Beauty and the beard

by Crowne, K. C.

  I was famished. I ate all the eggs in several bites and then crammed the toast into my mouth. I washed it all down with the OJ in two big gulps.

  Cole was grinning at me. He had hardly touched his food and here I was, already finished with mine.

  “Sorry. I was really hungry,” I said, feeling sheepish.

  He chuckled. “I was just thinking how you would get along great with my brother Harley. He eats just like that. On purpose. All of the time.” He was still laughing as he forked some eggs into his mouth.

  He turned to pour us both a cup of coffee when someone rapped on the door.

  “Speaking of Harley,” he said. “Come in,” he yelled out, roughly.

  His voice is so manly, I thought.

  The door opened, and a second handsome man walked in. This one had short, dark hair with sideburns and a five o’clock shadow. Charming blue eyes smiled at me as he walked into the kitchen and helped himself to a cup of coffee. I couldn’t help but notice his muscles bulging out of his thin jacket. His jeans were tight fitting and showed off his perfectly round ass.

  Oh, no. I was in big trouble at this mountain resort full of hot brothers. What was wrong with me? I had no idea where I was, no idea who I was, and here I was checking out guys’ asses. Jesus.

  “How’s the patient doing this morning? I see that you are eating which is a good sign. Mind if I take a look at your forehead?” Harley asked me, sipping on his coffee.

  “Harley has first aid training,” Cole informed me. “You don’t want that to get infected,” he continued, pointing at my bandage.

  “Okay,” I agreed and let Harley peel the bandage away from my forehead.

  Wow, he smelled good.

  As Harley small talked with me, I had a feeling that he wasn’t my type. Hot, yes. Pretty boy for sure. I don’t know why or how, but I just knew that I didn’t go for the charming, pretty boy types, no matter how hot they were.

  Now, Cole, he was another story. That brought something to my mind. Something that I hadn’t considered before. I wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. But was I married? Or did I have a boyfriend? A significant other? What about kids? I had no recollection of any family members.

  I sighed. This was too hard, and I had no idea what to do.

  “You okay?” Cole asked me, looking worried again.

  “I’m fine. I just wish that I could remember what I was doing out there. I wish I could remember anything for that matter.”

  “I understand. As soon as the road opens up today, I’ll take you to the hospital if you like. You should be checked out. Maybe they can help find out who you are.”

  “All done,” Harley announced. “Yeah, I agree that you should get checked out by a doctor as soon as possible.”

  “Thank you both. And, yes, I will take you up on your offer for a lift to the hospital.”

  “Okay, well if you’re ok for right now, I’ve got to go and do some work around here. My family owns the resort. I’ve got to plow and salt the roads and walkways for our guests. It will take me several hours probably. Will you be okay? I’ll leave Bella here for some company?” Cole asked me.

  “I understand. Yes, go and do what you have to do. I’m going to rest some more, I think.”

  “Okay. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Then, we’ll take that drive down to the hospital.”

  “Sounds perfect. Thanks, Cole. And, thank you too, Harley. It was nice to meet you,” I said.

  “You too. Get some rest. Call Cole on his cell phone if you need anything,” he told me.

  “Yeah, the house phone is on the wall in the kitchen. My cell phone number is written below it. Feel free to watch TV if you want or to eat anything in the fridge. Don’t have much, but what’s mine is yours.”

  “Thank you so much,” I told him sincerely. I was very lucky that this man had found me and chosen to help.

  Cole went upstairs to shower and get ready for work. When he came back down, he was carrying a t-shirt, a light flannel and a pair of sweatpants.

  “They are too big for you but better than nothing. Take a shower or bath if you want. The bathroom is upstairs. Make yourself comfortable and I’ll be back soon. Call me if you need me. Bella is good company,” he said, smiling at his dog and patting her on her head lovingly.

  Bella knew she wasn’t going out and went to curl back up in front of the fire. A hot shower sounded like just what I needed, and as soon as Cole left, I took him up on his offer.

