Julie started to laugh. Karen and Cindy watched their brother weave his tale of mystery and espionage.
“I think he cracked this case, Julie,” Karen said, sipping her Coke and pulling up a seat at the kitchen table.
“Those women probably slipped some sleeping pills into your tea at the last garden party you went to.” He nodded his head enthusiastically. “And when you passed out, they put you in a wooden crate with “DO NOT OPEN TIL X-MAS” scribbled on the sides in big black letters then dropped you into the ocean. You slept through the part where the box crashed into the rocks. I’ve heard you snoring, so that doesn’t surprise me.”
“What? Wait a minute,” Julie burst out in between whoops of laughter.
“And once that happened, you were tugged by dolphins right up to the shore and brought to me ... I mean here, to us.”
Aaron’s face quickly jumped into a bright color red. He barely had time to turn around and face the stove as if he were making sure all the burners were off.
Julie walked over, still laughing with tears nearly running down her face and put a light hand on Aaron’s shoulder.
“I can just imagine a couple of old women in flowered dresses and white gloves with silk flowered sun hats dragging my body down the sand and stuffing it in a box.” She clutched her stomach laughing as Karen and Cindy howled along.
Aaron, too, couldn’t help his shoulders bouncing with each gasp of air as he laughed. But he was more interested in Julie’s hand on his shoulder, and he looked at her perfect fingers quickly while savoring the sensation on his skin.
Karen shook her head.
“Leave it to our brother to come up with a tall tale. He had Cindy believing if she jumped into a pool without getting used to the water first she would instantly go into anaphylactic shock. She only just figured out what anaphylactic shock is and that it has nothing to do with swimming.”
“I didn’t just figure it out.”
“No. You’re right. You were what, fifteen?” Karen teased.
“Maybe thirteen,” Cindy said, folding her arms over her chest but still laughing. “But is it my fault that Aaron is a very convincing storyteller?”
“You mean a liar?”
“I prefer to be called a fictional raconteur,” Aaron replied looking down his nose at the group of girls now all seated around the kitchen table.
“A liar,” Karen smiled as she winked at her brother, letting the laughter die down.
“Well, when I was looking at the newsfeeds online, I didn’t see any mention of nearby flower shops putting a contract on my life.” She wiped her eyes while taking a big breath, a few stray giggles still tumbling out of her.
“Nothing rang a bell?” Karen asked pushing herself out of her chair and standing in front of the fridge.
“Nope. Nothing around here or in the surrounding areas. I even checked the Los Angeles newsfeeds, but by the time I got through some of those, my eyes were killing me. I swear I thought I was going to be permanently cross-eyed after all that.”
“I think we should go out to dinner,” Aaron suggested.
“If you’re buying,” Cindy said, picking up her purse only to have Karen cough loudly and obviously to get her attention.
“You said you had a headache on the bus and well, I’m just exhausted. Julie, you’ve been in all day. Why don’t you get out into the world? You aren’t going to jog that memory hanging around with the house. You’ve got to see things, hear things. You just never know what will send it all back to you.”
Karen’s voice was very serious, but Julie could see through her ruse as if she were made of plastic wrap.
“Subtle, ladies. Very subtle,” Aaron said. He looked at Julie with his hands in his pockets. “So, what do you say?”
Julie hesitated at the thought of hanging out alone with Aaron. She didn’t want to put herself into an uncomfortable situation she would later regret. But a small voice beckoned to the softer side of her heart, telling her it might not be so bad. He was a totally different guy than the one who peeked into her room this morning. She liked this one a lot better.
“Well, I could stretch my legs, and I am hungry.”
“Fine. I’ll take you to the restaurant I manage. You’ll love it.”
Julie nodded her head, stood up and stepped toward the back door just as Aaron crossed in front of her and opened it like a gentleman.
Outside, the early evening air was warm and fresh and smelled salty.
