Читать книгу Pregnesia - Carla Cassidy - Страница 7

The Café Italian was a popular lunch place. They had a reasonably priced luncheon menu and promised fast service for those who only had an hour or so to eat before returning back to work.

Lucas and Jane were greeted at the door by a smiling, robust man who looked as if he’d been eating pasta and garlic bread for most of his life. “Two?” he asked as he grabbed a couple of menus.

Lucas nodded and they were led to a table in the back, where Lucas sat facing the door so he could see who was coming and going. Jane took off her oversize jacket and sat across from him. “Have you been working here long?” Lucas asked the man as he handed them their menus.

“Just started a couple of weeks ago,” he replied. “Why?”

“Do you recognize me?” Jane asked.

Lucas heard the desperation in her voice and wondered how she was managing to hold it all together. Certainly after the scene at the store she had every right to fall apart, but she hadn’t and she’d earned a grudging admiration from him.

“Should I recognize you?” the man asked as he studied her face carefully. “Are you somebody famous?”

“No, nothing like that,” she replied. “I just … I’m having some memory problems and I remember being in here and hoped somebody would be able to tell me when.”

“Sorry. I’m pretty good with faces, but I don’t remember seeing yours before,” he replied. “I’ll ask the waitresses if any of them recognize you.”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate it,” she replied.

As he left their table, she looked at Lucas with a disheartening frown. “I thought I’d just walk in here and everything would come back to me.”

“Do you remember anything?”

She leaned back in her chair and looked around. Lucas had known the blue blouse would match her eyes, but he hadn’t thought about how it might make her skin look creamy and touchable. He hadn’t considered that with the top buttons unfastened he’d get a hint of cleavage each time she bent forward.

“I don’t remember anything specific, but this place feels familiar. I know for sure that I’ve been here before. I just don’t know if it was a week ago, a year ago or five years ago.” She puffed a sigh of obvious frustration. “What if I never remember who I am or why those men tried to grab me?”

“It’s only been a day, Jane. Maybe you’re trying too hard,” he replied.

She smiled. “Having a couple of goons try to grab you in a parking lot tends to make you try hard.” She sighed once again and opened her menu. “The eggplant is delicious here.” Her gaze shot to his in stunned surprise. “How did I know that? Why can I remember eggplant when I can’t remember my own name?”

She was getting more and more agitated with each minute that passed. Lucas frowned. “I think maybe after we eat we’ll go back to my place and just relax for the rest of the afternoon. Stop reaching for it and maybe it will come.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she agreed as she closed her menu.

With each minute Lucas spent with her, more questions whirled in his head. What did that symbol mean that he’d seen on the back of the van? Why had Jane reacted so viscerally to it? And why had those men tried to grab her? What could they possibly want from her? It sure as hell hadn’t been a robbery attempt. She wasn’t even carrying a purse.