Read Without a Past for Free Online Page B

Harley didn’t like to talk about it. This wassimply who he was now, and it bothered him that people couldn’t accept that.
    Every morning, his bunkmate, Petey, would ask, “Remember anything new?” As if the sleep fairy might have miraculously filled in all the missing pieces of Harley’s past while his eyes were closed.
    He told Andi the same thing he told Petey. “Not that I know of.”
    He braced for some kind of platitude, but instead she looked at her watch and let out a small yelp.
    â€œDang. We have to hurry.”
    She grabbed all three plates and unceremoniously dumped them in the sink. After turning off the CD player and the coffeemaker, she paused, hands on hips. Harley could almost see her brain designing the most efficient plan of attack. She’d have made a great general.
    â€œI’ll brew the coffee while you move the truck. Pull up close to the porch,” she told him. “That bed is a heavy sucker.
    â€œAuntie, you can watch the shop while Harley and I move your stuff inside, okay? Once we get your dresser set up, you’ll be able to unpack, then take a nap, if you want.”
    She didn’t wait to see if her two subordinates would follow her directives. Instead, she dashed down the hallway that connected the family quarters with the retail space.
    Harley, although anxious to keep Andi in sight, offered his arm to Ida Jane. “Always in a rush, that one,” the old woman said. “She’s a take-charge kind of girl. Always has been.” She made a face. “And people said Jenny was bossy.”
    Harley chuckled under his breath. He spotted Andi in the foyer, apparently searching for a hidden key. The shape of her trim derriere and tanned calves was one of the prettiest sights he could remember. Which, in his case, might not besaying a lot, but Harley was certain the memory would hold up even for a man suffering from amnesia.
    She produced the key from beneath a brass urn, looked over her shoulder and smiled—as if she’d guessed his thoughts.
    â€œShe never found one, you know,” Ida Jane said, squeezing his arm to get his attention.
    â€œI beg your pardon?”
    â€œShe went looking for a man, but never found one. Not the right one, anyway.”
    The innuendo couldn’t be missed, but Harley pretended not to understand. “Too bad,” he said. “She’s a nice girl.”
    And people say I have a way with words?
    Ida’s laugh made him smile, too. She patted his arm as if to forgive him for being obtuse. “I want to show you something,” she said, leading him to a group of photos on the wall. “That’s Andi’s award from the governor.”
    He scanned the framed certificate—recognition for her role in locating a lost family of hikers.
    â€œShe belonged to the Search and Rescue squad all through high school, then worked in Yosemite for two summers, rescuing stranded climbers.”
    His gaze drifted over the collage of photos, zeroing in on one of Andi in full climbing regalia dangling by a thread with nothing but blue sky below and sheer precipice above.
    He muttered a low epithet.
    â€œUsed to scare the hell out of me, too, but when you get to my age, you realize life is too short to play it safe.”
    While Harley pondered the message behind her words, she added, “A man could get killed falling off a horse just as easy as a motorcycle, you know.”
    Harley automatically reached up to touch his scar. He didn’t know what Ida Jane expected of him. Since that first morning when he’d opened his eyes in Lars’s cabin, Harleyhad been re-creating himself—his understanding of the world and his place in it. Maybe his past was waiting for him to discover it, but Harley wasn’t in a big hurry, because for some reason, he wasn’t sure that reconnecting with his past was something he was ready to do…yet.
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    â€œY OUR AUNT THINKS I should