“We’ve got champagne, orange juice and sparkling cider if you like, as well as some absolutely delectable sugar cookies made with our own special recipe passed down from Mr. Carter who started this boutique in the 1920s. You can help yourselves, we just ask that none of the refreshments leave the sitting area. You do understand.” The woman’s smile never altered, and Julie wondered if she had had it surgically altered to stay that perfect. “My name is Patricia. I’ll give you ladies a little time to relax. Your dresses will be brought out shortly, and you’ll each have a dressing room to change in that’s right through that curtain.” She pointed a long manicured finger to the left of the sitting area.
Patricia went over a few other things about alterations, their lines of accessories, and if there were any last minute wedding details they might have questions or concerns about. Without skipping a beat, she segued into details about her own wedding that took place just two months ago, sharing how it was photographed by Massimo Luka, who took beautiful pictures, and how he thought of everything and was very reasonable at three hundred dollars an hour, not including the pictures.
“How many conversations has she worked that plug into over the past two months?” Brenda said, nudging Julie as Patricia left them alone to enjoy the treats they spread out for them.
“Enough to pay for three hundred dollars an hour,” Julie said, giggling a little.
Brenda nodded her head in agreement. Pouring two champagne flutes full of sparkling cider, Brenda handed one to Julie and sipped her own while walking to the lovely white velvet seats in the sitting area. Kicking off her shoes and tucking her legs underneath her, she looked at Julie, who smiled at her.
“So. How is it that we know each other? Specifics. I need specifics.”
“You sound as if you are sick and tired of asking that questions, Jules. I’ll give it to you in a nutshell. Your mom and my mom went to school together. Grew up, got married at the same time, and had daughters at the same time.”
Julie sipped her orange juice and listened, following Brenda’s lead and kicking off her shoes.
“One of the best memories I have is senior prom. I don’t know if you remember, but I went with Henry Perry. You went with Cason Walker.”
Julie shook her head that she didn’t remember her date.
“Well, that’s understandable. I don’t know what you ever saw in Cason Walker to begin with, but that’s another story for when you actually remember who I’m talking about.” Julie found Brenda’s total acceptance of her amnesia to be refreshing. She didn’t tiptoe around things, and when she finally did speak, it wasn’t something about how mean she had been or how sure she was about things that now seemed to shake the very ground under her feet.
“It was a perfect night. Our parents were together at your house. Your mom sprang for an at home spa treatment plus a couple beauticians to come do our hair and makeup.”
“That sounds like my mom.”
“Yes, right? Let the riff-raff go to a salon or spa. We get the VIP treatment at home. And did we ever. Those cookies really are good. Would you like a couple?” Brenda asked standing and helping herself to another heaping china plate full of the treats.
Julie shook her head no.
“So, I had a bright red dress with sequins that went down to ya-ya,” she said, indicating where the plunge line ended on her dress. “And you wore this absolutely elegant lavender dress with a slit on the side. We looked great.”
“I had no doubt. Just looking at us now, I could have easily assumed that.”
“Right?” Brenda said with a mouth full of cookie. “So, back at the prom. I was with you when you picked out those incredible shoes to go with your dress. They were glittery bedazzled numbers with heels that had to be about five inches tall. They were so high that every step Cason took required you take at least four quick little baby steps.”
“Well, who counts on walking at a prom? You get there, you pose around for a while and dancing doesn’t require a girl jump around,” Julie added, enjoying the story and feeling more and more familiar with Brenda with each sentence.
“See, that’s why I love you. Even with amnesia, we’re on the same page.”
Julie put her hand on Brenda’s arm and laughed.
“So we go to the prom and as soon as we walk in the door you’re keeping up with Cason and ...”
“My heel got caught in the hem of my dress! I remember!”
“You did like a 9.8 perfect pirouette, a double axel with both feet off the ground landing perfectly on your tuckus now with the slit in your dress going up to ya-ya.”
Julie clapped her hands and laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes.
“Oh, but the boys found a couple of safety pins and such. I remember. We pinned the rip on the inside, you and me, and considering what we had to work with, it wasn’t so bad.”
“Not at all. That was one of the things I always loved about you, Julie. Whenever you were dealt lemons, you made lemonade. Oh, gosh. I sounded like my mom just then, didn’t I?” Brenda cringed a little.
“Well, maybe in high school. I don’t know about now. From what everyone has been telling me, I’ve been awful. Just a monster.”
Brenda watched Julie’s face change from happy to agonized.
“What are you talking about?”
“James told me, and so has my mother, too. I’ve just been a real selfish person saying mean things and just thinking of myself. If only I could just remember.”
Brenda set her glass of orange juice on the coffee table in front of them.
“Julie, you are one of the nicest people I know. You’d hand a stranger the shirt off your back with a smile and expect nothing in return. You and Danielle did all that volunteer work while still going to school. You never asked anyone for anything yet gave everything you had to give if it meant helping someone out. I hang out with you because I hope some of that goodness will rub off a little. You’re one of the good guys, Julie. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“But according to James, this whole amnesia thing I brought on myself. He said we were on his boat for a quick getaway from all the wedding plans, and I refused to put a life jacket on. He said I was having some kind of temper tantrum and that I did that a lot.”
