Amnesia

Chapter Eight – Liam

CHAPTER EIGHT

Liam

After I rinsed and added the dishes from lunch to the dishwasher, I leaned against the counter and watched Mallory outside.

She’d moved to one of the chairs that was out in the sun.

Her eyes were closed, and she looked at peace for once.

I hated the fact that, with Randy coming over tonight, she’d have to relive her nightmare yet again.

“Who in the hell did this to you?” I whispered as my phone went off with a text.

Billy: Is everything okay? You missed the lunch meeting and no one has heard from you today. Now you’re not at the foal meeting. You still sick?

“Shit,” I mumbled as I pushed a hand through my hair. I hit Bubba’s number, and he answered almost immediately.

“Hello?”

Frowning, I pulled the phone away from my ear just to make sure I’d called the right person. Bubba never answered his phone that way with me. Yep, his name on the screen.

“I forgot about the meeting.”

“Yes, the same thing on my end. Yep, the food showed up on time.”

I was confused for a moment…until it dawned on me. Bubba was with the guys, of course. “Are you at the meeting?”

“Yes, that did arrive, just a little late though.”

“What did you tell Billy?”

“Right now, I’m unable to help you out with the survey. Sorry about that.”

“Text me.”

I hung up the phone and started to pace. With everything going on with Mallory, I hadn’t left the house until this morning. I’d checked in with Billy and made sure things were taken care of, claiming that after the ride home in the storm, I’d come down with a bug.

Bubba: I told the guys I had a flat and had to repair it and that was why I was late.

I went for a run to get all this shit off my mind, and when I walked back into the house I heard my phone going off with the reminder of the meeting.

I wasn’t that late. Billy asked about you and I wasn’t sure what to say, so I played dumb.

Said you were most likely still under the weather.

Billy wanted to head to your place to make sure you were okay, but I told him to call or text first, just in case you’re resting.

Me: Thanks, Bub. I know it’s hard to lie to the guys, but I promised Mallory I’d keep this between us. Randy’s coming over for dinner, but he doesn’t know about Mallory yet.

Bubba: And you’re sure you want to keep the rest of the police out?

Me: Yes and no. Mallory doesn’t want the police to know.

She’s really freaked out that she doesn’t know who she is or who she can trust. For some reason, she trusts me, and I’m not about to break that trust. Besides, Emily is linked to this somehow, and I’m going to find out what happened to her.

I’m not gonna lie, I feel leery of going to the police myself.

Bubba: I’m behind you all the way, Liam. My mouth is sealed. Just give Billy a damn good reason why you missed this meeting.

I sighed. I called the meeting two weeks ago to discuss the foal season, which was coming up later this month and into early July, and the breeding season, which would be in August.

Pulling up Billy’s number, I hit call. I hated lying to my best friend, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

“Hey, where the hell are you?” Billy asked. “Are you still not feeling good?”

“I’m sorry, Billy. Lance called me earlier, and we needed to go over some legal documents that needed attention right away. I got so caught up that the meeting slipped my mind. I’m feeling much better, though.”

Lance was my father’s attorney, and also mine. And to be fair, he had called me plenty of times with something urgent to discuss.

“Oh. No worries. I’m just glad you’re okay. Do you want me to start the meeting without you?”

I glanced at the clock. “Yeah. Give me a few to wrap up some things here and I’ll head on over.”

“Sounds good. See you in a few.”

Hitting End, I was about to go outside to tell Mallory I had to leave when she walked in.

“The temperature’s dropping fast!”

I smiled. “Yeah, that happens when a storm rolls in. Listen, I need to head on over to the main barn, I missed a meeting.”

Her eyes went wide. “Because of me?”

“No, it just slipped my mind, that’s all. Do me a favor and stay in the house. This is going to be a pretty good storm. If anyone comes to the door, same drill. Don’t answer.”

“I promise I won’t.”

“Also, I’ll go to town tomorrow to get you a phone. And while I’m gone, maybe you can use my computer and print out a shoe-size chart? Feel free to use my office. You know where it is.”

She gave me a smile. “Okay, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” I said as I headed toward the front entrance, grabbed my hat, and put it on.

