Out of Uniform

by Catherine Mann

  Nothing but drip, drip, drip from the faucet.

  An eerie sensation slid over her, chilling her faster than the cooling water. She tried to get a grip. Of course it was quiet. She was alone in her room, but she’d locked the door.

  Had she put on the chain and the dead bolt?

  She couldn’t remember. How could she have grown so complacent in such a short time? She shouldn’t count on others for her safety. No matter how much help Jacob and his friends offered, they had only known her a short while. How important could she really be to them so fast? She wanted to start relying on herself, to grow stronger to face whatever life she’d forgotten.

  Carefully, she rose from the tub and reached for a towel to wrap around herself. Not much for armor, but she was only confronting ghostly fears, nothing real except her paranoia.

  A bracing breath later, she twisted the doorknob and stepped into the room to—

  Nobody. The motel room was empty but for the two neatly made-up beds and a chair with her hand-me-down blue robe on the armrest. She sagged back against the sink in the dressing area with relief.

  Turning, she reached for her comb and blinked.

  Streaks of bloodred lipstick glared back at her from the mirror. All capital letters. One word.

  DEAD.

  Jacob tipped back the chair behind the check-in desk and thought about his dead father, really thought about the old man for the first time. He’d done a good job of ignoring the man’s presence stamped all over the place, but then Dee had asked about the “Mako” call sign, which led to thoughts of learning everything he could about engines in hopes of earning his father’s approval.

  Clyde Stone was gone. Really gone. For so many years, Jacob had worked to gain his dad’s attention, then worked harder to ignore the selfish bastard’s existence.

  Now he was dead and Jacob couldn’t stop thinking about him. Because of Dee. Because he realized having a past, even a crummy one, was better than none at all.

  They hadn’t had much of a father/son relationship, yet the man had been a towering presence. His father put on such a good face, all smiles and laughter—as long as no demands were placed on him. No wonder Clyde had never gone out of his way to make this business a success. He hadn’t wanted the commitment.

  The last thought stopped him cold.

  Had he picked up that very trait from his old man? Sure, thirty-two wasn’t old to be a bachelor. However, he couldn’t ignore the fact that he usually bailed from any relationship once it grew serious.

  He tipped back his beer and stared through the window at the old truck Emily drove. The vehicle should have long ago been sent to the junkyard. No question it would die soon now that their father wasn’t around to milk more life out of it. They’d spent a lot of hours tinkering with that engine when Jacob had been a teen.

  Those silent moments seeped into his brain—

  A muffled noise jerked him back into the moment, the sound of a door opening outside, crashing against the wall.

  Jacob vaulted to his feet and crossed to the wide window, peering farther down the parking lot. Holy crap. Dee bolted out to the walkway wearing just a robe and untied tennis shoes. Her wet hair rode the wind behind her as she raced toward the office.

  What the hell was going on?

  He threw open the door and caught her as she slipped on the steps. “Dee? What’s wrong?”

  Had she suddenly remembered? She definitely looked stunned.

  “Someone br-broke into my r-room.” Her teeth chattered, with cold or fear or both.

  He could certainly understand because right now he felt chilled to the bone. “Are you okay?”

  While hauling her into the office, he searched the parking lot for signs of an intruder. He saw plenty of tire ruts and recalled hearing minimal traffic while he’d sat in his truck, but nothing now.

  And hell, he needed to get to Emily and the baby.

  “I’m f-fine. Whoever it was left before I got out of the tub.”

  “Good. Good.” He pointed to a connecting door. “Go through there, stay with Emily and call the police while I check outside.”

  She gripped his arm. “Be careful. Please.”

  “Of course,” he responded automatically, already focused on the parking lot and looking for whoever had dared threaten Dee.

  Chapter 10

  N o one was looking for her. Dee had to accept it.

  She spread her arms to pull the towel taut before folding it. Grace silently folded a second pile while the dryer tumbled a fresh load in the motel laundry room.

