Nearly Broken (15 page)

After grabbing a quick
bite to eat out and going grocery shopping, it was already eight
o’clock. Ready to crash for the night, I couldn’t resist
a soak in the garden tub in Nick’s master bathroom. Blaring
music and humming along with the radio, I successfully managed to
keep the thoughts from the dark part of my mind away. I only had a
shower in my apartment and at the Breenie’s house, so this was
my first bath since the fire. I was in awe over how much better my
skin blended with the burn when red with heat.

When I finally emerged
in my typical nightwear, my skin was still flushed with heat. Nick
was already buried under the covers, hands laced behind his head on
the pillow. This room too had dark woods and linens, but what stuck
out most was the picture frame on his bedside table. Judging by the
shirt, I think it was taken on the same day as the one on the flyer,
but this was a close-up of me and Nick kissing, probably taken by one
of us in the process.
Guess I was right about Claire smiling for
someone incredibly special that day.

Practically moaning,
he stretched out his limbs as far as he could. “God, I have
missed this bed. That couch of yours was like a knife to my back.”

I climbed in beside
him, snuggling against his chest as if I’d done it for years.
“Is that why you started moving in on me? Just a ploy so you
could get off the couch and into my bed for better sleep?”

“Sorry, but your
bed wasn’t much better. And no,” he added lightheartedly,
“I moved in because I couldn’t take being that close to
you without being able to actually touch you anymore. And you were so
freaking stubborn about just giving in.”

“I’m
sorry,” I whispered, remembering the inner conflict tugging
away at me, each side demanding my action to favor its side. It still
felt a little weird that I was comfortable enough with someone to
share my darkest moments.

His arm wrapped around
me and I practically purred over the feeling of being secured in his
embrace. “It’s alright. I now understand the reasoning
behind your hesitation. But you don’t have to worry here.
You’re officially off the radar.”

It was like he was
reading my mind, and a half smile inched across my cheek.
Head
down. Stay off the radar.

My feet tapped
nervously on the tiled floor, my index finger wrapping itself up with
the empty straw wrapper. Twist. Untwist. Twist. Untwist.

“Relax,”
Nick said. “Philippe won’t bite.”

I let out a short,
uncomfortable laugh. Maybe not bite, but the test he was going to run
would determine my fate, so it was kind of hard not to be nervous. An
obvious question just smacked me in the face, my eyes widening so far
I almost strained their supportive muscles. “Does he
know?”

Nick looked up from
his phone, his fingers no longer typing out whatever he was working
on. Using a calming tone, he answered, “No. Nobody knows.
Anyone that knows you went missing, Paul, Philippe, my boss, Anne,
they all think you’re amnesic from being traumatized by the
fire. No one’s going to know the truth unless you want to tell
them. Your family and I, we’re not going to take that decision
away from you.”

I said, “
Claire’s
family,” extremely softly, but he still heard me and frowned.
Regardless, he reached over to stroke my hand. “Just a few more
days and you won’t have to doubt that anymore.”

I offered a pressed
smile and he resumed typing. “You know, she called me all
frantic that night.”

“Thea?” I
asked, figuring that was who he was talking about.

“Yep. Obviously,
she called her parents first.” I withheld a smile, noting that
he said
her
parents instead of
your
parents. He laid
his phone aside, resting his elbows on the table, clamping his hands
together right in front of his chin. “When she called me it was
sometime after two in the morning and she was practically screaming
on the other end. And when she wasn’t blowing out my ear, she
was either crying or hyperventilating. She was ecstatic and upset all
at the same time, because she had found you but still couldn’t
even hug you or tell you how much she missed and loved you. You have
no idea how hard it was for her to walk away from you that night. She
said she didn’t even make it to the car before she started
bawling.”

My eyes wet themselves
but tears didn’t flow. I might have a sister. One that would
pick up and travel late night to a diner in the middle of nowhere
just because there was infinitesimal chance that lead could bring her
sister home. And it made me feel loved, or at least made me feel the
love for Claire, and made me want to cry. I truly hoped this whole
Claire debacle worked out the way everyone desperately needed it to.
I’d hate for this to come back negative and rip their hearts
apart, making every single one of us feel that loss all over again.

Desperately trying to
keep myself from crying, I sipped at my water and changed the
subject. “You were two grades ahead of Claire in school,
right?”

“Yep. We met
when she was a sophomore and I was a senior.”

One eye cocked, I
asked, “Does that make you the same year as Thea?”

A really amused smile
slowly fought its way into a curl. “I know where you’re
going with this.”

“Uh-huh.”
Sip.

“You want to
know why I ended up with Claire when Thea was the one in my classes?”

“Uh-huh.”
Sip.

His gaze temporarily
gazed over my shoulder. “Well, too bad. That’s a
discussion for later.”

“Is Philippe
here?”

“Yes, but it’s
also a discussion for when we’ve proven you’re Claire,
because the day we met is a private memory that only the two of us
know the specifics of, and I’ll only share that memory with
her.”

But I’d never be
Claire, even if the DNA said I was. Not really, at least.

Nick stood just as
Philippe got to our table, reaching out to shake his hand and say
hello. He introduced me and I shook his hand as well, before he took
up the seat beside me and across from Nick. I couldn’t be sure,
but he looked and had an accent that made me think he had a Spanish
background, with light brown skin and dark hair and eyes.

