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He squeezed her fingers and then dug into his food. Between bites, he said, "Tell me about your work."
She studied him beneath lowered lashes. "Just like that?"
"Just like that." He snapped his fingers. "We've mulled over my sorry situation enough for one day. I'd like to forget for a few hours." His lips twisted. "Ironic, huh? The man with no memory wants to forget the little he does know."
"You're right. Maybe you should clear your mind before talking to Lesley tomorrow."
And just like that, they spent the rest of the evening talking about everything but Jack's sorry situation. As Jack carried their wineglasses to the kitchen, Lola curled her legs beneath her on the sofa and tilted her head back against the cushion.
She'd had just about the best first date she'd ever had in her life...but the man of her dreams remained a mystery.
THE ELEVATOR DOORS TRUNDLED OPEN on the fifth floor of Miami Hope Hospital. Jack crossed his fingers that the Hope in the name of the hospital was a good sign. After the memories came to him in the shower yesterday, the thought of regaining his life held less anxiety than it did before. He had people out there, people he could count on. And surely if the memories of Prospero had returned, a memory or two of a wife and family would've crept into his consciousness...if that wife and family existed.
His running shoes squeaked on the polished linoleum next to the click of Lola's boots. She aimed a smile at him and pointed down the corridor. "Lesley's office is around the corner to the right."
"And this appointment is all under the radar?"
"She's doing it as a favor to me. It's off the books and on her lunch hour."
"She'd better be discreet, Lola." He tapped his head. "There's no telling what kind of classified information I have locked away in here."
"Lesley's a psychiatrist. She probably has as many secrets as you do."
They rounded the corner, and Lola pushed through a swinging door with a small oblong window. A maze of small offices filled the space, the clicking of computer keyboards merging together to sound like a giant insect.
Lola held her finger to her lips and they floated past the offices, some with open doors and others with closed doors. She poked her head into an office with low lights and a lamp on the table and tapped on the door.
"Lesley? We're here."
A tall, reed-thin blonde rose from behind the desk, dropping her glasses on the blotter. "Hi, Lola. Shut the door behind you."
Discreet. Jack liked that in a psychiatrist ready to pick his brain. He clicked the door shut, resting his palms against it.
"This is Jack Coburn. Jack, Dr. Lesley Jerome."
The doctor stuck out her hand, and Jack crossed the small office in two steps and gripped it in a handshake. "Dr. Jerome."
She smiled, straight, white teeth relieving the severity of her expression. "Call me Lesley. After all, we're about to get intimate."
Raising one brow, he nodded.
Lola shuffled closer to him and patted his back. "Just a figure of speech for shrinks."
"Lola, don't you have a patient to see?" Lesley rolled her wrist inward to check her watch. "I'm pressed for time."
The pressure of Lola's hand on his back increased, but she stepped back. "Of course. Forty-five minutes?"
"That'll work."
With her hand still on his waist, Lola made a half turn to face him. "Good luck."
He chucked her under the chin. "Don't worry about me. Go see that little boy."
"I told Lesley about the headaches. If you get another--"
"Go." He placed his hands on her shoulders and spun her toward the door.
"Thanks, Lesley." She waved her hand in the air and slipped out of the office.
Lesley grinned at him. "That woman's a born caretaker, but she can drive you crazy sometimes."
It was Lola's sexy body, not her caretaking, that drove him crazy, but the shrink didn't want to hear about that right now. "She's been a lifesaver."
"And I'm sure she's reveling in it, but we're here to analyze you, not Lola." She jerked her chin toward the two chairs on the other side of her desk as she gathered a pen and a pad of paper. "We'll sit there. I'm sorry it's not more comfortable, but I don't generally see patients in this office since I visit their hospital rooms. My private practice comes complete with the comfy couch."
