She nodded quickly. “It looked like he got you pretty good, let me see your face.”
Craig leaned down and Kali removed her glove, gently touching the skin around his eye. He flinched.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Oh, that’s nothing. I used to get punched all the time in my old life.”
“Really?”
“I have no idea,” he said, stooping to pick up some snow to press to his face. “But it sounded like it fit, didn’t it?”
Kali laughed a little too hard. She felt the tension of the situation easing up. “It did.”
“You don’t happen to have a dash camera, do you?”
Kali shook her head. “No. But that was some quick thinking. It really made him change his tune.”
“Yes, it really did.” He threw the snow back on the ground. “Not entirely sure where I came up with that. Well then, would you like to just go back home and have a rest?”
“No, I’m okay. Really. Let’s walk around and see what you remember.”
“Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
“I’m tougher than I look,” Kali replied, dusting the snow off of the back of her coat.
“Alright, if you insist.”
They walked to the corner of the park where the ambulance found Craig.
“Anything look familiar?” Kali asked.
He frowned. “Sadly, no. Not yet. I wonder what I was doing down here, wandering around the park at night.”
“That’s the question of the week,” Kali replied.
They walked through the park, Craig admiring the view of the lake and asking if the two lakes ever flooded the area. It seemed oddly insightful and Kali wondered if he were an engineer or something. She didn’t mention anything to him, though. She didn’t want him to feel smug about being insightful. He was already annoying her with his potential made up identities.
“First I thought I was MI6,” he said as they strolled down Gotham.
“Like James Bond?”
“Yeah. But then I didn’t know what you people call a lift, so it seemed unlikely that I was an international spy.”
She nodded. “Definitely.”
“Then I got a bit worried I led some sort of life of crime, but that doesn’t make sense because I don’t think my assailants would’ve let me live if I were a criminal, and they were criminals too.”
“Right.”
“Now I’m leaning towards something a bit more heroic, like a firefighter or a window cleaner.”
Kali sputtered out a laugh. “How is a window cleaner heroic?”
“Dunno, I saw some blokes yesterday scaling the side of a building to clean some windows. It was freezing and they rode up in this tin can looking thing. Seemed pretty brave to me.”
Kali caught him shooting her a look, clearly trying to see if he could get her to laugh. She walked ahead of him, shaking her head. It was harder and harder to take him seriously, and after he saved her, she felt a bit indebted to him, which she found annoying. She didn’t like owing anyone anything. He was still a stranger. A stranger that she shouldn’t allow to live in her house for a number of reasons, not the least of which that he was a former patient and she was breaking about a hundred rules. She kept her responses short so he didn’t get any ideas that they were friends.
After an hour of walking around, Kali stopped to suggest that they take a break. Craig didn’t respond – he was standing frozen in front of a diner.
“Are you…hungry?” she asked.
He shook his head, pointing at the sign. “Maggie’s Diner!”
Kali looked at the sign, then back at him. “Okay?”
“Maggie’s Diner! I took a picture of this place!”
“Oh really? You remember that?”
“Yeah! I remember doing it! I was excited, I wanted to show it to someone.”
“Who?”
He paused. “I’m not sure.”
“Oh.” Her voice fell. “Well, I guess that’s a start.”
He stood for a moment, staring at the sign. “Maybe someone I knew liked the diner.”
“Or their name is Maggie,” Kali suggested. Like his sister, or mother. Or wife.
“Can we pop inside, just to see if anyone remembers me?”
“Sure,” she said.
They walked into the diner and stood by the “Please Wait To Be Seated” sign. After a minute, a rosy cheeked girl came over.
“Just two?” she said.
“Er – no, actually,” said Craig. “I’m actually in a bit of a predicament where I’m suffering from a bit of amnesia. I recognized this restaurant and was wondering if, on an off chance, anyone here knows me?”
The girl blushed a deep red. “Well I’m sure I’ve never seen you before, but let me check!”
“Thank you,” Craig said, smiling at her.
Kali’s eyes darted between the girl and Craig. She was clearly fawning over him. Maybe Craig used his good looks to manipulate women. Kali straightened and zipped her jacket all the way up. He wasn’t going to manipulate her.
“Are you cold?” he asked, noticing her hand still holding the zipper, which was now up to her chin.
“No, why?”
“No reason,” he said, looking away.
After a moment, the girl came back, somewhat recovered from her blush, but her skin was still splotchy with redness. “I’m sorry, sir, but no one here thinks they’ve seen you before. Maybe check back this weekend? We’ll have our weekend crew here.”
He smiled graciously. “Oh, right. Thanks for your help.”
“You’re welcome! Come back soon!”
He nodded and turned to leave. Kali followed him, and once they were out on the sidewalk she spoke again.
“Sorry Craig.”
“It’s alright,” he said, voice low. “I suppose it was silly to think that walking around town would lead to me remembering everything at once.”
Kali bit her lip. He was clearly sad. Understandably, of course, but she struggled with how to respond. If he were still her patient in the hospital, she’d offer support and encouragement. She might even hold his hand or put an arm around him.