“Sorry I’m
late, man. I’ve been fighting all morning to get the quality
control for one of my tests to work right.” He flagged down a
waitress as he said that and ordered his drink. Then we went around
the table giving her our lunch requests.

“So,”
Philippe said, turning his attention to me. “DNA test. We need
to find out if Megan and Claire are one in the same, right?”

“Right,” I
confirmed. “Is that weird?”

“Not at all. DNA
tests are pretty common these days. The cops are using them to match
up victims with suspects and regular people are trying to prove
whether or not there’s a genetic link between parents and
children. I will say that, for me, this is the first time I’ve
had a case where the client is amnesic.”

“Woo-hoo,”
I said with obvious fake enthusiasm. “Lucky me. Special case.”
One more thing to make me stand out in the crowd. Awesome.
Head
down. Stay off the radar.

At least Philippe and
Nick found my snark amusing, because it got them to chuckle a little.

“Alright, enough
shop talk. Nick, tell me what’s been going on with you this
past year. I haven’t seen you at the club in forever. You no
longer feeling the vibe for live music, man?”

“Nah, it’s
not that. I picked up a Sous Chef position over at Kettle Fusion that
quickly turned into Executive Sous Chef, so I’m not getting off
as early as I used to.”

“No shit? How
the hell did you pull that off?”

“Luck. I had
been the Sous Chef for a few months when the exec bailed for another
job, and my boss loves me. So I slid right in long before I ever
should’ve qualified for that position.”

“Cool. Think you
can hook me up with a table sometime? My girl really wants to try
that place out.”

“Yeah, man. I
can get you squeezed in any night you want.”

I continued to listen
to them catch up. I wasn’t a huge part of the conversation, but
I didn’t care, as I was enjoying watching the two interact. It
was interesting to see how Nick acted around an old buddy, laughing
and boasting over things done since they last met up. After awhile, I
still tuned out, too interested on re-scanning the restaurant for an
unwanted individual that never escaped my thoughts. When Nick arched
an eyebrow my way, I did everything I could to make it look like I
wasn’t
doing that very thing. Scary thing was, the face
that haunted me was sort of beginning to blur in my mind, and I began
to worry that it may disappear altogether one day. And while that
could possibly be considered a good thing, it could also be the worst
thing ever if he was still chasing me down.

Before we parted, I
took out the plastic bag in my purse that contained the hairs I
plucked from my scalp that morning and the paperwork he had emailed
Nick with, a form titled
Chain of Custody
that I had already
filled out. I also pulled a second bag that contained some of the
hairs I pulled from Claire’s hairbrush. Apparently, Mrs.
Whitaker knew to bag and bring that with her when she brought over
the clothes. I felt odd handling it, and was tempted to leave the
entire brush in the bag instead of pulling the hair free to send
alone, but I figured we should keep it in case further testing was
needed.

“Alright,”
Philippe said, pulling out a cotton swab in a tube. “I only
asked for your hairs because that’s all we seem to have for
Claire, but I want to swab your cheek too, okay?” I nodded and
opened my mouth, letting him rub the cotton tip against the inside of
my mouth. “Alright. Everything’s in order. Normally the
waiting list is a few weeks, but I’ll make sure you get results
in a couple of days.”

We thanked him and
said our goodbyes before Nick paid the check and we left. This was
Nick’s last night off before he was scheduled to return to work
at the restaurant, which I now understood to be one of those posh
ones people had a hard time getting reservations to. No wonder he
could afford that apartment without busting the bank.

We didn’t have
to worry about rushing home, so he took me to a spot along the
Columbia River that he liked. We walked along it for awhile, soaking
up the sun, sights and sounds around us. I loved how fresh and crisp
the air was through my nose and down my throat, mostly due to the
millions of trees surrounding the city. And I loved the beauty of the
river splashing along its course with the vividly green and white
mountain filling in the background.

After that, we spent a
few more hours relaxing at the theater. He was kind to oblige my
request of a romantic comedy, since I really didn’t want to see
anything that involved horror, torture, or scenes that were downright
disturbing. Later, he insisted I help him make a simple dinner,
knowing full well I needed a major crash course in cooking. But
simple for me and simple for Nick were two completely different
things. I’m not sure how much of his lesson I actually
absorbed, because my instructor couldn’t seem to keep his hands
off my body as he guided my every movement from behind. Though I will
say that meatballs and rice was the perfect comfort food to end the
day with.

I knew I probably
shouldn’t be sharing a bed with Nick until the results came
back, but I just couldn’t help myself. I needed him beside me
when I slept, because it was the only time I felt safe enough to
actually sleep a little through the night.

Even if there was a
chance he may not be really mine, for today, maybe even tomorrow, he
was
mine. And I wanted him, wanted every single touch he was
willing to give while I could still call him my own.

After my shower, when
I perused the drawers of the dresser for the first time, I came
across a collection of cotton tanks and shorts. I pulled a top out
and stared at it longingly, remembering a time when I lived with my
so-called fake parents, when I used to prefer the thin cotton over
all others. Rubbing the tank between my fingertips, I let my butt
crash atop the bed, beginning to debate whether or not to put it on.
I hated feeling embarrassed about my skin, even horrified at times.