Julie had been so wrapped up in looking for clues on the internet she didn’t even think to look at the house she was staying in from the outside.
Their house stood on a small piece of grass like a tiny dollhouse placed alongside huge Lego creations. It was quaint and simple but yet just to the right was a magnificent home composed of mostly glass. To the other side was an odd shaped modern example of architecture with jutting angles and unorthodox windows that were round and oval.
And behind the whole strip of homes was the continuous pulsing ocean. It was a constant symphony of loud waves and gulls so persistent in its rhythm that it was easy to forget the giant was there.
“We can walk from here. It takes about thirty minutes if you aren’t in a hurry.”
“I don’t think I have anywhere else to go,” Julie smiled. “But, for all I know I have missed my own wedding, right?”
The joke was really not that funny to Aaron. The last thing he wanted to consider was that she might not be available.
The walk was a pleasant one, and Aaron spoke quietly asking Julie if she liked certain kinds of food or desserts. It was hard to remember that she couldn’t remember and everything might just be a big new adventure to her. But it was a hard habit to break, and he kept inquiring about where she worked or where she went to school. On one last slip, he asked her about movies and books.
“I love to read,” she blurted out quickly and then stopped short. “I don’t know why I said that, but I know it is true. I do. I like the classics, I think. Like Charles Dickens. Yes. I’ve read Charles Dickens. And others, but that one jumps out right away.” She smiled again at Aaron, causing him to look away for fear he might just try to kiss her there as they walked along the sidewalk.
“The restaurant is right up ahead,” he pointed. It was a modern building also in white with tons of windows letting people not only watch the traffic as it came and went, but also letting the traffic see what celebrities were eating there.
When Julie stepped in, her nose was struck with the smell of a dozen different spices. The walls at the entrance were covered with reviews from magazines and newspapers and a couple of Hollywood types that had signed autographs and gave written testimony about how much they loved the food. The music was a gentle but lively pulse, like a person might get when they just started dancing or by walking briskly before they broke into a run.
“That’s so cool,” she tugged at his sleeve, pointing to the framed pictures.
Aaron nodded and pushed his way through the crowd of people waiting for seats.
The hostess was a very tall, rail-thin blonde who watched the people in front of her with a somewhat condescending eye. But when she saw Aaron, her face completely changed and became a wall of teeth and lipstick.
“Hi, Aaron,” she said enthusiastically.
Aaron smiled and took Julie by the hand, pulling her up through the pool of waiting customers.
“Hi, Skie.”
“Business is crazy, right?”
“That’s how we like it.”
“Yeah, right?” She looked around quickly. “Let me get you a table. It’ll just be a minute.”
“No, that’s alright. Skie, this is Julie. Julie, this is our best hostess, Skie.”
Julie reached out to shake the woman’s hand. It was like a piece of crisp tissue paper. Julie shook gently.
“Hi, Julie. Welcome.”
“We’re going to take a seat at the bar.”
“Sounds great, Aaron. Enjoy. It was nice meeting you.”
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“You, too,” Julie managed to get out before Aaron led her to the bar.
They took a seat. He ordered two Cokes. And he and Julie actually talked.
At first, Julie was a little nervous. She could tell the way Aaron looked at her that he was doing his best not to seem forward. It seemed he had had enough of the taste of his own foot in his mouth.
He continued to introduce her to everyone who stopped to say hello, and it wasn’t just employees, but many of the patrons also slipped by to pat him on the back and compliment him on the meal they just devoured. Even a few ladies nuzzled up to him while looking Julie over from head to toe. Julie was glad to see that. He could have his pick of a couple of ladies, so there was no need for him to focus so intently on her.
But just as she thought it, he turned to her and deflated that balloon of optimism.
“Those two women that just went by. They are so pathetic. One of them just had her husband pack up and leave her for some model and the other one has been engaged at least six times but the guys have never gone through with it. Something at the last minute always chases them away.”