But not now. She had to be the stern landlady. She didn’t want to be suckered by him if he was some great con artist.
“How about,” she said slowly, “we give your brain a rest and get you some new clothes? Then I can make us something for lunch. Your basement apartment doesn’t have an oven, if you didn’t notice.”
“Oh,” he said lightly, “I don’t think I did. I was so focused on that tuna this morning.”
She smiled. “Alright then, let’s go.”
They headed back towards the car, Kali feeling a bit anxious about what they might find. She couldn’t help but say something.
“What if the truck guy came back and smashed all of the windows?”
“Then we’ll sweep up all of the glass and kindly return it to his truck,” Craig said. “We can break one of his windows if needed.”
Kali narrowed her eyes at him. “Maybe you did lead a life of crime.”
He laughed. “Don’t think so. That doesn’t appeal to me one bit.”
“Unlike window washing?”
“Right,” he said.
They arrived at the car and found it in one piece. Kali breathed a sigh of relief as she climbed into the driver’s seat. It took about fifteen minutes to get to the shopping plaza that had the thrift store. Craig eyed it from outside.
“Doesn’t look like much, does it?”
“I’m keeping your tab low. Let’s go.”
He sighed. “Alright.”
Craig proved to be a poor shopper. He lost interest in clothing easily and continuously wandered over to the aisles with games, house supplies and toys.
“What is this?” he asked, delighted, standing over a child’s play kitchen.
“It’s a play set,” Kali told him patiently.
“It’s a tiny kitchen! Look at this little pan! And this miniature oven!”
She shook her head. “Did you want to get another pair of pants, or do you want to just live in that one pair for the rest of your life?”
Craig shook his head wistfully. “What a terrific little shop. Alright, my apologies, I’ll return to the trousers.”
Eventually, Kali managed to corral him into buying a week’s worth of clothing, plus some gloves and a hat, since he didn’t get any of that when given his coat.
Craig stopped to examine some coats, debating the merits of the one he currently had. “While it is horrendous, it’s acceptably warm and functional. Plus, I don’t want to run up my tab any more than I need to at this point.”
Kali shrugged. “Alright.”
They checked out, the total coming to $23. Craig insisted on keeping the receipt so he could keep track of what he owed her. “And,” he said, “we should keep a running log as well. How much is it to rent the cottage?”
She laughed. The cottage. It was just a basement with some twinkle lights hung up. “Ah – I don’t know yet. Let me think about it.”
“Very good,” he replied.
They walked back to the car, and Kali was glad to see that his mood recovered. Well, mostly glad. He was back to his chatty self, trying his best to get a laugh out of her. She kept her eyes on the road as she drove, but when he did a full reenactment of the truck guy’s whining, she did crack a smile.
Chapter 6
They arrived back at Kali’s townhouse and Kali offered to let him use the washer and dryer to wash all of his new clothes. Craig stood in front of the machines for five minutes, unable to figure out which one was the washer. He poked the dials, but nothing happened.
“Kali,” he called out, “I hate to trouble you while you’re cooking, but which of these do I use first?”
Kali appeared with a furrowed brow. “You knew how to use my phone to take a picture but you can’t remember how to use a washing machine?”
“I guess not.”
She pointed to the one on the left. “This is the washer.” She threw his pile of clothes in.
“Ah, right. Of course,” he said, nodding solemnly.
“You turn this dial here…okay now the water is coming in. And here is the detergent.”
“Right,” he said, accepting the bottle. “And…where does this go?”
She looked at him for a moment to see if he was joking. He wasn’t. “Just dump it in there. With the clothes.”
“Yes yes, it’s all coming back to me now.”
It wasn’t. Craig didn’t know how much detergent to add, so he just tilted the bottle, counted to five, then stopped pouring.
“Do I need to close this lid?” he called out.
“Yes!” Kali yelled back.
That seemed to make sense. He closed the washer and placed the detergent bottle on top before making his way back to the kitchen. On his way, he took a detour into the small family room, where the TV, couch, and caged animals were.
The walls were scattered with pictures big and small. Craig paused to look at them and wonder who the smiling faces were.
“Is this your mum and dad here?”
Kali strained her neck to see what he was looking at. “Yep.”
“And this is you, isn’t it?” He pointed to a picture with four beaming children.
“Yeah.”
“A brother and two sisters?”
“Yep,” she replied.
“I wonder if I have any siblings,” Craig said, staring at the picture intently. They all looked vaguely alike. Kali was the oldest – though he could’ve guessed that with the way she carried herself. The youngest two girls appeared to be twins.
He moved onto the other pictures and found one of Kali, maybe 18 or so, with a young man. He didn’t look like a relative. His hair was sandy blonde, a stark contrast to Kali’s dark chestnut color. His face was attractive, for sure, but shared no features with the four siblings in the other picture.
Craig stole a glance at Kali darting around the kitchen. Who was this guy? There didn’t seem to be any more recent pictures of him. It seemed odd, but Craig felt like it was inappropriate to ask for some reason.