  ***

  Cole came back to the cabin later in the afternoon announcing that the roads were open and that we could go to the hospital now. He had brought a bag of takeout and I was happy to eat some lunch before going into town.

  First, he let Bella out to do her business then he came back inside to unload the food bag. He laid out a box of tossed salad, another of sliced roast beef in gravy, and a third box had homemade mashed potatoes. Then, he pulled out a loaf of oven-fresh bread that was still warm.

  “This food is amazing,” I told him, still eating quicker than I liked, but not able to help myself.

  “Thanks, we have a restaurant with an award-winning chef. And my mom, Mary Beth, helps out a lot down there,” he informed me, shoveling mashed potatoes and gravy into his mouth.

  “A restaurant? Wow!” I exclaimed.

  “Yeah, you’ll see when we leave. We’re a fully functioning resort with like thirty guest rooms and ten cabins. We got a ski lift and lodge up the mountainside and offer fishing, snowmobiling, quad riding, and lots more. Fun place, if I do say so myself.”

  “Sounds like it,” I said, trying to picture the place. “How far is town? The hospital?” I asked him.

  “Well, town is right down the mountainside road, about a ten-minute drive. We don’t have a hospital in Blue Haven, though, so I’m going to take you down to Frisco. It’s about a thirty-minute drive, depending on how bad the roads are.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “I’m ready when you are.”

  “Okay, just let me feed Bella her lunch then we’ll head out.”

  I watched as Cole scraped the rest of the roast beef into a bowl of hard dog food and mixed it together. Bella sat patiently by his feet, licking her chops.

  “Here you go, girl,” he said, placing the bowl down before her. Bella lapped up the juices then munched on the hard dog food until the bowl was empty.

  “Good girl, Bella,” Cole told her, washing the bowl out in the sink. He filled up her water bowl and told her that he’d be back in a few hours.

  We went outside, and I was astonished at how beautiful it was. I could see all the way down the mountainside, almost, to the icy, flowing river below us in the valley. Above that, as far as the eye could see, was snowcapped mountaintops.

  “This is so beautiful,” I said in awe.

  “It is,” Cole agreed. “Come on, my truck is over here,” he said, motioning to a blue pickup truck.

  He opened the door for me and I took his hand as he helped support me as I lifted myself into the seat. I moaned out in pain. My body was still killing me, but at least my head hurt a little less.

  The ride to the hospital was pleasant enough. I told Cole how I had woken up in the SUV and hiked for two days before he had found me. I told him how I had gotten lost and had almost given up. He seemed impressed when I told him that I started a fire using dollar bills and drank pine needle tea.

  “You are very lucky to be alive,” he said. “Two days is a long time to be out, exposed in these conditions.”

  “I know,” I assured him. “I just wish that I could remember what I was doing out there.”

  “You will,” Cole reassured me as we turned into the hospital’s emergency room parking lot.

  We went inside, and I checked in. It was odd telling the lady at admissions that I couldn’t remember anything except for being in a car accident. She looked concerned and told me to wait for a minute so she could get me admitted right away.

  “Are you
going to wait for me?” I asked Cole, just realizing that he was under no obligation to do so. Wasn’t driving me here good enough? He probably had work to get back to. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to. I don’t know why I asked.”

  “No, I’ll wait. I’m not going to just ditch you here,” he assured me. He seemed genuinely concerned for my wellbeing.

  “Thank you,” I told him, smiling at him. He smiled back, and I felt a tingle in my stomach.

  A nurse came to me and asked for me to follow her. She told Cole that they would examine me and then she would come and get him. He agreed and went to sit in the waiting area.

  The nurse took me back to an open room with green, shower-curtain-like dividers. She gave me a gown and told me to undress so that they could examine me. She gave me a minute and I struggled to get the gown on.

