Chapter Three
CHAPTER THREE
April 2028
WALKING INTO THE BARN the next morning, I had no idea what to expect. Joseph said it needed work, but he forgot to mention how much.
Last night, Joseph wasted no time listing off the biggest things that troubled the ranch, but as I got ready for bed, I thought the old barn was the best place to start. Having the barn as a workplace in case the weather decided to unleash one final cold spell seemed like a good idea. It is April, after all, and being up this far up in the mountains, there is always a possibility for snow.
How do I know that? I thought as I changed into my pajamas. Was it common knowledge? The kind of thing everyone knew? No, it couldn’t be. The thought seemed like it would be more common to someone used to this area. Was this a clue? Was I from around here?
My first night at the ranch had been uneventful, thankfully. Charlie had been absent when I came down at six o’clock on the dot for dinner, and I would never tell Joseph, but I was grateful. The thought of dealing with her across the table made my head hurt.
Joseph spent most of the meal recounting the story of Blackwood Ranch. It was a rundown farmhouse built in the 1800s set for demolition after it sat abandoned for so long, but his parents bought it instead because his mother always had a soft spot for the old place. They hated to see something with so much history torn down. She had always dreamed of opening a bed and breakfast in their small town, a place where visitors could come to enjoy the simple life that Bezer had to offer. A place of refuge away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the ever-changing world. His parents opened the Blackwood Ranch B&B when Joseph was five years old and ran it until he took over when his mother passed twenty years ago. He loved that Charlie had been able to grow up in the same place he had. Charlie’s mother had died when Charlie was six years old, so it had been the two of them and whatever guests for a long while now.
The once steady stream of guests they used to see every year had dwindled to maybe one or two a year recently. Joseph knew the decline was partially due to a lack of an online presence, but that’s not what Bezer was about. If he had gone this long without the internet, he’d be fine…He could’ve asked Charlie for help, but he said she had been so busy in San Diego the last few years, that he didn’t want to bother her.
I found myself growing more curious about what the future held as I listened to Joseph’s story. What would happen if they continued down the same road, refusing to enter the modern age? If you wanted to be noticed, you had to have an online presence, and if you didn’t it was considered “sus.”
“Had to let some of my best hands go.” Joseph sighed from the head of the eight-top wooden table in the dining room. “That’s why I could use your help around here. In recent years, my health hasn’t been the best. I’ve had to cut back on the manual side of things. And Charlie, God bless her, she tries but can only do so much.”
I had no qualms about helping out, I was grateful to have a real bed to sleep in and food that wasn’t being pushed out of a hospital kitchen.
When I went to bed last night, my muscles instantly relaxed against the mattress, which was surprisingly plush—far better than the one I had been sleeping on at the hospital. But even so, I struggled to fall asleep, and when I finally did, it felt like two seconds later my alarm was blaring in my ear. And that’s how I ended up walking into the barn at five o’clock this morning to get a better idea of what needed to be done.
Charlie’s SUV was back underneath the carport when I stepped out the front door this morning. Goody . That meant I would have to deal with her at some point and with whatever attitude she decided to throw my way. The thought gave me a headache. Look, I get it, she didn’t like the idea of a strange man walking into the house, but what’s the difference between me and one of their typical bed and breakfast guests? Minus the lack of an identity…
When I gave the barn a good look-over this morning, it became obvious it was a good thing I decided to start there. The roof had been patched before the winter, but it still needed to be completely repaired. A handful of pieces of siding needed to be replaced—some were broken and others were missing completely. One of the doors that enclosed the indoor riding arena needed to be put back on the track. Two stalls needed the floors repaired, and one gate needed to be put back on the hinge. And finally, one of the main barn doors needed to be replaced due to a chunk missing from the bottom and wood rot. That didn’t even include the room that looked like a makeshift tack room in total disarray, seemingly left unfinished by the prior ranch hands.
I have already pulled the main entry door off the hinge to get a better look at the damage, and it was obvious the whole thing needed to be replaced. Repairing it would be more work than building a new one, meaning I will have to replace the other one so they match—nonetheless, it seems like the easier option. As I stared at the door, I wondered if I knew how to do something like that. The knowledge of deciding to build two new doors versus repairing the one came naturally from somewhere within the depths of my mind. That meant I must know something about construction…Right?
I’m disappointed when I reach for the coffee tumbler I found in the cabinet this morning and find it practically empty. With a heavy sigh, I take my jacket from the hook on the wall and shrug it back over my shoulders, heading toward the house to get a refill and change clothes. The temperatures haven’t warmed up from earlier this morning, but I won’t need as many layers as I anticipated. Even though the barn needs more work than I hoped, it maintains a good amount of warmth within its walls. Once I get into the thick of things, I doubt I’ll want this many layers on.
