Chapter 2
ECHO
Standing on the sidewalk, Echo stared at the diner's door like it was a foreign object. He could do this. He could go inside the diner and have a meal. Maybe a certain waitress no longer worked here.
“You doing okay, man?” Slick asked as he walked up to him, with Rider and Junior beside him. Not his usual group, but maybe Slick read more into his hastily typed text.
Taking in a deep breath, Echo shook his head. “It's stupid. But I can't seem to go inside without getting a migraine.”
“Residual issue from your accident?” Rider asked.
Echo shrugged. “Maybe. I don't know. It only happened once. Yet I was in so much pain I've not come back.”
Rider squinted his eyes at Echo. “Any other issues?”
“Stupid. Just when I try to drive west out of town.”
“Ooo, maybe your memory is trying to come back? Like in that one movie?” Junior clapped his nail painted hands in excitement.
“What movie?”
“Oh,” he waved a hand as if dismissing Echo, “never mind. You guys never watch the same movies.”
“Unfortunately, I think I know what movie,” Slick smirked. “Samara loves cheesy chick flicks.”
It was all well and good them being there, Echo's mind had calmed from his initial near panic. Yet the idea of the loving couples made Echo sad for some strange reason.
“We can go somewhere else.”
Did he tell them his migraine was brought on by a certain waitress? Maybe they could scope out the place and see if she was working or not.
“Okay, confession,” Echo started, hand rubbing the back of his neck as he shuffled from foot to foot.. “There was a waitress, long brown hair that set me off last time. I never got to really look at her, or her name, but maybe?”
Rider rolled his eyes. “I'll check.”
Junior slid closer to Echo and opened his mouth to speak when Crow showed up.
“Why we standing outside? Food’s inside.”
“Just doing some checking for our boy here,” Junior wrapped an arm around Echo's shoulder's.
“I'm so glad your husband understands you to the core,” Echo teased and shrugged Junior's arm off.
“Would it be possible that the waitress is from your past? Maybe seeing her, talking to her would bring it back?” Junior asked in a low, serious tone.
“Only blondes,” Rider announced as he held the door open for them all.
Echo's breath whooshed from his lungs. It was now or never to see if it was the diner or the waitress.
So far so good, and Echo felt a smile curve his lips. He could do this, he chanted as he sat in a booth and ordered food. The easy comradery was just what he needed.
STACY
“Stacy,” Eleanor announced as she entered the apartment with bags of takeout. “I've got soup and sandwiches.”
Stacy rolled from the loveseat, leaving Harry and Helen to enjoy the movie. How was she to pay bills if all she wanted to do was stay with her kids all day.
Frank and Eleanor declared she would always have a job, to not worry about that aspect of life. She even heard them talking about turning her role into salary so she always had a paycheck.
When Stacy tried to argue, Frank told her it was what you did for family. Frank and Eleanor's only son had died in the most recent war, and had clung to Stacy just as much as she had them.
“Thanks, Mom,” Stacy whispered. It was natural and easy to call Eleanor mom. And Eleanor preferred it.
“Frank has some news,” she sing-songed as she placed the containers on the counter.
“Oh? So quick?” Stacy grabbed a mug from the cupboard and filled it with soup for Harry.
“Frank contacted an old friend, Data, who took the case with no questions asked.”
“It's only been a few days?” Stacy wasn't sure if she wanted the information or not. Her stomach churned, bile threatening to come up. Stacy felt her palms sweat and her heart beat faster as she thought of the implications of contacting Travis.
What would she do with the information?
Was it important?
He had walked out on her at two months pregnant. Why would he want to be involved now? But she knew why. What if he was a donor match for Harry.
Stacy still didn't have definite answers, yet her nervous random searches didn't help her any. Harry was sick, and she prayed it wasn't as bad as she thought.
She didn't want Travis for money or anything. Although it would be helpful for medical bills. And curse her life if she still didn't love the man.
“Who would name their kid Data?”
“Oh, that's his club name. SOS Motorcycle Club.”
Stacy stalled. Travis had spoken of a club. But he never gave her a name. So she didn't have anything to go by. He never wore a patch, he never shared that part of his life with her.
Granted, they had only been married a short time before they came back to Indiana and she found she was pregnant. After he had left, she was forced to find a different apartment.
What kind of a woman did that make her to have never met his parents and family, even if he raved about them? To have never asked enough questions? Stupid. That's what she was, stupid.
“Wipe that look off your face right now,” Eleanor sternly demanded. “You are not stupid. You were in love and infatuated, and had your hopes crushed. The hopes of a family that was his fault to never introduce you to.”
“But I didn't ask,” she added. Her whirlwind romance had turned into a fairytale, and then it crashed and burned. Travis had swept her off her feet. And she went for it. Never looked back.
Now six years later she may very well need the man who had broken her heart. What if he had another wife and family? Would he have been able to get married?
No, those thoughts were better left for the drain.
“Do you want to know?”
“I don't know, Mom. He left. I never heard from him in all this time. The one time I tried his cell phone,” weeks later after he had left, “some woman answered and said there was no Travis at that number.” Stacy wasn't sure if it was true or a ruse.
“Go down and ask Frank. He'll be on frontline, but he has the information in the office.” Eleanor nudged Stacy. “At least get out of the house for a moment. Breathe. Think about it. Get a slice of pie. I got these two.”
Rolling her lips together, Stacy took a deep breath and nodded. “Thanks, Mom.” She kissed the twins and headed down the stairs.
The diner was bustling with customers. She should come back, but was already on the move through the back entrance and around the end of the dining area to where Frank stood by the bar.
“Ready?” He asked without warning.
“Nope,” she popped the P, shaking her head.
“Come on, kid,” he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her back to the office.
“Mom said I could have a piece of pie,” she jested, giving him a grin.
“Only my girls,” Frank returned the grin with a shake of his head and left her alone in the office. There on the desk sat a folder. Stacy was afraid it would bite her in the ass if she were to touch it.
“Have a seat,” Frank handed her a piece of pecan pie and sat behind the desk. “Good news or bad news?”
“What on earth could be good news from this?” Stacy stared at him flabbergasted.
“He never left town.”