  Three days had passed since someone had broken in and written DEAD on her mirror. Not that Jacob had been able to find anyone. Not that the cops had uncovered anything further.

  Other than noting the lipstick tube had been completely wiped clean of prints.

  She’d told them the lipstick hadn’t been there before, but she could tell they thought she’d absentmindedly forgotten. She disagreed then and now. She might not know some things about herself, but she knew for darn sure she hadn’t left out a lipstick tube since she’d taken a careful inventory of her meager possessions after waking up with nothing but a hundred dollars and an EpiPen. She didn’t have a stitch of makeup to her name.

  Dee reminded herself to be grateful for what she did have. People seemed to accept her in spite of the amnesia.

  At least there were people here who cared enough to notice if she fell off the face of the earth again. Grace, Emily…and Jacob.

  Dee clutched the towel to her belly in counterpressure against the ache that had only increased since their kiss in the truck. An ache she couldn’t fill. Soon, he would be returning to his Charleston base.

  Since she’d landed in Rockfish, the police hadn’t unearthed so much as a nibble on her identity, much less help in finding a child she wasn’t sure she still had. Even a long-shot attempt at hypnosis had been a bust. She and Jacob had garnered more success unearthing memories through simple brainstorming conversations. At times, she felt a change in herself, as if her mind were pregnant with memories, ready to give birth to them. And then nothing…

  Her few memories of her child were real, of that she had no doubt. As days passed, she had to explore the possibility that she’d given up her baby, or that, heaven forbid, it had died. Had she lost her child and a husband, and that was why she had no one left to notice her absence? Reluctantly, her mind traveled that painful path.

  Perhaps in her grief she had lost herself in shallow encounters with men like Mr. Smith. Certainly such all-encompassing pain could make a person want to forget. The scenario, while excruciating, made sense.

  Otherwise, wouldn’t she be needed enough for someone to look for her? How devastating to think her life mattered so little that she could disappear.

  She had to find answers. The lack of control threatened to drive her crazy. All she could do was continue to try, pester the police and save money for a private investigator.

  Meanwhile, how could she be true to an unknown past while taking a chance on the future before Jacob left?

  Standing outside the lobby closet, Jacob stuffed his military-issue snow parka into his gear bag. As always, the prospect of helping with a Civil Air Patrol search and rescue mission charged him, reminding him of his Air Force job waiting for him.

  Only four days remained before he had to return to Charleston and he still hadn’t settled anything with Emily. His sister was going to have to accept the fact that she had to go with him. Starting tomorrow, they would have to get her school records, begin packing, hire someone to manage the motel…

  Jacob glanced at Dee as she typed on the computer at the registration desk. “I can’t wait for Chase any longer. If he shows, let him know I’ve left to hook up with Bronco and Tag. He can meet us at McChord. He’ll have at least a half-hour window before the ground team heads out to start sweeping the area for the missing plane.”

  Dee spun in the chair to face him, her hair swinging to drape around her shoulders. “
No problem. I’ll pass along the message.”

  Tearing himself away from the power of Dee’s honey-brown eyes, Jacob stuffed a box of packaged MREs—meals ready to eat—on top of his winter gear. “Are you sure you’ll be okay here alone? I could be gone all night.”

  With two incidents of missing money from the drawer still unsolved, he worried about leaving her alone, unprotected. The cops hadn’t learned anything more about the intruder. He’d added extra security lights with motion sensors outside. He’d also given Dee a cell phone to carry with her at all times—in spite of her protests of “no charity.”

  “I’ll be fine.” She stood and perched her hip against the counter, a shapely hip cupped by well-washed denim. “I can handle the phone lines for a few hours without you or Emily for backup.”

  His hands itched. They begged him to fit both palms along those hips and pull her toward him. She’d started a thaw inside him that night in the back of the pickup. Her daily presence and that face-life-head-on attitude had ended his solitary days. A primal male part of him urged Jacob to pursue her, consequences be damned, before some other man came back to claim her.

