Carol Ericson - Circumstantial Memories

“Sorry about that.” Brody stooped over and plucked the toothbrush from the ground. His eyes narrowed as he handed it back to Ryder. His hand trembled slightly. “What are you two still doing here?”

“Long story.” Ryder snatched the brush and dropped it back in the bag. “My tires were slashed.”

“In the parking garage?” Brody ran a hand through his hair, his eyes widening behind his glasses.

“Yeah, right where we left the truck after our appointment with you.”

“Did you call the police? We’ve had a few break-ins in that garage. We may need to hire some security.” His gaze darted between the bag in Ryder’s hand and the one dangling from Julia’s wrist.

“We called the Sheriff’s Department. No evidence or prints. I’m getting new tires tomorrow morning, but for now…”

“For now I’m just too tired to face the drive home, so we’re staying here tonight.” Julia swung the bag from her fingertips. “Toothbrushes and all. What about you? I thought you had one last patient after us.”

Brody brushed past them. “The patients leave, but the work doesn’t stop. Have a nice evening, and I’ll see you both next week.”

When they got outside, Ryder took the bag from Julia. “Did Dr. Brody seem upset to you?”

“Maybe a little agitated. Perhaps he had a rough session. Mine was no piece of cake, either.”

“Stop dancing around, Julia. Dr. Jim Brody is attracted to you.”

“I don’t know.” She tilted her head but didn’t sound surprised. “It may just be that intimate therapeutic thing. It’s called transference.”

Ryder snorted. “Transference is when the patient falls for the doctor, not the other way around. I think that’s called countertransference or an ethics violation.”

They stopped before the hotel’s entrance and Julia placed a hand on one hip. “What are you implying, Ryder? Do you think Jim is responsible for cutting your tires and the message on the windshield?”

“I don’t know, Julia. I’m just wondering how eager Dr. Jim is for you to recover your memories and have no more use for him or his services.”

A LITTLE TWIST of disappointment niggled her belly when Ryder booked two adjoining rooms. What did she expect, the honeymoon suite with a heart-shaped bed and a mirror on the ceiling? Although she had caught him eyeing the condoms.

As Ryder explained their predicament to the hotel clerk, the clerk just nodded with one cocked eyebrow. Probably assumed they were married to other people and having a torrid affair.

Julia gripped the handle of the plastic bags from the pharmacy. Why did that thought spring into her head? Would she have done something like that when she was married to Jeremy? Is that why their marriage ended? If Ryder played the part of the “other man,” he probably wouldn’t be too eager to fess up to it.

She knew she and Ryder shared a connection in her past. She could feel it down to the tips of her toes, which had a habit of curling every time Ryder touched her. And what about Shelby…?

Ryder smacked the pen on the counter and swept the card key into his palm. “That should do it. We’re on the second floor.”

Following him upstairs, Julia wrinkled her nose at the musty smell from the carpet. Not exactly the type of place she’d want to have a secret assignation. She tugged on Ryder’s sleeve. “I hope the rooms are clean.”

“I think the place is old, not dirty. We can hop in a taxi and find someplace else if you want.”

“This is fine. There’s no guarantee another hotel will have any rooms available anyway, and I can’t face wandering around Durango looking for a place to stay. It’s just for one night.” Truthfully, the discoveries she made in Dr. Jim’s office and the slashed tires had taken their toll. She just wanted to sit and vegetate.

Ryder slid the card in the lock and ushered her inside. The small room held a queen-size bed with two nightstands, a bureau with a TV built in on the top and a desk and chair by the window. The bathroom had a fresh-scrubbed, antiseptic smell.

Ryder pushed open the door to the adjoining room, which had an identical setup with a blue color scheme instead of green. “Which one do you want?”

“I’ll take the blue room.”

He left the door ajar and gestured to the TV. “Want to join me for a movie?” He turned on the TV and clicked through the stations. “Aha, movie channel. Did you see that comedy from last summer? I heard it’s funny. I missed everything where I was, so it’s brand new to me.”

“Where were you?” She dropped to the edge of the bed and toed off her flats.

He pulled off his boots, plumped several pillows against the headboard and reclined on the bed, facing the TV. “Can’t tell you that.”

She sighed and wriggled back on the bed. “If Jeremy was anything like you, I probably didn’t have much to forget anyway.” She paused. “Was Jeremy anything like you?”

“Naw.” He grinned. “I’m a big, dumb cowboy from Colorado. Jeremy was a slick, sophisticated New Yorker with charm to spare.”

Julia rolled on her side, digging her elbow into the soft mattress and propping up her head. If Jeremy had more charm than Ryder, he must’ve been oozing it. “I thought he came from a poor family. Where’d he get the sophistication?”

“He studied it and then perfected it.”

“Is that why I fell for him, his charm?”

“Pretty much.” Ryder grabbed one of the bags from the nightstand, pulled out the jelly beans and ripped open the bag. “Like I said, you were in a rough place. Your father died less than a year before you met Jeremy. He charmed you, made you laugh, made you want to take hold of life with both hands again.”

“Then he betrayed me…and you.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Julia. We were all taken in by Jeremy, even the agency.” He held out a handful of jelly beans after picking out all the black ones. “You don’t like the black ones.”

He poured the jelly beans into her palm, and she pinched a purple one between her fingers. “Who killed Jeremy and why? And whoever it was, do you think they got the disc I brought to Jeremy?”

“Probably a foreign agency murdered him. Maybe the same agency he planned to sell the disc to. Maybe they didn’t want to pay him. Maybe they smelled a double cross. A million things could’ve happened. Even if Brody didn’t bring you out of your trance when he did, you may not have the answer.”

“Did anything happen after Jeremy’s murder? Was any information compromised?”

“Not that we know of. The movie’s starting. Do you want to watch it or continue poking around your brain?”

She shook her head and popped the jelly bean into her mouth, biting into the sweet grape flavor. “My brain’s done for the night.”

“Then get up here and get comfortable.” He punched a stack of pillows beside him on the bed.

She crawled up next to him and wedged her back against the headboard. “This better be funny because I’m ready to laugh.”

Giggling and snorting at the juvenile antics of the characters on the small screen with her thigh pressed firmly against Ryder’s, Julia experienced a comfort in her own skin that she usually felt only when holding Shelby in her arms.

When the movie ended, she didn’t want to retreat to her own room and a cold bed. “Do you want to watch the historical drama that’s on next?”

“Sure, do any heads roll in this one? I only watch historical dramas with lots of blood and gore.”

“It’s the French Revolution. I’m sure heads are going to roll.”

“I’m in.”

“I’m going to brush my teeth first.” She rolled off the bed and padded into the bathroom where they put the toothbrushes and floss. How long could she stall and make this moment last with Ryder?