The Bear With No Name (3 page)

“Candles or flashlights?” Lauren said with a rueful smile, pointing toward her emergency supplies.

“Candles, definitely,” he said with a yawn. “I hate to leave you alone with this storm, but I think it’s time for me to lie down again..” He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

“I’ll show you to the bedroom,” she said.

“No, I can sleep on the couch, it’s fine!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you’ll get much better rest in bed. And I’m not going to be sleeping anyway – I’m going to read by candlelight and wake you up every two hours.”

And so Lauren got her mystery man tucked into her bed without any further arguments. She sat down with a battered copy of
Little Women
and tried very, very hard not to imagine what it would be like to join him there.

Chapter 5

The man woke up to find Lauren sitting beside him on the bed, shaking his shoulder. The storm raged on outside, and a candle flickered on the nightstand.

“Check up time,” Lauren said. “What’s my name?”

“Lauren.”

“Lauren what?”

He paused to think. “I’m pretty sure you never told me.”

“Good catch!” she said with a smile. “It’s Lauren Gold. And what’s your name?”

He opened his mouth, hoping an answer would just leap out like it did when she asked him about the soup. He felt like there might be an answer lurking in the shadows, like his mouth was ready to form a particular shape, but it remained maddeningly elusive.

He had to admit, “I still don’t know.”

“How about the year?”

“Two thousand...” he paused to consider.

“You’re in the right millennium!” Lauren said brightly, but he interrupted her before she could complete the answer.

“Wait, I want to try to get this.” He imagined each of the numbers in turn, starting with 2001. Some of them felt more familiar than others, but each aroused some sort of emotion or reaction until he got to 2016. That one was a blank.

“I’m going to guess 2015?” he said.

“Yes! So did you remember, or did you figure it out somehow?”

He explained his method, and it was Lauren who saw the potential in it.

“So I could guess names, or professions, or home towns, and you could tell if they mean anything to you, even if you can’t remember the details.”

“I guess so. But what if a name sounds really familiar to me because it’s the name of my worst enemy?”

“Then we’ll just appreciate the irony once you get your memories back. But I really need something to call you. Do you want to nap some more or do you want to play the name game right now?”

He stretched in bed and tilted and turned his head, testing things out.

“I’m feeling a lot better, actually. Let’s do this now.”

He moved up to sit against the headboard and patted the bed beside him. Lauren climbed over to join him. He was under the covers and she was on top of them, but it still felt warm and intimate to be together with her like this. The candlelight put a gorgeous glow on all her features. He’d known from the first moment that she was beautiful, but until now he’d been too stunned and distracted to really focus on all the little details that made her special.

Her skin was tanned and rosy from working out in the sun, and she had a tiny sprinkle of freckles over her nose and cheeks. Her lips were full and generous, and so was her figure. Her dark brown curls were sun-lightened to russet at the ends, and they seemed to have an energy all their own, defying gravity and framing her face with a mass of tiny ringlets.

Lauren looked up, and when their eyes met he felt again that overwhelming sense of connection. And once again, she was the first to look away. Did she not feel the same flare? Or did she feel it, but it was unwelcome?

So he cleared his throat and settled his shoulders. Back to the mystery of his identity.

“Well,” Lauren started out, “you look like you’re around thirty years old, so I’m going to try to visualize all the guys who were seniors when I was a freshman back in high school and throw out some popular names at you. How about Michael, Josh, or Ryan?”

“No, no and no.”

“You didn’t even think about it the way you did with the years. You’re sure?”

“I’m not sure of anything, but I’m going with my gut. No.”

“Daniel, Brandon, or Nicholas?”

“Hmm … nope.”

“Matthew? Jason? Balthazar?”

The man laughed and Lauren leaned in, looking keen. “Okay, so what was funny?”

“That name – Balthazar. It just doesn’t seem right. I don’t believe there were multiple Balthazars at your school.”