  What would he do then? It wasn’t as if he was any good at long-term. While he might not know much about Dee Smith, any fool could see she was the minivan-and-cookies type. His future mapped out more along the lines of wandering the world—anywhere but Rockfish with all its memories. Even moving to Tacoma shouted at revisiting the place he’d worked so damn hard to leave.

  But she sure did look good in those jeans, and at his dinner table—and in his life. He’d been considering moving back here for Emily anyway, past be damned. Maybe Dee and Grace could run the motel for the few months until he managed the transfer and then…

  “Jacob? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.” He cleared his throat so he could push free a full sentence. “This counts as overtime, you know.”

  “This counts as doing a favor for a friend.”

  Slowly he zipped the bag to give himself time to think before looking at Dee. “Is that what we are, friends?”

  She fingered the cuff of her yellow flowered shirt, the flannel one he’d sent Emily to buy on her first shopping trip. The color turned Dee’s skin the prettiest creamy shade, like fine china he wanted to hold but worried he might break.

  “I’d like to think so.” She leaned forward across the counter. “Let me do this for you. Please.”

  He’d become accustomed to having her around, sometimes finding himself surprised at how many ways she’d sashayed her gently curved body and bossy ways into his motel and into his every thought.

  And his life was better for it.

  A knot held tight in his chest uncoiled, relaxed. “Okay.”

  “Okay? Really? No overtime?”

  “No overtime. And thanks.” Jacob hefted his bag and started toward the door.

  “Jacob?”

  He glanced back over his shoulder. “What?”

  “I don’t want overtime.”

  “I heard you.”

  “But you could take me out to eat.”

  Damn, but she’d thrown him another curve. Curves. Of its own volition, his gaze flowed over her. Curves. He needed to erase that word from his vocabulary.

  How could one woman bring such mayhem and peace at the same time? She scared the hell out of him. Given the look on her face, he suspected she’d just scared the hell out of herself, as well. “Just friends going to the diner?”

  They’d hidden out at the diner more than once when the prospect of all those motel beds waiting to be used had overpowered them.

  She shrugged, but didn’t agree. He looked deeper in her eyes and saw exactly what he’d feared—and hoped—to find over the past few days. They were becoming more than friends. He wanted this woman to be more than his friend. He wanted to be her lover.

  How many more empty police reports would it take before he could act on that? His body jolted in response at the mere thought.

  Not five seconds ago he’d told himself he wasn’t right for her—regardless.

  Well, dinner wasn’t a raging affair.

  He could take her to supper. They’d eaten together every night like some old married couple, except without dessert sex.

  Jacob stifled a groan.

  Dee ducked her head and picked at her cuff again. “Never mind. Forget I said it. You don’t owe me for helping out. If anything, I owe you. Watching the desk for a few hours won’t even put a dent in my debt.”

  There were those soulful, hurt eyes again, stabbing right through him. He didn’t stand a chance. “We could hunt down a restaurant in Tacoma that would serve you a bottle of Merlot.”

  The invitation fell out of Jacob’s mouth before he could give himself time to think. And regret.

  She tipped her chin with that Dee spirit he’d come to admire. She recovered quickly, he’d grant her that.

  Dee pulled free a McChord base newspaper from beside the computer and plopped it on the counter. She pointed to an ad. “Or we could go to the base and have dinner at the NCO Club.”

  Jacob walked toward her, slowly, and traced a finger along the edges of the paper. A paper that had been neatly folded to the page in advance, as if she’d been planning this. Another curve. “You’d like to go to the NCO Club?”

  He’d noticed how often she flinched when the military airplanes flew overhead, how she went quiet whenever friends from the base showed up. Had the man who fathered her child been in the service?

  “I can honestly say I can’t recall ever having been to one before,” she rambled nervously, her cheeks pinkening to match the flowers on her shirt. “I’m sure they have Merlot there. We can save Tacoma for another night.”