“How do you know all this?” Julie asked, feeling that this was not any information she should be privy to.
“They told me! On each other. Can you believe that? One sits and spills the beans while her girlfriend goes to use the restroom. Nice, right?”
Aaron shook his head as if to pity them.
“Well, you don’t know the whole story. When it comes to relationships, the people who seem nicest might be real monsters behind closed doors, and the ones who are homely might be swans on the inside. You shouldn’t judge like that. Heaven only knows what people might be saying about you.”
She could tell she had made Aaron uncomfortable as he quickly looked around for something, anything that could help change the subject.
“I think they just act that way because they’re vying for your affection,” Julie quickly chirped to feed Aaron’s ego. He smiled sheepishly without looking at her.
“Yeah, that’s what it is.”
“It is. Look, girls know these things, and those two women would probably pull each other’s hair out just to sit next to you, and here you are making fun of their situation. You don’t know what you might be missing.”
“You’re crazy,” Aaron took a sip of his drink.
“Well, what do you expect? I washed up on the beach, for heaven’s sake.”
Aaron laughed. Julie laughed. They enjoyed the rest of their dinner together as friends.
By the time they had left the restaurant, the sun had gone down completely. The sidewalk back to Aaron’s house was dimly lit with just a few lampposts scattered along the trail intermittently. There were long shadows to walk through. Some of them were nearly pitch black and could easily hide someone up to no good.
“It sure is a pretty night.” Aaron looked up at the stars as he walked.
“Yeah. It is.”
Aaron slipped his hand around Julie’s. Surprised by his move, she instinctively pulled her hand away and stuffed it into the pockets of her jeans.
“I know I really ate too much,” she said, hoping he would take the hint.
Instead, he reached his hand around her waist and pulled her just a little toward him.
“Aaron. I’m sorry but ...” Julie pushed him away. “I’m not interested like that.”
“C’mon, Julie. We talked. We had a nice time. You can’t tell me that you don’t feel anything at all for me. Nothing at all?”
Shaking her head and getting angrier by the second, she said, “No, Aaron.” She stopped in her tracks and looked up and down the street while planting her hands on her hips. “You’re nice but ...”
“But what? I mean, we just shared a lot of things about ourselves over the past few hours. You touched my arm. You batted your eyes. You were sending all these signals and no one could blame me for thinking ...”
“No. Aaron. No one could blame you for thinking because that was not what you were doing.” She took a few quick steps, looked around as if she were expecting to see a cab she could jump in front of. Instead, she just started walking.
A familiar sensation was growing in the pit of her stomach, and she had a sinking suspicion that she had felt like this before, not very long ago. It was a terrible feeling of being in a tight box with little room to breathe let alone move freely. Her mind just wanted to focus and snap up that feeling and turn it into a familiar scene or experience. It dangled there like a piece of red yarn in front of a kitten that just wasn’t fast enough to catch it in her claws.
Aaron quickly caught up to her.
“This is stupid. I take you out for a nice dinner, and you’re acting like I took you to a dog fight or some crude comedy show. All I did was tell you how much I like you.”
“You know, Aaron, I know how to get back from here. I just need some space and time to think. I’d like to walk alone.”
“It isn’t safe to walk by yourself, Julie. Especially when you don’t know your own name or address,” he called after her as she stomped defiantly toward the sound of the ocean.
Once her feet hit the soft bed of the sand beneath a starless sky, her mind became preoccupied.
Oh, why wouldn’t her memory come back? She knew her past was there. It was like Christmas presents wrapped up nice and neat tucked way in the back of a closet, out of reach. It was enough to drive her mad.
Maybe that was why she barked at Aaron. She didn’t mean to be so harsh. But hadn’t she made it clear that she wasn’t interested? She was just incapable of taking on the responsibility of a boyfriend when for all she knew she was married. It was pure nonsense, right?
