work, worrying over his ex while trying to find a long-lost love made him sound pathetic. He did not want to appear pathetic.

As he made his way around the next curve, he saw his house with the lights on and Catherine's car in the driveway. She had not yet left. He had the legal power to have her removed, but not before Monday.

Frank pulled into the driveway, then backed out, trying for a quick turnaround. Catherine spotted him, though. She came running out of his house wearing jeans and a bra, nothing else. Her arms waved wildly as he pulled back onto the road, oblivious to the fact that Jim and Mary might be home, watching the display. Knowing Mary, she'd probably start praying for Catherine. Wouldn't that be a hoot? He rolled down his window enough to hear her shouts.

"I'm not leaving, asshole. You'll have to carry me out."

The deputy would handle that Monday. Frank sped up, leaving her half-dressed in the middle of the road. Monday he would go home again, although he bet there would be many nights of calling the police until Catherine had hooked another sucker.

That brought his thoughts back to Claudia. She would see his things in the trailer Monday. He might stash them Sunday night in his truck. If Catherine was evicted early enough, Claudia might not know about his current situation.