  When she came back, she took my vitals and took a look at my wound. “Might need a stitch or two,” she said. “Can you briefly tell me what happened?”

  I told her my story and how I couldn’t even remember my name. She recorded what I said and then informed me that “The doctor will be in in a minute.”

  I thanked her and sat back on the bed to wait.

  The doctor came in and I repeated my story for the third time. He shook his head as I talked and re-took my temperature and blood pressure. He said that my wound should heal fine with a butterfly bandage and that he’d have the nurse come back in and do it.

  “I want you to have an MRI and get a full body X-ray. That way, we can be sure that you don’t have a traumatic brain injury or any broken bones or internal injuries.

  “Okay, I agreed. “Can you get Cole? He’s in the waiting room.”

  “Sure,” the doctor agreed. “Is he your husband?”

  “No, he’s the man who found me. I can’t remember if I have a husband. I just don’t want to be alone right now,” I confided in the doctor.

  “Understandable. I’ll send for him and he can meet you back here after the MRI. Nobody can go into the X-ray rooms with you.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. The nurse came and took me in a wheelchair to radiology. They did a full body scan then put me in the MRI machine. After they wheeled me back to the emergency room, I was relieved to see Cole there waiting for me in the small green chair by the bed.

  “I’m glad to see you,” I told him, blushing.

  He smiled. “How was it?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. They did a full body X-ray and an MRI. Guess they will come and tell me if my brain is all messed up or not,” I said, trying to smile. “Nobody’s really talked with me about my memory loss yet.”

  “They probably are waiting for the test results first,” Cole suggested.

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  The nurse came back in and applied the butterfly bandage. She said to leave it on for as long as I could so that the wound will heal quicker and leave less of a scar.

  Again, she informed that the doctor would be back in soon. We waited for about twenty minutes before he returned. But, for some reason, the time passed quickly and wasn’t so bad because Cole was with me.

  I noticed how well we seemed to get along. But he was tough; I could tell that he didn’t like to open up about himself too much. I asked a lot of questions and only got vague answers. I didn’t want to annoy him, so I stopped with the personal questions.

  Problem was, I didn’t know what else to talk about. It wasn’t like he could ask me any personal questions and I could answer.

  The doctor came back into the room and pulled up a rolling stool. Sitting down, he went over my chart. “Well, it doesn’t seem like you have any brain damage. Just a slight concussion from hitting your head. As for the memory loss, I can only suggest that it is from experiencing a traumatic event.”

  “Okay, will it return? My memory?” I asked him, a bit worried now.

  “I don’t see why it wouldn’t. Other patients with the same symptoms have experienced full recoveries. Sometimes within days. Others, weeks. It’s hard to say for certain as everyone is different.”

  “What should I do in the meantime?” I asked him.

  “Rest. Get lots of rest. Do simple brain exercises every day. You can find some on the internet. Nothing too hard, just something to make your brain work. I’ll schedule you for a follow up in a week with the neurologist. I also suggest that you go to the police department and get fingerprinted. Maybe they can tell you who you are.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. Then a thought popped into my head. A week! Where was I going to stay for a week with only sixteen dollars to my name?

  Cole must have seen the worried look on my face because he said, “We’ll find you somewhere to stay. Don’t worry about that.”

  I sighed a breath of relief. “You just saved me again,” I informed him, smiling shyly. “I will repay you one day, promise.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he repeated.

  ***

  We talked about going to the police station and decided to go another day. My body and head ached, and I had had enough for today. I just wanted to rest.

  Cole drove us back to the resort. He pulled up in front of the main building and turned off the engine. He looked over at me.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “I’m going to tell my brother Brad that I’m going to put you in a room for the week. Just wanted to warn you that you’ll have to meet the entire family, more than likely.”

  “Oh.”

  Cole raised his eyebrow at me.

  “What’s wrong? You’re not comfortable with meeting my family?”

  “No! It’s not that. I just thought--,”

  “Thought what?” he asked.