“You’re right, more’s the pity; the world needs more Balthazars. But how did you know that wasn’t right? What exactly did you remember?”

“I really have no idea. I’m not a neurologist.”

“
Or are you?
” Lauren said, and they both cracked up laughing.

It just felt so right, being here with her, huddled together and laughing in their tiny, charmed circle of candlelight. What did it matter what his name was, or where he came from? What could possibly be waiting for him back there that could be any better than this? But if she wanted him to have a name, that was okay by him.

“Try some more,” he told her.

“Justin? Anthony? David?”

And suddenly he was struck with a memory. No details, no time or place or even faces, but he could hear someone saying that name to him, with a voice full of love.

“David!” he said, struggling to recapture the feeling, grasping for more, but it all slipped away from him. “I felt something when you said David,” he explained to her. “It means something to me, I’m sure of it.”

“David,” she said, reaching out and taking hold of his hand. “Nice to meet you, David.”

Her touch was electric. Unbidden, his imagination supplied images of everything they could do in this bed together. He could imagine just how it would feel: first a gentle tug to pull her into his arms, then leaning down to taste that warm and rosy skin, maybe at the curve of her jaw and down her neck, then sinking down into the pillows together, arms and legs entwined.

Quickly, he let go of her hand. After her kindness, it would be a complete betrayal for him to pressure her for more, especially since they were trapped here together.

Lauren pulled her hand back. It took every ounce of his willpower not to grab it again.

“Well, I guess I should let you rest some more!” Lauren said. She sounded like she was trying to pretend this wasn’t awkward. The cold, lost feeling started to come back just at the thought of her leaving the room, but he held it in.

And then something she did gave him hope. She could have just gotten off the bed and walked around it to the door, but instead she crossed the bed again. She paused, kneeling by his feet, and smiled at him. A quick, bright smile that widened as he smiled back at her until she was grinning from ear to ear, and he caught a faint scent of attraction and arousal.

Then she bounced off the bed and told him, “See you in another two hours,” then shut the door behind her.

He blew out the candle and lay back down. She was happy to have him here; he believed that now. And that was something to build on.

And despite thinking that he wouldn’t sleep again, he was out in minutes.

Chapter 6

Lauren was having the strangest day of her life, no doubt about it. Her book sat on her lap, open but unread, and she found herself checking the clock every two minutes to see if it was time to visit David again.

David
. She was so glad to have a name for him. It made him seem more real, more solid. But still not real enough that she was willing to leave him here. She could hear music coming from Mrs. Randall’s; it sounded like the oldies station out of Sheldon. Mrs. R must have a battery-powered radio, and Lauren was tempted to go ask her for a weather update, because the storm continued with frightening intensity. But there was a part of Lauren that felt like if she left this apartment, David would vanish like a dream and something magical would be lost from her life forever.

And so she sat on her futon and pretended to read, and replayed a handful of moments over and over: when their eyes met in the kitchen, just before the power went out; the surge of desire she felt when she took his hand and said his name; and last, that beautiful, brilliant smile of his just before she left the bedroom.

It was crazy to think that he might want her, but that was what she saw, what she felt from him. And after all, a gorgeous man falling for her might be strange, but it wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen even today!

Finally the rain started to ease and the winds died down. From the corner window in her living room, Lauren could just glimpse Main Street, and she saw a surprising number of people going to and fro. Her curiosity wouldn’t be put off, but she couldn’t leave without waking David.

He opened his eyes as soon as she came in, and from the way he looked immediately to the window she could tell he had noticed the difference, too.

“Yeah, the storm is ending,” she said. “There’s some sort of commotion on Main Street and I want to go check it out, but I wanted to see if you’re okay first.”

“I’ll come with you,” he said, sitting up and swinging his feet out of bed. “I think I’m fine.”

Lauren hoped that her relief wasn’t obvious. But there was no denying that she would feel better if he came along.

While David laced up his damp hiking boots, Lauren found her raincoat and dug out an umbrella for him.