Brenda looked around the room just as two seamstresses brought in their dresses.
“Miss Peterson. If you are ready, we can slip this on and check the alterations. Miss Sax, if you would go with Doris.”
The two girls slipped into the fitting rooms and met back in the middle of the lounge, stood on their own pedestals and let the seamstresses get to work.
Julie looked at herself in the mirror and gasped. She hadn’t looked at the dress in the changing room. But here she was with five different mirrors showing her reflection at once. The dress was beautiful, with over forty tiny pearl buttons up the back, thin straps over her shoulders and the most elegant lace that crept elegantly up from the hem over her legs and thighs to taper out to a beautiful silt bodice.
“I don’t even look like myself. But why should I when I don’t feel like myself. I don’t even know myself, and what I do know, I’m ashamed of myself.”
Julie burst into sobs. Brenda quickly took over, pulling the hem of her own rust-colored gown up so she could step carefully off her pedestal to Julie’s.
“Can you ladies give us a little more time? Please?”
Both seamstresses nodded their heads and left the room looking quite calm and unaffected by Julie’s outburst.
“They’ve got to be used to brides getting emotional. They didn’t even give you a second look,” Brenda said while smoothing Julie’s blonde hair away from her face.
“I’m so sorry Brenda. I’m just a mess. Nothing is the way it should be, and I don’t feel like myself at all. Every time I try to talk or act, my mom or James tells me that I am doing it wrong or feeling wrong or that I’m just supposed to trust them and go along with what they say. But everything they say, Brenda, makes me sick to my st
omach.”
Brenda took a deep breath and placed both of Julie’s hands in hers.
“Julie, do you remember anything about James?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what I said. Do you remember anything about him? Dates. Dinners. Parties. You’ve seen him a couple times since they found you in Catalina Island?”
“A couple times? He’s been at my house every morning and every night. It’s like being on house arrest.”
“That sounds about right,” Brenda mumbled.
Julie sniffed back her tears.
“What do you mean?”
Brenda stretched her neck and cracked her knuckles.
“You told me that you weren’t in love with James anymore. There, I said it. Don’t hate me.”
Julie looked as if she had just gotten the news she was adopted or had a twin sister or was an alien/human hybrid. Her face was completely blank.
“The last time I saw you, we were at the ice cream shop over there on Jefferson and Peale. You love their cheesecake, and I like to flirt with the soda jerks. Do you remember that place? Spencer’s is the name.”
Julie’s expression started to change just a little. A couple of wrinkles formed on her forehead as she tried to remember the place Brenda was talking about and nodded slightly. But the words you told me you weren’t in love with James anymore seemed to cloud out all other thoughts.
“You told me that he had backed you into a corner and was yelling at you when you were late to his parents’ house. You said that he was telling you who you could see, when you could see them and for how long, and that he decided Danielle wasn’t good enough to be a friend of yours, and that I would be soon to follow.”
Julie’s mouth hung open as the memory of this conversation came into crystal clear focus.
“But he told me that I was mean to him and just about everyone I came in contact with. Maybe I was feeding you a line? Maybe I was one of those conniving manipulators who crave attention? Maybe it is my fault he acted that way.”
Brenda shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.
“I’m not sure about any of that. But I’ve known you longer than him, and the last thing I’d ever peg you as is a manipulator. In fact, I don’t know why he’d say that now.”
“Brenda, what would you do if you were me? Be honest.”
“James has a lot to offer, Julie. I mean he’s got connections, and he’s secure in the family business and well, he’s like eye candy.”
Julie swallowed hard. She didn’t see any of that when she thought of James. The guy who stood in front of Julie all the time seemed to be a big man who wasn’t afraid to throw his weight around.
“He really could provide a good life for you, Julie. You won’t ever have to worry about money or being homeless or living paycheck to paycheck like other people. Can you say that’s all bad?”
“But what am I giving up, Brenda?” She looked down at her white dress. “It’s forever until death do us part. A lifetime with a man who I can barely remember, and the things I do remember aren’t very pleasant.”
They stood together in silence for a couple of minutes.
“Okay, I don’t know what James could be going through. He might have had problems at work or even cold feet. Guys handle stress a lot differently than we do. Maybe if you talk to him ...”
“Wait,” Julie put her hand up to stop the talking.
Brenda looked around nervously.
“What is it?”
“Shh! Listen!”
The song over the parlor speakers cut into Julie’s conscious thoughts like an arrow to a bull’s-eye. She knew that song, and it rushed over her in a wave that brought with it excitement and nervousness and fear and happiness all within split seconds. And then a name followed. Mark Stewart! Inspiration Point! The memory was so clear Julie felt as if she were back there again in his lovely apartment having that wonderful home cooked meal. Julie laughed the tears out of her eyes and squeezed Brenda’s hands tightly while bouncing slightly on her toes.
“Mark Stewart! Brenda, his name is Mark Stewart! That’s why I know I’m not supposed to be with James.”
“Alright, who is he?”