Walking into the house, I barely step over the threshold before I hear voices down the hall from the kitchen. And I immediately recognize them as Charlie and Joseph, the former expressing her latest grievance to the latter. I use my free hand to quietly close the door behind me, trying to conceal my arrival a little longer—and if you’re wondering, yes, I greased the hell out of that damn hinge before I did anything else this morning.
“How can you be so naive?” Charlie huffs.
“Charlie—”
“No! Those people have been after this place for years. Years , Dad! Just last week they left a message on the answering machine trying to set up a meeting with you. Now all of the sudden this guy shows up with amnesia.”
“Charlie, he really does have—”
“That’s bullshit!” A slam echoes down the hall, presumably one of the cabinet doors, as she tries to get her point across.
Does she ever let the man finish a damn sentence?
“You have such a wild imagination. Honey, this is nothing more than a coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Charlie says. “Dad, I’m serious. Why aren’t you more concerned about this?”
“ If, and that’s a big if, Xavier is who you think he is…we’ll handle it when the time comes. But I don’t think you need to worry about this. Besides, even if he is some big architect or whatever you think he is, won’t it be nice to have someone who knows how to work with their hands?”
I stare down at my hands, flexing them—opening and closing them a few times, trying to will the knowledge they hold from within—before I take a deep breath and walk down the hallway.
My arrival is met with an exaggerated groan from Charlie, but Joseph smiles brightly. “G’morning, Xavier! You were out there bright and early this morning.”
“Yes, s—Joe.” I catch myself before the word sir comes out, offering a tight smile. “Yeah, I, uh…I don’t get much sleep right now.”
“That’s okay, I’m sure it’ll get easier as you start to…get back into the swing of things.”
Remember.
As you start to remember , is what Joseph meant to say.
“Anyways,” he continues. “Can we get you anything? More coffee?”
“Please.” I sigh. “It was a bit chilly this morning.”
“Charlie here was just sayin’ we’re supposed to get snow this weekend.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” I roll my shoulders, straightening the length of my spine, and crack my neck. “I started the barn this morning so there would be a space to work in case it happened.”
Joseph chuckles. “You talk like you’re from around here.”
His statement lingers in the air, the three of us staring at one another, waiting for my response. Charlie, who has been invested in the crossword puzzle pulled from her father’s newspaper, lifts her gaze to the conversation.
“I, uh…I don’t think I am,” I stammer out. “I just…Well, I don’t know. I thought—”
“Don’t hurt yourself, son.” Joseph lifts both hands, dropping his copy of the Bezer Times on the table. “I just meant that most people who know that sort of thing are usually familiar with the mountains.” He offers me a smile before he turns to his daughter. “Charlie, why don’t you make a fresh pot so Xavier has something to keep him warm out there?”
She looks up from her crossword again with a glare. “He knows where it is.”
“Actually—”
Her glare turns on me when I try to refute her argument. I don’t know where it is, the coffee had already been brewed when I got up this morning. The pot was one of the only modern things Joseph had around here. It was one of those programmable coffee pots you can set to brew at a certain time.
“C’mon, Char, make your ol’ dad a pot, will ya?” Joseph pushes.
Charlie stares at her father for a moment longer before she sighs, rolling her eyes. The chair’s feet scrape against the wood floor as she pushes back from the table, not bothering to push it back in. She begins grabbing items to make the fresh pot from various cabinets and I step up beside her, looking over her shoulder as she prepares the ingredients.
Charlie’s movements pause briefly, and she glances at me from the corner of her eye. “What are you doing?”
“Well, I figured I’d better watch…You said I knew where everything was, so I’m making sure you do it right.”
The wooden coffee spoon clatters from her hands onto the counter and she spins on her heel to give her dad the most are you fucking kidding me look I’ve ever seen. Joseph laughs, shaking his head as he returns to the newspaper in his hands.
“You seem to have this under control,” I say, and I’m surprised she doesn’t get whiplash from how quickly she turns back around. I watch her frustration grow at the smirk on my lips. “Am I good to run upstairs real quick or do you need me to make sure you got it?”
“You’re an ass.”
I shrug and walk backward until I’m out of the kitchen. I can hear her slam the cabinet with a frustrated growl as I climb the stairs to change.
