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“I think I’ll shower and change. Then we can start looking for clues. Is that okay?”
“Sure. I’ll go ahead and get started.”
“Sounds good. Thanks.” I head for the wardrobe in the corner of my studio. Even with me working there, I’d had to downsize from the two-bedroom house my grandfather and I shared to this studio just to afford Pine Meadow. It was worth it, but right now I would appreciate the privacy of a bedroom-bathroom combo.
After grabbing a change of clothes, I slip into the bathroom and lock the door.
I quickly flip on the shower before setting the clothes down and turning toward the mirror.
More sticky notes line the edges.
“Imitate God in all that you do because you are His dear children.” -Ephesians 5:1
GYBTTG: Get your booty to the gym!
Dentist Tuesday @ 2 p.m.
Can’t say I’m too upset that I can’t remember that last one.
But what else did I miss? What happened that led me into that river?
I sink to my knees and bow my head. “Lord, please let me remember. I need to know what happened. I need to move on with my life. Please.” Tears burn in the corners of my eyes. “Above all, God, let Your will be done in my life. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.”
Instead of letting myself dwell on how unfair it feels that the memories don’t come rushing back, I choose to recall what my grandfather used to say to me.
“Life isn’t fair, Dahl. If it were, we’d all be on a cross.”
“Okay, Grandpa,” I whisper with a soft smile. “Okay.”
Freshly showered and feeling a bit lighter, I step out of the bathroom. Ryker’s back is to me as he kneels in front of my fish tank.
“That’s Rocky.”
“Rocky?” he questions, glancing back at me.
“Like the movie. It was my grandfather’s favorite.”
Ryker smirks. “I’m familiar. Why name the fish Rocky?”
“I found him in the clearance section at a pet store. He’d been picked up and placed there after clearly being shaken up a bunch. The employees didn’t even know he was there, so he hadn’t been fed in a while, either. But I knew he would survive.”
“So you saved him.”
“I did. Though as silly as this is, I think he kind of helped me, too.”
“How so?”
“We’d just lost my mother and grandmother, and I’d been out getting my grandfather’s medications. When I walked by the pet store, I just had this feeling I needed to stop in. So I did. I had no reason to be there, but I was, and there was this little fish who looked as beaten up as I felt. So I brought him home.”
Ryker straightens to his full height and, in doing so, puts us incredibly close. He looks down at me, and my gaze locks with his. “You definitely strike me as a fixer. Maybe it’s the nurse in you.”
I laugh. “Maybe. I just knew he needed a home, so I gave him one.”
“Lucky—” A sharp knock on the door cuts Ryker off mid-sentence.
“Get into the bathroom and lock the door,” he tells me, withdrawing his gun and starting toward the door.
Adrenaline surges through my system, and I rush over to do as he says. But before I can close the door, I hear a familiar voice.