Reaching into the closet, I found a rain jacket.

“Make a list of clothes you think you’ll need.

I’ll make sure you get a good amount of stuff.

We have no idea how long it’s going to take to figure out who you are and where you belong.

I don’t think you want to be wearing my stuff forever. ”

Mallory followed me back through the house and to the door that led to the garage. I opened the door and pointed to a Subaru Outback. “If anything happens, and you need to leave, the keys to the Outback are hanging up here.”

She nodded and looked from the car back to me. “I don’t know if I can drive,” she said.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Right. Well, once the weather clears, we’ll take it for a spin.”

Mallory simply chewed on her lower lip as I closed the garage door.

“My truck is parked out front. I usually just park there and come in through the front door.”

“Okay,” she said softly, following me once again through the house.

I got to the front door and reached for her hand. “You’re safe. You know that, right?”

“I know,” she said with a forced smile and a slight nod of her head. “Be careful. Piper and I will be fine.”

The urge to kiss her hit me again, and I forced myself to take a step away. I reached for the door, opened it, and quickly stepped outside, saying, “See you later.”

The door shut and I practically bolted down the steps and to my truck. A loud crack of thunder hit, and I ducked as I pulled the door open and slid into the driver’s seat. I glanced back at the house and wondered if Mallory was afraid of storms.

After pushing all thoughts of the mystery woman out of my head, I started the truck and headed to the main barn.

##

We were in the small meeting room off of Billy’s office in the barn, and my mind wasn’t where it needed to be.

I agreed when I knew I should, added input that wasn’t anything new, and tried like hell not to think about who had kidnapped Mallory.

Was she even kidnapped? What if she’d dated this guy, and he’d suddenly turned into a monster?

I rubbed at my temples and sighed.

“Is everything okay, Boss?” Howdy asked, a concerned look on his face. “You’re somewhere else this afternoon.”

I exchanged a look with Bubba, and then Billy, before I laughed. “Yeah, sorry.”

“You know what you need?” Larson asked.

I exhaled, knowing what was going to come out of his mouth. He was an amazing cowboy, could ride a horse backward with both hands tied behind his back and his eyes closed, but he was obsessed with sex.

“What do I need, Larson?”

He flashed me that boyish grin. “You need to find a nice warm body to fall into bed with.”

“That is the last thing I need, but thanks for the advice. I’ve just got a lot going on right now.”

Billy frowned. As the foreman, he knew everything there was to know about the ranch. If he thought I wasn’t telling him something, he’d think I didn’t trust him.

I sighed. “I guess you could say it’s woman trouble.”

Bubba’s brows shot up.

“You dating?” Jimmy asked, shocked.

“No, nothing like that. A friend of mine is going through some stuff, and she asked me for advice.”

Billy frowned. “Anyone we know?”

“Nah, she’s not from here.”

Howdy, who was a master at keeping all of our ranch equipment up and running, leered. “Old college flame?”

All I did was smile, and that was enough for this group. They let it go.

“Do we have the breeding schedule finished yet?” I asked Larson.

“Almost. I’d really like to breed Lonestar with Mitch Tanner’s stallion, Louie the First. That horse has some good blood running through him. The problem is, he won’t take any of my calls.”

I nodded and jotted a reminder in the notebook I had open in front of me. “I’ll give him a call; he’ll talk to me about it.”

Larson replied, “I hope so. I’m not sure what’s going on with him or why he’s being so stubborn. From what I heard, he’s not even letting anyone on his property these last few weeks.”

Bubba and I exchanged a look as I asked, “Is that so. You know why?”

“Not sure. Something’s going on with him, though,” Larson said.

“Maybe I’ll head on over there later today or tomorrow,” I said, writing down another note to inform Randy of this new bit of information tonight at dinner.

“Good luck. I’d like to get the schedule done and off my plate.”

I jumped when a loud boom suddenly shook the entire barn.

“Shit!” Billy said as he placed a hand over his heart. “I think that hit something close by.”

“This storm is going to cause some downed trees; tomorrow morning, eight a.m., we’ll check the fence lines. If it’s not too muddy, use the four-wheelers. I’ll check the west line myself and get a head count of the cattle in the far west pasture. What was the head count there as of last week?”

