“Laur,” he softly said, “if you have any doubts about Rob, don’t.”
“I don’t. I guess. I just…” She closed her eyes and tried to condense her jungle of emotions into a coherent, short sentence. “I have doubts about me,” she admitted.
“What?”
“I don’t know who I am yet. What if he doesn’t like the new me?”
When she finally looked at him again, the sadness in his expression nearly started her crying. “Rob will love you no matter what.” He carefully engulfed her in a hug. After a few seconds, she relaxed into his embrace, familiar comfort, different than she felt with Rob.
“Let him be the one to decide whether he can love you or not,” he told her. “Don’t pull away from him because of all of this.”
“He’s so upset.”
“Not at you. No one’s upset at you.”
“Because of me.”
“No.” He held her at arm’s length. “Because of the fucker that did this. And that guy’s a sick, sadistic bastard. Don’t let him win like this by driving you away from Rob out of fear.”
He pulled her close again. She closed her eyes and let her fractured mind drift. “Strawberries,” she whispered, unsure what it meant.
“What?”
“Strawberries.” This time she said it firmly as a mental picture tried to swim into focus.
“Yes?”
She held her breath as the puzzle piece went from fuzzy to solid and slid into place with a click only she could hear. “You love strawberries and try to get them every time you come home because they grow them up in Plant City.”
She sucked in a breath, her words spinning out of her, faster and faster, Laura unwilling to reel them in until they twirled themselves out for fear of blocking the memory. “I make you strawberry shortcake from scratch whenever you come to visit.”
Now her tears did flow. “I make it from Grandma’s recipe, that Mom used to make.”
He buried his face in her hair. “Yeah?”
“I made it for you when I came out and visited you after Mom and Dad died. We had to use frozen strawberries because we couldn’t find them fresh out there.” Her heart pounded, more memories sliding into place.
“When you came home after I called you about Mom and Dad, Rob drove me to the airport. When you made it into the terminal you hugged me and we both broke down crying right there.”
“Yeah.”
Pain echoed through her heart, feeling as fresh as it had that day. “You told me it was you and me and you’d always be there for me, no matter what,” she sobbed. “No matter what.”
He kissed the top of her head and she heard the tears in his voice. “Yeah, sis. No matter what.”
Like a shattered mosaic pulling itself magically, seamlessly back together, a huge chunk of her childhood and teen years returned. She let out a gasp, her grip on him tightening. “I remember you.” Her cries renewed. “I remember you, so why can’t I remember Rob?”
Bill wasn’t sure he’d be able to get her calmed down at first. He helped her out to the couch where he sat, holding her while she cried herself out in his lap.
After getting her a handful of tissues, he said, “Why don’t we just stay here today, huh?”
She sat up and shook her head, a familiar, determined look on her face. “No. I need to go to the shop. Maybe it’ll trigger something. I’m tired of sitting around waiting for things to happen to me.”
He brushed the hair out of her face. “I don’t want you to stress yourself.”
She took a deep breath. “Like you said, I can’t let the fucker win.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “Well, at least your ability to argue to get your own way is still intact.”
“Is that good?”
He hugged her again, unwilling to let her go after nearly losing her, his only living family other than some distant cousins. “Yes. Very good.”
After he cooked her breakfast, she went to take a shower. When the condo phone rang, he picked it up. “Hello?”
A dial tone met him.
He stared at the phone for a minute, unsure what to do. Then he called Rob.
“Fuck, call Det. Thomas. Hold on.” Bill got a piece of paper to write the info down while Rob dug the card out of his pocket. “Tell him about it. How is she?”
“In the shower. She doesn’t know.”
“I wouldn’t tell her.”
“I don’t plan on it. In fact, I’m going to unplug the damn phone here, so call my cell.” He hung up and relayed the information to the detective, who said he’d handle it. Then Bill reached behind the phone and unplugged the cord from the wall.
He went around and found two other bases and unplugged the phone cords from them, too. After trying her phone number from his cell and not hearing any ringing in the condo, he nodded to himself.
One problem solved. For now.
Laura ended up giving Bill her cell phone and asked him to handle it for her. She kept getting texts from people who, while their names showed up in the contacts, didn’t show up at all in her mind.
Except for Shayla and Rob, of course.
She paid close attention while Steve went through things with her, like showing her how to rebuild a regulator in the repair area in the back of the shop.
“I used to do this?”
Steve looked sad. “Since you were a kid.”
“Oh.” As she worked, more things came back to her until she was able to work on a regulator while Steve watched.
She showed him. “Like that?”
He hooked it to a tank they kept in back for that purpose and took a test breath from it. “Perfect.” He offered her a smile. “Like you’ve never been gone.”
Bill quietly sat on a stool at the other end of the repair counter and watched.
“I feel bad you’re just sitting there,” she said.
Bill shook his head. “Try making me leave, sis. You just keep doing what you need to do. I’m your shadow for the next couple of weeks.”
She thought about Thursday. “I’m supposed to meet with Shayla and some others for a girls’ morning on Thursday.”
He smiled. “I know.” He held up her phone. “She texted to confirm. Brunch and then nails.”
Laura grinned. “Are you getting your nails done, too?”
He held his hand out in front of him, fingers spread, nails up. “I could do with a mani-pedi. They’re in kind of rough shape.”
Laura burst out laughing. This was the big brother she…
She took a hitching gulp of air before the tears hit again. Steve and Bill gathered close.
“What is it, sweetie?” Bill asked.
She let out a laugh that mixed with her tears. “Just more memories of you came through. Good tears, guys.”
“You sure?” Steve asked. “I can’t tell the difference.”
She hugged them before wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Yeah, good ones.”
Bill and Steve put their collective feet down around five o’clock that afternoon. Even though it wasn’t closing time yet, they could tell Laura was exhausted. Steve helped herd her toward her truck, which Bill had driven them in that morning. Bill had Doogie by the leash and loaded him into the backseat while Steve helped her into the passenger seat.
“Am I being given my marching orders?” she quipped.
Bill nodded. “Absolutely, sis. I’m pulling big brother rank on you.”
“And I’m pulling age rank on you, kiddo,” Steve added. “Go home, get some sleep. Rob said you’ve got gun lessons tomorrow. Don’t bother coming in. Go do that.”
“I feel guilty not being here.”
Bill slid behind the wheel and leaned forward. “You believe her?” he asked Steve. “The first vacation she’s had in a while and she’s fighting it.” He smiled.