  Another night. Another date. But not a date. Surely spending his last few evenings away from the intimacy of the motel would be wise.

  He ignored the niggling sense that he was deluding himself and making a mistake, a big one. They were about to take a step forward that couldn’t be backtracked if the bottom fell out later. “All right then. Dinner at the base.”

  Dee smiled, another curve of hers he’d come to enjoy viewing.

  Just a simple night away from the Lodge, Jacob reminded himself.

  He backed up a step. “Give Chase’s mom a call if he doesn’t show soon.”

  “I will. And, Jacob?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Be careful.”

  Jacob nodded and bolted out the door, wondering how a tiny scrap of a woman had him on the run when he’d faced down enemy threats twice her size.

  Dee settled in for a slow night. No tour buses were scheduled, and the weather forecast would deter most impulsive travelers. Which left her with all night to think about what she’d asked Jacob.

  Man, she had the munchies.

  The vending machines called to her. At least she could feed one hunger without risking more than a couple of extra pounds. She scrounged in her pockets for loose change. After coming up with nothing but two quarters, she hit pay dirt with a one-dollar bill.

  She still couldn’t believe she’d actually asked Jacob out, not that it qualified as a date, really. Just a friendly evening out. A nice, safe step toward starting a new life for herself. She didn’t plan to give up on the old one, but it could be years before she remembered. Meanwhile, she needed to create a life for herself outside the constant wondering and worrying, or she truly would lose her mind. Then she would be of no use to her child or herself.

  After she’d bought a bag of sour cream and onion chips, Dee fed the dollar into the soda machine. It disappeared…and rolled back out. She flattened the bill and tried again.

  No luck.

  A quick trip to the cash drawer built in under the counter left her with change in hand for another try.

  The red Sold Out light glared on both Coke buttons. Dee sighed. She really wanted a Coke. She could always raid Jacob’s kitchen and pay him back later. Heaven knew he’d extended the offer often enough when she’d helped at the des
k before.

  As she snagged a can from his refrigerator, Dee heard the front door to the lobby blast open. She swallowed a sip and hollered, “Hold on a minute. I’ll be right out.”

  Dee nudged the refrigerator door shut with her hip. In the lobby, she found Chase hovering behind the counter. “Sorry, Chase, but they had to go on without you. Jacob said for you to meet them at the base. If you leave now, you can probably make it before the ground crew heads out.”

  “Oh, yeah, sure.” He jammed his hands in his pockets, his baggy camouflage pants riding low from the extra pressure.

  She waited, but he didn’t move. “They’re only about ten minutes ahead of you. Maybe you can call on the cell phone and ask them to wait.”

  “I’ll just skip this one.”

  Dee chewed her lip to keep from dishing out a lesson on following through with responsibilities. “You could hang out with Emily. I think Madison is already asleep.”

  Chase shuffled from foot to foot. “Nah, no need. I’ll just hit the road.”

  Her bottom lip was getting a real workout tonight. Rather than argue with Chase, she decided to phone his mother after he left. “Good night, then.”

  “’Night.” He brushed past, his hip bumping the half-open cash register drawer.

  Dee stared at the drawer, trying to deny what she knew to be true. She’d closed it after making change. She wouldn’t have been so careless as to leave the drawer hanging open.

  Chase couldn’t have possibly…She cast a furtive glance at the teen crossing to the door.

  Instinct told her he most certainly had.

  Popping open the drawer the rest of the way, she looked inside. The slot that should have held a stack of twenties now contained a lone bill, as if someone hadn’t wanted to be so obvious as to empty out the space. “Hey, Chase. Hold on a sec.”

  His jerky look back over his shoulder, the defensive glint in his eyes, confirmed her fears. He’d lifted money from the cash register.

  Jacob would be livid. Hell, she was livid. She couldn’t even bear to consider what this meant for Emily and Madison.