Billy turned a few pages in his own notebook. “Seventy-two last count in that pasture.”

I wrote down the number. “I’ll let you five divvy up the rest of the ranch. Billy, I want you to look into getting the old original barn torn down.”

In my periphery, I saw his head jerk up in surprise. “Torn down?”

Without looking at him, I acted as if I was reading something in my notes.

“Boss, did I hear you right? Did you say tear it down? The old barn? The original one?”

“Well, I hope he doesn’t mean this one!” Howdy said, laughing at his own joke.

Glancing up, I met Billy’s eyes. “Yes, the old barn. I stumbled upon it a few days ago and it’s clear the whole thing is ready to collapse.

The last thing I want is for some local teenagers to find it and do God knows what, getting injured on my land.

It hasn’t been used since my grandfather was running this place.

It’s about to fall, so let’s just help it along.

There’s a company in Missoula that uses old barnwood for projects.

Get with them as soon as you can and see about them coming out to take a look at the wood.

They might want to tear it down themselves, which is fine by me. Saves me the cost.”

Now all five of them were staring at me.

“What?”

“How in the heck do you know about a company that uses old barnwood for projects?”

Tossing my pen onto the notebook, I said, “Julie. The breeder in Missoula? She mentioned it. They’re called Recycle Me Wood, or something like that.”

“Right, Julie,” Bubba said with a slight laugh. “The breeder.”

I stood, my chair sliding across the wood floor. “I’ve got some paperwork to do, so I’ll be at the house the rest of the day. Good day for it, with the weather like this. Text or call if someone needs anything.”

They all nodded.

As I headed toward the door, Billy grabbed my arm. “Can we talk for a minute in my office?”

I wanted to swallow the sudden lump in my throat. Instead, I nodded and headed in that direction.

Billy had been a friend of mine for as long as I could remember. It was always Bubba, Billy, and me. The three of us could read one another without even having to talk. And we always knew when something was off…

I walked into his office first, and Billy quietly shut the door behind us.

“Liam, is everything okay? You never take time off from work. Hell, you dragged your ass into work when you had the flu. Now you’re taking a few days off and missing meetings.”

I hated lying to Billy, and a part of me battled with myself on keeping this a secret.

“Um…I’m fine, it’s just been really busy, and feeling down and out I got behind on work. MaryAnne is already on my butt for dropping the ball on things.”

“Maybe you should get out, do something with the guys.”

I shook my head. “No time for that, Billy, you know that.”

He rolled his eyes. “When was the last time you went dancing?”

“Dancing?” I asked, confused.

“Yes, Liam. Dancing.”

“College, maybe? Emily didn’t like to dance.”

“Exactly. Listen, we’re all going out tonight to Red Hots. We can eat some greasy bar food, drink some beer, and do a bit of line dancing.”

“As fun as that sounds, Randy’s coming over for dinner tonight.”

He drew his head back in surprise. “Randy? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

Shrugging, he said, “I don’t know. I know he’s your cousin, but he’s also a cop.”

This time, I really did laugh. “And cops can’t eat or spend time with family?”

He smiled. “Guess that’s true. Are you checking up on Chad?”

“Hell no!” I scowled. “He’s married and living his own life.”

“Yeah, with a hot wife.”

“I try not to think of my sister-in-law that way.”

He chuckled. “If you change your mind or Randy backs out, the invite is open.”

Slapping him on the side of the arm, I said, “I appreciate it, Billy. Honestly, I do. Now I need to get home. Piper doesn’t like the storms.”

“Since when?”

Ignoring him, I opened the door and started out, calling over my shoulder, “Call me if there are any issues after the storm passes.” I jogged from the barn to my truck, started it, and headed home. I felt a sudden need to get back to my place to make sure Mallory was okay.

But as the rain came down harder, lightning streaking across the sky and thunder following close behind, I realized I wasn’t rushing because I was worried about Mallory. I was rushing because I wanted to see her.

Less than a day of her being awake, and she had already gotten into my head. There wasn’t a chance I’d be forgetting a thing about her anytime soon.