“He’s the one. I know it. I may not know what I studied in school or my own mother’s name, but I know that Mark Stewart is the one. God put him in my path, and I ran right smack into him head first.
“Oh, is that all. Well, that makes sense since you are standing here in a wedding dress that was picked out for another guy and well, the whole thing sounds a little screwy.”
“He picked out this necklace for me. He did. Not James. James said he did, but it was a lie, just another lie. Mark gave this pretty little thing to me.” Julie petted the charm as if doing so she could somehow channel Mark to let him know she knew he gave it to her and how she felt and that she would be coming back soon.
“I was going to comment on that earlier. I just love it. It’s so dainty and lady-like.” Brenda leaned in a little closer to inspect the pretty thing.
“No. You don’t understand. Both James and my mother told me that James gave this to me. Both of them lied, Brenda. What kind of people do that?”
Julie’s eyes searched the room as if the answer might be lying around on the carpet or hanging along with some of the other dresses waiting to be altered.
“I’ve got to get to Mark, Brenda. There isn’t going to be a wedding, I’m sorry.”
Brenda folded her arms across her full bosom and tapped her bare foot on the carpet.
“So, tell me, what can I do to help?” Brenda’s eyes went wild with the idea of a romantic scandal that she could be part of.
Chapter 10
“I don’t know if this is a good idea. You might come across looking, well, a little ...”
“Desperate,” Karen finished her sister Cindy’s sentence over the phone as they spoke with their brother who was a way down the line on his way to San Francisco.
“What are you talking about? Her father said I could come and pick up the reward personally or he’d send me a check. I thought I could use a change of scenery and just check in on Julie a minute. See if she is adjusting alright.” He let out a deep breath. “You guys wanted to know how she was doing, too.”
“Yeah, but I thought maybe dropping her a line in a couple of weeks, maybe a month or two,” Cindy said sounding as if she were yelling from another room.
Aaron gripped the wheel a little tighter in his hands as he checked the signs on the expressway and began to merge to the right.
“I don’t know what you hens are clucking about. It’s no big deal.”
“Aaron, we just don’t want to see you get hurt ...”
“... By her big, strong fiancé who looks like a man willing to fight for his woman, if you catch my meaning,” Cindy added.
“Thank you for your concern. I’ve made it to the exit where I’m supposed to get off, so I’m hanging up now.”
“Turn back! While you still can!” Cindy wailed in the background.
“Shut up, Cin! Good luck, Aaron. I hope you don’t get your heart or face stomped on.”
Aaron hung up the phone and listened to the hum of his car’s engine as it moved along the road. In the quiet, without the banter of his sisters or the noise from the radio, Aaron began to listen to his own thoughts and second guess his entire plan.
It had only been a couple of days since Julie left. But her father did invite him. Julie was engaged. But she didn’t seem all that excited about the prospect. Maybe her amnesia was cured. Or maybe not, and Aaron would be one of the most recent good memories she had. For every reason he had to go, he countered it with a reason to turn around, tuck his tail between his legs and just go back to his sisters, his comfy home, his boring job and forget about Julie.
“No. Where’s your sense of adventure? What is the worst she could say? Get out of here? That would be horrible, but I’d survive. Yes, I’d make it.” He pushed the accelerator down a little harder and
referred to the GPS directions on the dashboard. His heart began to race with every passing mile. After another two hours in the car, he came to his final destination.
“Jeez, this is a mansion. Wait, get a hold of yourself. You saved their daughter. They put their pants on one leg at a time just like you do. No need to be nervous. They owe you, just remember that Aaron. They owe you.” With three quick, deep breaths he parked the car, climbed out, marched up to the door and rang the bell. He gave himself no chance to chicken out.
A stout woman in a colorful Hawaiian blouse and blue jeans answered the door. In one hand, she had a cell phone. In the other, she held a white rag.
“Hello?” she said to Aaron curiously, looking him up and down in case she would have to give the police department composite artists a description.
“Hi, is Julie home?” Dear Lord, he sounded like a love-struck high school student. “I’m Aaron, a friend of hers.” Not much of an improvement Romeo, he thought.
“Oh, no, I’m sorry. Julie is at Savannahs with her mother. They will probably get lunch, and I’m not sure when they’ll be back.”
“Savannahs?” Aaron nodded his head and the wheels in his mind began to spin. “Maybe I’ll just head over there and meet them.”
“Okay,” the woman said, shrugging her shoulders.
“Thank you,” Aaron said awkwardly. “Have a nice day.” Then, thrusting his hands in his pockets, he backed up a few steps, waved a clumsy hand at the woman who was now speaking into her cell phone and climbed in his car. Once behind the wheel with the engine going, he looked up Savannahs on his own cell phone, quickly punched in the address and directions into his car’s navigation and headed off to meet Julie.
“Just bumping into her at a restaurant would be perfect,” he thought, “I could just say I was in this neck of the woods for business. It would look totally innocent and coincidental. I could sit, have a bite to eat while I tell her how much the girls miss her, how lovely she looks and that again fate brought us together. Perfect.”
Unforgettable Love Page 8
