Page 22 of A Future To Remember

My voice went up an octave, like I was asking myself the question as I spoke the words out loud.

Cash and Wanda both tilted their heads back in understanding.

“Ahh,” Cash said. “That’s good, Maddy. You’re starting to remember things.”

I shrugged. “I guess. Wanda, I didn’t mean to snap at you. A cup of chili and a grilled cheese sandwich sound like heaven to me.”

She grinned again, bathing me in her generous warmth. “You got it, hon.”

She turned away and headed over to the window separating the kitchen from the front of the diner and spoke to someone—probably Gus, who I assumed was the short-order cook.

“Grilled cheese, huh?” Cash asked.

My gaze was on the countertop. I felt like my mind was chasing a rabbit that’d just gone down a hole. “Yeah. Weird, huh?”

“Nope. I love a good grilled cheese. And Gus makes a great one. It’s not food from Thailand, but I bet you’ll like it.”

I laughed. “I can’t believe you’ve never had Thai food.”

“Never been to Thailand,” he said simply.

“You don’t need to go to Thailand to get Thai food, Cash. You just need to go to . . .”

The name of a Thai restaurant was on the tip of my tongue, I swear. But it was like it was just out of reach, and as much as I stretched toward it, I couldn’t grab it to pull it closer.

“Go to…?” Cash prodded gently. I could tell he was hoping that I’d come up with just one verifiable fact—like the name of my favorite restaurant—that could point him in the direction of who I might be and where I’d come from.

And I wanted to give that to him so badly, but as much as I tried, it wouldn’t come.

I put my head in my hands. “I can’t remember. But I know it. I know I’ve been there.”

“To Thailand?”

I shook my head, then looked up again. “No. To a Thai restaurant.”

“Well, they got all sorts of food in Boise. Maybe that’s where you’re from.”

“I’m assuming you’ve checked, though, right?”

“Checked what?”

“Checked the missing persons logs for someone who looks like me who went missing in Boise.”

He nodded. “I have. Nobody fitting your description has gone missing. I even went back a few months, and nada.”

I sighed. “I’m scared shitless that I won’t ever remember.”

Cash pulled back his chin and made a face, like I’d spoken out of turn.

“What?”

He offered me a one-shoulder shrug. “You sure do like to cuss, Maddy.”

“Cuss? You mean swear?”

He nodded.

“That’s not normal?”