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 trouble 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 over 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 gi
rls.
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.
When they were all standing once again, Bev said, “Okay, we’re all wet, let’s go back.” She started off without them and Mark hurried to catch up with her.
Molly shook her head at Bev’s back. What a horrible way to live life. Why did Mark have such a thing for her? Mark and Bev didn’t link arms or even hold hands, but it looked like they were having a pretty serious conversation as the others lagged behind.
Alicia and David held hands and started off. Molly fell in beside Trent and watched the waves run up the beach, slowly give up, and roll back out. She pulled him closer as they walked, arm in arm. “I came here looking for a few memories. I never expected to find you, Alicia, a lifetime.”
“Feel like you bit off more than you can chew?” he said with a laugh. “Got a lot more than just memories coming here.”
“But I haven’t remembered everything yet.”
“No, but you got everything else you said. We’re all here for you. The memories might follow.”
What if they don’t? Did she need to remember her life before with Trent? Life on earth wouldn’t end if she never remembered, but she had to try.
“I’m surprised ol’ sourpuss came along,” Alicia said while they changed in a dimly lit green bathroom back by the parking lot.
“Weren’t you two friends?” Molly asked.
“Well...” Alicia left it at that. Then, “Well, she was around. And now she’s really around since I married her cousin. She visits my parents, too.”
Molly didn’t push that topic and said, “I haven’t seen Trent in a bad mood at all.”
“Na, he’s easy going like chocolate milk.”
She didn’t say anything, but smooth chocolate milk seemed a good description for Trent.
“I see that smile!” Alicia caught her. “And don’t think I didn’t see the two of you lip locking earlier.”
Molly threw a wet shirt at Alicia and got a wet towel right back. She only smiled and pushed her wet clothes into her bag. “Ready?”
When everyone was dry and mostly sand free again, they drove back out on the road and up to the lighthouse to whale watch. The wind was blowing hard, but they were all in their dry sweats. The ocean far below spread out, vast, and Molly didn’t think they’d spot a whale in it. Big as a whale was, it’d be a tiny speck.
“Look over there.” Trent pointed and held the binoculars he’d brought up for her to look through.
“I don’t see anything,” she said. Just then she caught sight of a spout of water and the back of a whale. “Wait! I see it!”
The wind stopped for half a minute, leaving a peaceful quietness as she tracked the whale as it went under again. Trent put his arm around her waist and pulled her a little closer to him. “Trent,” she pulled the binoculars down and leaned her face into his chest, feeling his warmth and strength. “This is the best day I’ve ever had.”
“Ever?” He stroked her face. “You mean you haven’t had this much fun in the last four years?”
When she shook her head, he told her, “You’ll get your memory back and then you’ll have tons of great days to think about.”
She wished he could promise her that, but didn’t care. Today was fantastic and she would enjoy every second of it.
Trent added, “I also promise to give you lots of great days from now on.”
With the cold Pacific wind blowing against them, she realized they were making promises to each other. How had she found him and fallen so easily into this?
They headed back to the park about an hour later to cook lunch. Everyone carried something to a picnic table and fire place, and Molly purposely walked alongside Bev. She decided the direct, honest approach would be best. “I get the feeling you don’t like me.”
“Why should I?”
“You didn’t have to come.” Molly wished she could bite her tongue just once. “I mean, if you feel that strongly, why did you come?”
“These are my friends now.” Bev faced her. “You left, broke Trent’s heart, and you still can’t tell us why. I was here all this time. I’ve been a friend to him.”
Molly finally understood and felt a chill. “You wanted more than friendship.”
“Listen.” Bev’s lips twisted. “You were always a spoiled, ditzy brat, and got everything handed to you. You floated through school without a care. That’s not what Trent needs.”
“How would you know?”
“Coming from you? How would you know what he needs when you don’t even remember him?”
Molly’s mouth opened to respond, but she didn’t have a response.
“That’s what I thought. You’re the worst thing that’s ever happened to him. You’re even ruining his career.”
Confused fury, like a blinding white smoke, rose up inside her. “What are you talking about?”
Bev’s voice had been low so the others wouldn’t hear, but it dropped even lower now. “Certain people want him off the force. Want him investigated because of you.”
