Chapter Twenty-Three
Beryl drove Jake home from the hospital, both because she didn’t want to let him out of her sight and because he’d left his truck behind his shop. She didn’t mind giving him a ride to work in the morning.
“If I end up at Alienn General Hospital again, I’m pretty sure they will start keeping my regular room available,” Jake said.
“You were in the same hospital room, both times?”
“Yep. I think they should name it after me: The Jake Jones Recovery From Capture Or Lost Memories Room.”
“I don’t know about that. It’s quite a mouthful for a room name.” Beryl led the way to his front door. “Also, I’m rooting for this to be your last hospital stay.”
“I hope that as well, but I like to keep my options open.”
“Okay. Maybe they’ll name it for you, but they’ll also charge you rent if you expect it to be waiting for your next possible visit, regardless of the reason. Hospital rooms aren’t cheap you know.”
“Fair point. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Inside the front door, Beryl held Jake’s arm, ensuring he was steady. Down the hall, she saw—as usual—that his bedroom door was wide open. If she peeked inside, she was certain she’d see his Maxwell the Martian doorstop doing what it was made for.
“Thanks for getting me home. Waking up in the hospital a second time threw me for a loop. Then I realized I still had all the memories I’ve made since the last time I was in the hospital. I consider it a big win.”
“I’ll bet.” Beryl closed the front door, settled him on the sofa and went into the kitchen to get him some water.
“You were the best memory,” he called after her.
“Such a charmer! Is that really you talking, or are you still drugged to the gills from your hospital stay?”
Jake huffed. “I’m drug-free, thank you very much. Given my status—of strange wire stuck to my head upon admission—the hospital staff was afraid to give me anything more than aspirin, which I declined.”
Beryl handed him the glass of water, which he dutifully drank half of before placing the glass on the coffee table. “Sit,” he said. “Tell me what you know.”
“I know you are a charmer. I like you. And I’m glad you came out of the hospital with some, if not all, of your memories. You’re no worse for wear on that score.”
“Truth.” Then he asked, “Did you talk to Wyatt?”
She nodded. “He’s still working on your case, but he didn’t have anything new to tell me. He took the wire they detached from behind your ear as evidence, but I don’t think anyone has figured out what it is yet. They didn’t find the guy in the black robes or any sign of him at the barn.”
Jake’s expression darkened at the mention of his captor.
Stroking his arm, she asked, “What’s wrong? Do you hurt? Do you want that aspirin after all?”
“No. I just remembered something disturbing. It was probably a drug-induced nightmare figment of my imagination.”
“What did you remember?” Beryl mentally held her breath.
“You’ll likely think I’m crazy, but when he dumped me in the trunk, I looked up as the lid closed and I would swear the guy didn’t have a face behind that mask.” He looked at her. “Crazy, right?”
“A little. You may not want to repeat that to anyone else.” Beryl made her lips form a smile and hoped it didn’t look fake. She forced a quick laugh. “The faceless medieval marauder? You know, I hear the finest street drugs produce the wildest dreams.”
“I can attest to that,” he said, and reached for his water glass.
“I don’t know what kind of knockout drugs they were, but very fast-acting and, as a bonus, strange dreams.” He drank the glass dry.
“If we ever find that guy, we should ask him what it is. But you’re right—I’m not telling anyone what I dreamed up. ”
Beryl grabbed the empty glass and darted toward the kitchen. “Let me get you more. You don’t want to get dehydrated for real.”
“Thanks, Beryl.”
“Sure thing.” Beryl took her time filling the second glass of water, debating whether she should relate what he thought he saw to anyone else. Wyatt? Jett? Diesel? All of them? None of them?
There was a protocol about what to do if a human learned about aliens hiding in plain sight on Earth. But if she told anyone about Jake’s drug-fueled fantasy—which wasn’t imaginary—it was likely a Defender would come into play to correct the issue.
Jake had lost so many of his memories, it seemed cruel to cause him to lose any more. Beryl would have to think about it.
She brought him the second glass. He took it from her, but placed it on the coffee table without sampling it. He pulled her to sit down next to him. She thought he was going to kiss her. Instead, he grabbed her hand and gently squeezed.
He looked deeply into her eyes. “I missed you.”
She scoffed. “You were unconscious the whole time.”
He grinned. “Not once I woke up. And I definitely missed you then.”
“You really are quite the charmer, Mr. Jones.”
“So formal. You can call me Jake.”
“Okay, Jake. I also missed you.”
“I know you worried about me, too.”
“Of course.”
“I’m sorry to put you through that.”
“It’s okay, Jake. You’re worth it.”
And he was. She kissed him and he kissed her back and then there wasn’t any more discussion. Beryl figured she’d be spending the night here as Jake’s guardian. Because she knew that what Jake thought was a drug-fueled fever dream was actually true.
The invisible medieval marauding alien was out there, likely waiting for another chance at Jake.
Beryl would do everything in her power to stop him. But next time, she needed to be better prepared for what they faced.
An invisible being—how on Earth would she conquer that kind of crazy?