After tightening the nut and bolt that bolsters the final board of the door, I use the drill to add a final screw in each joist. I run my hand over the board, noting where it still feels a little coarse to the touch, and wipe the dust off on my jeans. While the main boards of each door are in place, I still have to add the diagonal pieces that will add extra support to the joists on each one. Grabbing one of the boards meant for that exact purpose, I place it on the makeshift table saw comprised of a larger piece of plywood and two sawhorses.
Footsteps walk up the gravel leading from the house to the barn, but they’re not heavy enough to be Joseph, which means it’s the only other person here. When I came downstairs earlier, she was nowhere to be seen, but my tumbler had been filled and resealed, ready and waiting on the counter.
My suspicions are confirmed when I look over my shoulder. She’s dressed now, no longer in her sweats and loose-fitting sweater from earlier, with a windbreaker over her shoulders and her auburn hair pulled into a ponytail on top of her head, stuck through a fleece headband that covers her ears. It’s gotten colder in the last few hours, especially now that the sun has started to set. I had hoped to finish the door and siding today, but the door has taken a little longer than anticipated. However, it felt like the most important thing to finish. I couldn’t leave the barn wide open with two horses inside.
Charlie stops about five feet from me, arms crossed over her chest.
“Something you need?” I ask when she doesn’t say anything, continuing to stand there.
“Dad said to tell you dinner is ready.” Her lips pull into a firm line. “I yelled, but I guess you didn’t hear me.”
Did she really? I don’t remember hearing anything and it’s not like there’s much noise out here that would drown her out. Then again…I do have the radio playing.
“You didn’t need to trek out here to tell me that,” I say.
“I don’t need another lecture from my dad, so yeah, I kind of did.”
I laugh and motion to the board that I was about to cut before she showed up. “I need to finish these doors and then I’ll head in.”
Charlie nods and turns to go back inside. As I’m about to push the saw blade through the red-marked line on the board, I realize she’s still standing there. I glance over my shoulder again to find her staring straight at me. More specifically, at my arms. Unlike Charlie, I had shed my layers—even after changing earlier—because I was burning up from the constant motion.
“Need something else?” I ask.
Charlie rips her gaze from my arms as if my words break her trance and she shakes her head vigorously.
“It’ll go faster if I have some help. Hold this up for me?”
“Big strong man can’t hold up his wood?”
I roll my eyes but motion for her to come closer before finishing the cuts to make the diagonal boards. Charlie’s steps are hesitant, still maintaining distance between us.
“Hold this here.” I show her where to place her hands on the board so that it rests at an angle between the two joists on the front of the door.
She’s standing so close now that I can feel the cold clinging to her jacket against my bare arm. Her gaze is on me instead of the task at hand, and when I turn to tell her to focus, the words get lost when I look into her eyes. From this distance, I notice the specks of gold hidden within her forest-green orbs. They’re pretty—really pretty.
Not as pretty as hers .
As whose? Where did that come from?
Charlie clears her throat expectantly, ripping her gaze from mine. “Dinner is getting cold.”
“Right…Sorry.” I shake my head, clearing all thoughts of the last minute, and return to the task.
Drilling the board into place should have been easier with her help, but it did the opposite, making it more difficult. I continuously maneuver around her, finding the right angle to drill, putting us in some awkward positions.
When the final screw is in place, I take a step back and examine our work. It will do for now. I’ll need to secure the board to the joists and then do the other door, but it will be easier without her help.
“Charlie?” I hear Joseph call in the distance without any issues, making me think she didn’t even try to yell for me like she said. “Xavier? You guys coming?”
“On our way, Dad!” Charlie yells back, turning back to me. “We better go. He made chili and he hates waiting for his chili.”
“Go ahead.” I nod toward the house. “I need to finish these and then I’ll be right in.”
Her gaze narrows, and she looks like she is about to argue with me, but she doesn’t. She turns on her heel to begin the walk back to the house, but she stops…again. Now a few steps away, she turns back around and stuffs her hands in her pockets, not coming any closer. “You really don’t remember anything?”
I laugh. “I really don’t remember anything.”
“How is that possible? I mean, how do you just wake up with no recollection of who you are?”
“One of the world’s greatest mysteries, I suppose.”
Charlie huffs and I can tell she wants to ask me more, but she swallows whatever question sits on the tip of her tongue.
When she’s finally gone my shoulders fall with a deep sigh. I wish I had the answers she’s looking for, the ones I’m looking for, but unfortunately…I don’t. I would love to remember something (anything) because that would mean I get to go home. I’m grateful to Joseph for giving me a warm bed, food, and something to keep my head and hands busy—to keep my mind off the situation—but there’s a yearning deep in my soul for the life waiting on the other side of that smoke wall clouding my mind.