Molly stood dumbstruck, and triumph gleamed in Bev’s eyes. “They’re saying your parents must have been hiding you from Trent. Didn’t you wonder why they didn’t go to the police? People think Trent killed your parents, and it’s all your fault.”
Bev turned to walk to the picnic table, waltzing almost. Molly knew in her heart Trent didn’t do those awful things. She realized the only reason people accused him was because she’d returned to Ridge City.
Maybe she didn’t have a place here after all.
Chapter Eight
The clear morning felt more like a day in June to Trent, not the normal stormy March weather. He wore blue jeans and a white T-shirt and thought about changing into shorts, but he got lost in his thoughts.
Despite the day’s nice weather, he felt like he was in the middle of a storm he couldn’t see. He felt something.
Standing outside his back door, he realized it wasn’t the weather that felt off. The ride home from the coast had been a quiet one with Molly nestled under his arm. Everyone had been quiet, looking out the windows, and their faces looked like each had something on their minds.
Trent thought Mark was making progress with Bev, but they either had a fight or she’d given him the cold shoulder for some other reason. Trent noticed Bev pulling away from Mark when they talked and she’d ignored him. He’d given Mark a questioning look, to which his friend just shook his head and sighed, muttering something about not understanding women. Trent had never explicitly told Mark that Bev had been chasing him, but he had a hunch most people had noticed. And everyone except Bev knew Trent only wanted Molly. Mark had developed a thing for Bev about two years ago knowing all that. He took her out all the time, but she saw other men here and there. As far as Trent knew, she wouldn’t commit to a relationship. Mark deserved a medal for everything he’d been through for that girl. Waiting, taking her moods and harsh comments. No, she wasn’t one to hold her tongue.
Was that what was bothering him? David and Alicia had been in their own world in the front of the van while driving home yesterday. Knowing they were trying to get pregnant, Trent had thought maybe Alicia would make an announcement sometime. She had the quiet, thoughtful air about her, something he’d noticed in a few of his female friends before when they were wondering. One friend shared that she kept thinking she felt different, and once she thought she could be pregnant, she couldn’t think about anything else. But Alicia hadn’t said a word.
Molly, too, hadn’t said much on the way home while she’d laid her head on him, sleepy. Maybe she remembered something. If that was the case, though, he felt certain she’d tell him. He knew he’d never guess but he’d worry about it, ove
r analyze it.
The phone rang and he reached inside the sliding glass door and grabbed the cordless.
“Have you talked to her?” Alicia asked right off.
“Yeah, we’ve done a lot of talking.”
“Trent.”
“Alright.” He didn’t like admitting it. “I haven’t. Why rush anything when this is going well? She’s starting to remember events from her childhood now.”
“I kept my end of the bargain and stayed quiet, but I expected you to tell her. You said you wanted her to hear it from you.”
“I know. I’m getting there.”
“Why are you so afraid of telling her the truth?”
“Afraid?”
“What do you do for a living? Yet you go spineless when she’s around.”
“You’re sure in a mean mood,” he said. “What’s bothering you?”
She paused, then said, “You are. I’m worried about you and Molly since you won’t tell her the truth.”
Trent knew his sister wasn’t being honest with him, but he guessed she had good reasons. He didn’t want to ask about David and stir up more problems. He sighed. “I’m planning to tell her today.”
He heard a car pulling up and told Alicia he had to go, then headed through the house and to the front door where his bag waited. Trent emerged before Molly was halfway up the walk and met her, bag in hand.
“Travel light, I see,” she said, returning to the car and unlocking the trunk.
He grinned. “Good morning to you, too.”
“I can’t believe how the weather changed.” She stretched while speaking. “It’s like spring came overnight.”
“The flowers think so.” Everything was blooming. Including Molly. She wore a white, wool tank top that made her skin look darker and black slacks. Casual, but sleek. Her hair was curled again, swept half way up from her face. Trent thought it gave her a fresh look, like the spring time around them. He’d call the overall effect sophisticated, but her toenails peered out of the end of her black sandals. Bright red toenails. The carefree, fun-loving Molly showing through. He was about to tell her how good she smelled when she tossed him the keys.
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