  “I thought that I would be staying with you.”

  Cole didn’t say anything for a moment. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. His face remained expressionless.

  “I only have one bedroom and I’m kinda too big for the couch. I think that you will be more comfortable at the resort in your own room. I can come and check on you every day.”

  “Okay,” I agreed reluctantly. I hated that I felt so needy toward him, but he was quite literally the only thing with any sort of familiarity in my life right now.

  “Okay, good,” he said and got out of the truck. This time, he didn’t come around to open my door, so I got out myself.

  I was really confused. It was like Cole’s entire demeanor had changed. He seemed like a nice guy at first. Now I was wondering if he didn’t see me as more of a burden.

  I scolded myself. This man had saved me, more than once, in the past few days. I had no right to expect him to turn his life upside down for me.

  I silently sighed and followed Cole into the resort. He briefly introduced me to his mom, Mary Beth. She seemed like a nice lady, who too, was genuinely concerned. Then, we ran into Angela who was working behind the bar.

  Cole told me that he’d be right back.

  “Oh, my, you poor thing,” Angela exclaimed. “How can I help?” she asked.

  “Thank you. I could use some better fitting clothes. I don’t have anything besides sixteen dollars,” I informed her. “And a hairbrush and other personal items would be nice. I’ll pay you back when I find a way to,” I promised her.

  “No, you don’t have to worry about that. You’ve been through enough. I’ll take a break in a little bit and run up to the house and grab you some things. I’ll bring them to you in your room. And there are toiletries in there already for you to use.”

  “Thank you. I really mean it, Angela,” I told her.

  “You are most welcome.”

  Cole came back with a room key and led me upstairs to the fourth floor. “Sorry, it’s so far up the stairs. We have a lot of reservations coming in for the weekend; the bottom two floors are mostly booked.”

  “No problem. I really appreciate this,” I told him. “I’ll pay for the room when I remember how,” I promised him.

  “No need
. It’s on us.”

  “No, I insist. I’ll figure something out. Thank you again Cole, and please thank your family for me too.”

  “I will. I heard Angela say that she was going to bring you some of her clothes. That’s good. I can take you shopping over the weekend if you need anything else,” Cole offered. “We can stop at the Sheriff’s office and get those fingerprints done, too.”

  “I can’t impose any more than I already have. I’ll make do,” I said. I was starting to feel like a charity case.

  “Look, I have the means to help you. So, please, let me help you.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I was starting to sound like a broken record.

  “For now, you should have what you need in the room. There’re travel sized soaps in the bathroom and a robe, so you can shower. We have cable TV and internet. I can get you a laptop. I’m sure the twins or my brother Dax has an extra one.”

  “That would be great,” I told him.

  “Anything else you can think of? I’ll have room service bring you up dinner and I’ll stop back this evening to check on you.”

  “No, that all sounds perfect. Thank you, Cole.”

  “You’re welcome. See you in a little bit. Oh, and you don’t have to stay all cooped up in your room. There’s an entire resort here for you to enjoy when you feel up to it. My mom posts activities over the weekend. You can see the sign-ups in the common room downstairs. Feel free to order anything you want to eat or drink.”

  “Okay, maybe tomorrow I’ll get out for a while.”

  “Sounds good. Here’s my cell phone number in case you need me. Call anytime.” He handed me a post-it note with his number on it then left me to my lonesome.

  I took a shower and put on the robe. I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. My mind kept going back to Cole. I looked at the post-it note with his cell phone number on it and thought about making up a reason to call him.

  Just then, there was a light knock on my door. I opened it to see Angela standing there with a small travel bag and a shoulder bag.

  “Hi there. Here’s about a week’s worth of clothes. Nothing fancy. All casual. If you need anything else, just tell me. And, there are some female products there. A brush. Some makeup. And I brought you one of our extra laptops. I’m sure you’re bored out of your mind,” she said, smiling.