Julie realized she was breaking into a sweat and slowed down her pace. Now she was out on this beach, stamping her feet like a little girl because some boy had the nerve to make his feelings known. She was crazy. This was crazy. The voice she was hearing was crazy. Wait. The voice?
Slowing down her pace, Julie held her breath and listened.
“I see it. Thrull to sake by liken. I can see it and it doesn’t work. There is never does by shelton fife torn. But I’ll get it.”
It was a quiet voice. Behind her. She couldn’t make out all the words, but whoever was muttering them sounded like they had had a very bad day.
Starting to walk a little faster, Julie didn’t dare turn around. For a split second she wondered if Aaron was trying to scare her. Maybe he thought this might be a funny joke to patch things up. He didn’t seem to always know how to act.
The mumbling got a little harsher, a little raspier. It was then that Julie could hear the footsteps. Whoever was behind her was coming up fast and starting to breathe heavily. Goosebumps erupted all over her skin. Her legs moved a little faster now. Her eyes were wide in the darkness with pupils stretched to capacity to take in the most light possible. But the darkness suddenly seemed too overwhelming.
To her left was the ocean. To her right were the jagged and crumbly rocks that the houses were perched on like exotic, angled birds. Julie’s thought to sprint to the nearest house was dashed as she realized she would have to either climb up the steep embankment or rattle herself up rickety wooden steps or gravelly natural paths where one false move could result in a tumble all the way back down to the beach.
“You’re overreacting. The dark and unfamiliarity of it all are playing tricks on your mind. It’s probably someone on their cell phone. That’s why the conversation makes no sense. Yeah. That’s it. This isn’t some horror movie. It’s real life.”
Her pep talk helped just a little, and she slowed her steps enough to turn around just in time to see the dark form of a strange man lunge toward her.
Chapter 4
He was not talking but panting through his nose with quick harsh breaths. He smelled of the foulness that comes with destitution and desperation. The hand that clamped down on her wrist was sweaty and radiating heat as if he had a fever or maybe had been on something, making his heart race an
d his mind scramble.
With a painful squeeze, he yanked her toward him. The adrenaline that shot through Julie’s veins forced out an ear-piercing scream just seconds before she felt a clumsy thump to her head. But she didn’t stop.
“Help me! No! Let go of me! Help! Help! Let go!”
Everything continued in slow motion as Julie was yanked by one arm off her feet and onto her stomach. Her chin hit the ground and she bit the inside of her lip, hard enough she tasted the blood. But her wrist was free. The air had completely emptied her lungs with the force of the fall, but she fought through the urge to lay there for a second. At first, she pulled herself by her arms, then crawled on her hands and knees and finally pushed herself up and ran.
“Julie! Call the cops! Hurry!”
Sliding to a stop Julie whirled around. In the blurry bit of light from the houses that reached this part of the beach, Julie saw what she assumed had been her attacker and the familiar silhouette of Aaron standing over him.
“The house is right there! Call the cops!” he yelled again. Julie darted up the least steep part of the embankment and into the safety of a streetlight. From there, the small house that belonged to Aaron and his sisters sat, looking peaceful and safe, a refuge from the evils of the outside world.
Bursting into the house, she spilled the story to the girls who immediately called 9-1-1. Within minutes, the street in front of their house was filled with blue and red lights from two squad cars that had shown up to help.
A few minutes later, Aaron came into the house through the back door. He had a slight shiner developing at the corner of his left eye and was dirty. The guy had gotten away. And the descriptions between Aaron and Julie came down to a dirty, smelly guy of medium build who sounded like he was over fifty years old, but neither one could be sure. It was too dark.
Julie was sitting at the kitchen table while Karen made some tea. She had been questioned, and the police asked her if she needed an ambulance, but she declined it.
A pretty nasty Indian burn had welted up on her wrist, and her lip had plumped up where she bit it when she fell. But, the rest of her was unharmed.
Unforgettable Love Page 3