Lauren could see the first signs of the storm’s destruction as soon they left the house. On her block it was just leaves and small branches stripped from the trees, with water rushing down all the gutters and pooling at the storm drains. But as they made it to the next block, they found a tree branch nearly as thick as her leg blocking the road. And up ahead, Lauren could see that the crowds on the street were all facing the same way: toward the river.

She started to jog toward Main Street. David kept up with her effortlessly.

Up ahead, Ella from the coffee shop turned and saw Lauren coming.

“Oh Lauren, I’m so glad you’re safe! I didn’t know if you were still out camping!” She ran up to meet Lauren, taking Lauren’s hand as soon as she got close enough. Together they turned to see the river.

Lauren gasped. A roaring gray flood was scouring everything from the river banks. Half the buildings on Water Street were already gone, and as she watched another small house was torn loose from its foundations.

“Oh my god, did everyone get out?”

“As far as I know. A couple of county sheriffs were going up and down Water Street when the storm started, telling people to evacuate. Now they’re stuck here with the rest of us. Everyone’s saying that the Barstowe Bridge is washed out and so is the one over the Maple on Highway 8. It’s just us and Sheldon, cut off from everyone else.”

Lauren could sense David standing right behind her. Overwhelmed by the disaster around her, she sagged, letting herself lean back just a little. He leaned forward to support her, resting his hand on her shoulder and bringing the umbrella up to cover them both. Lauren closed her eyes. It didn’t seem possible that while she’d been laughing and flirting with him in her candlelit bed, other people’s homes were being destroyed just a few blocks away.

Pull yourself together
, she thought.
It doesn’t matter what’s normal and what’s not, it just matters what’s in front of you. Find the next problem and solve it
.

When Lauren opened her eyes, she found Ella looking over at David with a questioning face.

“Ella, this is David, he’s a hiker who got into some trouble in last night’s storm. David, this is Ella Reese. Her family owns the Coffee Cup up the street, and they’ve lived here in Ashton for generations.”

“And your family hasn’t?” he asked.

“Ha, no, we’ve lived in
Manhattan
for generations. I moved here two years ago to work for the Park Service.”

Just then they heard a voice amplified by a bullhorn, saying, “Town meeting at the church! Everyone please move up the street to the church. Emergency town meeting!”

Lauren was just about to suggest they go back to get Mrs. Randall when she saw the lady herself, making good time up Main Street with the aid of her cane.

People filed in from the side streets, more people than she’d ever seen together at one time in this town outside of the Fourth of July picnic. Together they all made their way to the white clapboard church, which Lauren had never had reason to enter before.

Watery light made it through the tall, arched windows and reflected off the bright white walls. The pews filled in quickly, and several people made their way to the dais at the front of the church: Mayor Hampton, Pete the EMT, the two county sheriffs, and surprisingly, Mrs. Randall and Fran the wildlife lady. Lauren remembered that Fran’s late husband had been mayor of the town for years, so maybe that was the connection there, but what about Mrs. Randall?

Not only was it surprising to see the two old ladies up there, but they also made an almost comical contrast with each other. Mrs. Randall looked like everyone’s idea of a cheerful grandma: white curls carefully arranged, lavender track suit tidy and unwrinkled. Fran looked more like a cross between a farmer and a hobo: her cropped steel-gray hair looked like she’d cut it herself, and she was wearing paint-splattered jeans, an old barn coat, and a high school band boosters t-shirt.

Mayor Hampton started speaking while people were still coming in, and everyone hushed immediately.

“As many of you have already heard, there are multiple bridges washed out on Highway 8 and we are between two of them. We can still get to Sheldon via the Sheldon Road, but that’s about it. Power and phone lines were also lost, and we don’t have an estimate yet of when service will be restored. The cell tower north of Sheldon also seems to be out of commission. The good news is that the Sheldon water treatment plant does have emergency generators so we do have a safe water supply for now, and we are in radio contact with state and county emergency officials and they are aware of our situation.