“Are you sure I can’t help with something?” he said, returning to the kitchen.
“I’m sure, can’t have you burning the house down.”
“Hey,” he said, “I know which of these appliances is the oven. It’s that one.” He pointed at the fridge.
She rolled her eyes.
He smiled broadly. “What, nothing? I thought that was pretty good.”
“You can set the table,” she said.
“Fantastic!” He felt eager to busy himself and after opening all of the cupboards, he found the plates. “Are we having soup? Salad?”
“I have chicken soup if you like,” Kali replied, “and yes to the salad.”
Craig located some cloth napkins in a drawer next to the utensils. He folded the napkins and placed them on the plates, then placed bowls on top. He put the salad and dinner forks to the left of the setting, then the knife to the right. He took the smaller plates and set them in the upper left with butter knives overtop. He carefully adjusted everything to make sure it was even.
He didn’t notice that Kali stood behind him, staring.
“I hope this is alright. I need to find your glasses…”
“Where did you learn to do that?” she said, setting down a large bowl of salad.
“Do what?”
“Set a table like a waiter in a…I don’t even know where. Some fancy restaurant.”
He looked at the table and shrugged. “How else would you set a table?”
She looked at him for a moment. “Right,” she said, mimicking his accent.
He thought it was a poor imitation, but he let it slide.
Craig looked back at the table. Had he set it correctly? He didn’t even think about where everything went. Maybe his memory was coming back in pieces. Pieces centered around household chores (excluding washing clothes) and dingy looking diners.
They sat down, and Craig was thoroughly impressed with the meal that Kali threw together so effortlessly. “This looks simply wonderful,” he said.
She passed him the plate of chicken. “It’s just chicken soup. And some chicken cutlets. Notice the heavy rotation of chicken in this meal.”
“The chef is so humble, too,” he replied, smiling.
“It’s easy to impress a man whose only memories of food are from the hospital, and a can of tuna from a homeless shelter.”
He raised two fingers. “Two cans of tuna.”
“Two cans? For breakfast? You’re going to get mercury poisoning!”
He frowned. “You’re right, I should have demanded that you make me some of these chicken cutlets instead.”
“Ha ha.”
He stole a glance at her. She was kind of smiling. “Do you often cook for others? Is your roommate going to join us?”
“Oh – uh, no she’s busy.”
He nodded. He hadn’t seen much of this mysterious roommate yet, but Kali clearly didn’t want him prying into her personal life. He’d already taken over her basement and her washing machine, he knew it was best not to push his luck.
Kali’s phone rang. She leapt up to grab it so quickly that she startled Craig.
“Sorry, it’s work,” she said.
“Please, don’t mind me,” he said, nodding towards the phone.
Kali looked at the phone and frowned. “Hi Betsy. What’s up?”
Craig stole a glance at her. Her brow was furrowed – already worried about whatever this was.
“Yes, I’m having a nice day off.”
A pause. Kali rubbed her forehead.
“Uh, sorry Betsy,” she said slowly, “I don’t think I can do that many overnights on such short notice.”
Craig looked at her again. She continued to listen for a few moments before saying goodbye.
After making her way back to the table, she went to set her phone down, but then gasped.
“My coworker…or someone…must’ve seen us out today. Look.” She handed him the phone. It was a picture of them walking around downtown together, clear as day.
“Would you look at that, we’ve been papped. Bit of a weird hobby for your colleague.”
Kali groaned. “She’s using it to make me cover a bunch of overnight shifts. I can’t believe this!”
“What, you’re not allowed to walk around with men unsupervised or something?”
Kali shook her head. “Not when they’re my former patient. It’s considered…immoral, in a way.”
Craig cocked his head to the side. “Why? We haven’t done anything improper.”
“That’s not the point!” Kali tossed the phone on the table and went into the living room.
“Hold on,” Craig said, rising from his chair to follow her. “What if I had a job? And I rented the room from you? That would make it all above board.”
“How are you going to get a job?”
“I have my ways,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“Life of crime again?”
Craig crossed his arms. “No, I’m serious.”
She sighed. “I don’t know if it would matter, honestly. I’m probably breaking a bunch of ethics rules anyway.”
“How is that possible? You saved me from freezing to death. And mercury poisoning, apparently.”
She offered a weak smile. “Guess I’ll be working some overnights then.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’re being blackmailed.”
“It’s not that big of a deal. I’ll go in tomorrow at 7 PM.” Kali finished her small plate of food before standing up to clean the table.
“Please, let me do that,” Craig said, trying to pick up the plates.
“No, it’s alright,” she said, pulling the pile of dishes in close. “I need something to do now so I can stay up late to get on schedule.”
“Ah, right.” He stepped towards her, plate in hand. “I’m very sorry to bring you all of this trouble.”
“It’s alright,” she said, pulling out some plastic containers. “Would you like some of this food downstairs?”
“That’d be nice,” he said. “You know, I can get a job, pay off my tab here and find another place to stay.”
Nurse's Date with a Billionaire Page 4