After a great night’s sleep in his own bed, in his own home and with his favorite person on Earth at his side, Jake tried to get back to business as usual.
Beryl had thought he should stay home and take the day off, but he was tired of lying in bed.
Whether in hospital or at home, Jake just wanted to get up, go wherever he wanted to and basically just live his life.
Still muttering about his stubbornness, Beryl dropped him off at the shop and carried on to start her own day at the supermarket.
Soon after Frederick went to lunch, Jake was surprised to see Ian come through the door. He’d decided to go ahead with commissioning an art piece for his girlfriend. However, he had changed his mind about what he wanted Jake to make.
“I feel like she isn’t going to want to wear a veil of iron and if I’m going to spend that kind of money, I want something she’d love to wear, not some novelty item that would go in a drawer. You know what I mean?”
Jake nodded. “Yes. I get it. You want something special created for your girlfriend that she can actually use.”
Ian nodded and pulled a folded piece of paper from one pocket.
“This is a very rudimentary drawing for a necklace I thought might be cool. Keep in mind, I am not an artist. She really likes the color violet, too, so I thought a center stone of that color would work in this design. What do you think?”
Jake flattened the paper on the counter and looked the sketch over with a critical eye.
“I think it’s better than a basic sketch and you might be more artistic than you realize.
Honestly, I love this design. I think she will, too.
And I can definitely recreate this in whatever metal you choose, though I would suggest platinum.
Do you want a precious stone like a purple sapphire or maybe purple tourmaline, or something more affordable, like an amethyst or purple crystal?
” Jake asked. He rattled off the range of pricing per carat for all the choices he’d given.
“Purple sapphire,” Ian said with a decisive nod, not batting an eye at the price. He must really love his girlfriend.
“Excellent.” Jake wrote up the order and told Ian he’d source a selection of stones for Ian to choose from.
“No. That’s okay. Better that you select it. I’m certain you have a better eye for such things.”
Jake smiled, embarrassed by praise. “All right. I’ll get the one that is the most flawless, the purest and the closest to the color violet, okay?”
“Perfect. Thank you. One other thing,” Ian said. “I also have an inscription I’d like you to put on the back of the piece.”
He flipped the paper over and Jake read, “Even when we are far apart, my heart beats as one with yours. Nice. Got it.”
While she half-heartedly worked through her morning, Beryl thought a lot about a more proactive way to help Jake with his problem.
The foremost issue, as far as she was concerned, was preventing someone from snatching her boyfriend off the street again.
It was past time for the gloves to come off, no more waiting around to be victims.
Time to woman up!
Next time—and she had no doubt that there would be a next time—she needed to be better equipped to deal with the problem of an invisible enemy.
Instead of just waiting for it to happen and reacting by chasing an abducted Jake to parts unknown, she wanted to have some sort of plan of action.
At the very least, she wanted some tools in her toolbox that she could use to thwart their enemy.
Normally, she would have called on Mica to help her. He was talented with gadgets and the like and of course medical things. For this task, though, she decided Jett might be a better fit for what she had in mind.
On her break, she called him from her office at the Supernova Supermarket.
Jett sounded sleepy when he answered his phone with a surly, “What?”
Beryl didn’t let it dissuade her from her self-imposed mission. “Hey—where are you?”
“I’m at home. Recently sound asleep. This voice is a recording. Don’t leave a message. BEEP!”
Before he could hang up, she said, “Good try. I’m not falling for it. Why aren’t you at work?”
“It’s my day off. I am allowed to have one, right?”
Beryl snorted. “Debatable. Listen, I need your help with something. Since it’s rather diabolical, I figured you’d be the perfect brother to help me out. What do you say?”
“Diabolical, huh?” He pushed out a long sigh, but she could tell that breath of air was full of intrigue. “Okay, count me in. Where do you want to meet?”
“Let’s meet at your workshop in, say, two hours. I’ll come over on my lunch break, because I don’t have the day off.”
“Oh, boo-hoo,” Jett said.
The line went dead.
Beryl got out a notepad and made a list of the items she thought she would need and tucked it in her purse. She called Jake to tell him she had a meeting at lunch and would see him at dinner.
He told her he’d just taken an order for a special gift and wanted to get started on it, so dinner instead of lunch would be perfect for him.
Beryl paused on the line, teetering on the edge of telling him that she loved him. She cleared her throat. “I’ll see you later, Jake.”
“Okay. See you later.”
It occurred to Beryl that her meeting with Jett might take some time and she should build in some buffer. “I’ll drop by your shop after work, but I might have an errand to run first. Not sure how long that will take.”
“No problem. Take your time. I’ll be working on this new project all day.”
“Great. See you tonight. Bye, Jake.” I love you.
“Love you, Beryl,” Jake said, and hung up the phone like that was what he said to her all the time.
Beryl could not help the warm, fuzzy, wonderful feeling she got from hearing Jake tell her that he loved her, sounding like it was a matter of fact.
Her love for him was also a matter of fact, regardless of their future.