AllFreeNovel
Share Us
THREE
Bright and early. on Monday, Eden flipped on the lights inside Perfect Paws Pet Grooming and felt a tiny bit of the tension inside her ease. While she might not remember everything about the last year of her life, this place was in her blood and bones. From the selection of dog clothes and accessories for sale in the small shop area out front to the scent of the oatmeal spring wildflower shampoo she ordered for her regular clients, everything in there had been personally selected by her.
She’d built the business from the ground up through excellent customer service, the best grooming skills in town, and sheer tenacity. It had been hard to stay away for the past several days, but she’d known she needed to prioritize her recovery. After getting home from the hospital on Tuesday, she’d made the decision to wait until the following Monday to get back to work. She felt much better and stronger now—and damn, she was just so glad to be back. This place was a part of her, and she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it until she was back here now.
She hung her jacket in the office and stuck her purse in the bottom desk drawer before going to prep her table and tools. With that done, she returned to her desk to check the client schedule for the day while waiting for her best friend and colleague, Lena Joliffe, to arrive. Soon, the bells above the door out front jangled.
She had arranged the business so that clients were funneled through the boutique first before they reached the grooming area. She knew all too well the power of an impulse buy, and she stocked the boutique with all the fun doggie clothes and fancy leashes and harnesses with rhinestones and glitter that she could find to attract additional business.
Lena’s quick footsteps echoed on the hardwood floors as she walked through the boutique, stopping periodically to straighten something before she finally appeared around the corner and spotted Eden behind the reception desk.
“Oh my God,” Lena said, hurrying around the desk to hug Eden carefully, like she was breakable porcelain. “Are you okay, honey? When we talked on the phone, you said you were fine, just too tired for visitors, but you look like your bruises have bruises.” Eden winced. She knew the bruises looked bad—even if they had started feeling a little better. She just hoped they didn’t scare any of the clients. “I sent a card and flowers to your house this weekend. Did you get them?”
“I did. And it was so great talking to you too. I missed you. I’d have loved to see you, but you know how my family is. With two parents and six siblings, there was always someone coming by to check on me and fuss and hover. When I finally managed to chase everyone out of the house, all I wanted to do was enjoy the peace and quiet by myself.” She’d half-hoped that Chandler would show his handsome face. You know, just to say hi, but he hadn’t. No surprise since she’d all but thrown him out.
Eden pulled her thoughts away from the too attractive Navy SEAL and smiled at Lena.
Despite their close friendship, they were polar opposites, looks wise. Where Eden was tall, around five-eight, and thin, Lean was curvy and short. Eden had dark, straight hair, cut into an edgy bob. Lena’s light blonde curly hair bounced around when she walked. Eden tended to be more serious and quieter, wearing lots of simple clothes in neutral colors, mostly chosen for practicality when dealing with animals all day, while Lena was bright as sunshine in her colorful wardrobe and fun accessories, and often whistled or sang along off-key to the songs playing on the salon’s sound system.
But even with all their differences, the two of them made a wonderful pair and they’d been friends since high school. Lena was the first person, after her family of course, who Eden had reconnected with after she’d moved back to Charlottesville post-divorce five years ago, and their friendship had picked up where they’d left off, like Eden had never left. Her bestie’s support meant the world to Eden, both personally and professionally.
Since the car accident in particular, she’d been a lifesaver. Usually, Lena worked at the shop only three days a week—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday—but she’d been there every day since the crash, covering Eden’s appointments that couldn’t be rescheduled and keeping things running. Eden just hoped Lena’s sweet husband and two kids weren’t too upset at all the time Lena had spent filling in for her over the past ten days.
“So, let me look at you.” Lena narrowed her brown eyes on Eden like the true mother she was. “Are you sure you’re not rushing coming back to work so soon? You really do look like you’ve been put through the ringer.”
“I’m fine. The doctor cleared me at my follow-up and everything. I may not look my best, but I’m feeling better every day. Plus, I’ve watched every single season of Bake Off, and if I spent another day at home, I was going to have to resort to diving into the holiday specials.”
Lena laughed, and they both turned to the appointment book. The computer in the shop worked just fine, but Eden preferred keeping track of appointments via the old school method, so they used both when it came to their schedules. She found it easier to just erase a name written in pencil and move a client somewhere else, than having to log in and pull up a calendar and mess with inputting all that info. Plus, the act of writing it down usually helped her to remember things.
But speaking of memory…as she scanned the names on her roster, only a few looked familiar.
Sudden panic clawed at her throat again even as she tried to reason it out. Maybe they were mostly new people. Could be, since she’d been doing a lot of advertising. Just because she couldn’t remember anything about these clients or their dogs didn’t mean it was related to her amnesia. Too bad her anxiety didn’t buy it though, her throat tightening and her pulse quickening.
She took a deep breath to calm herself. She needed to get it together and keep it together. Things were okay. Everything would be okay. Even though she didn’t recognize this particular client’s name—the first of the day—her mind ran through all her grooming skills, and they were sharp as ever. And the client right after, she knew crystal clear in her brain. They were people she’d been working with for a long time, so no worries there.
Just get through this first one and it will be smooth sailing from there.
“What kind of dog is Kona?” Eden asked her friend as casually as possible.
She didn’t normally write breed info down because she already knew it. But now…well, that wasn’t the case here. Didn’t matter. She worked with all kinds of dogs, big and small, in her years as a groomer. Eden just wanted to be as prepared as she could so as not to unsettle her clients.
“He’s a Shiba Inu.” Lena looked over and frowned at her. “You don’t remember?”
Eden bit her lip and shook her head. “All the rest of them on my roster today I do, but not this one. I’m guessing they’re newer clients?”
“Started coming in about three months ago maybe,” Lena confirmed. She finished counting the cash in the drawer, then closed it before turning to Eden. “I know you mentioned you have some amnesia, but how bad is it?”
“It’s patchy,” Eden admitted. “It’s not like it’s all a blank—there’s plenty I remember. And the foggy parts are all from within the past year. But sometimes something will come up I should remember and it’s…just not there. Like my Netflix queue,” she admitted. “I didn’t just watch Bake Off. I also checked to see what else was listed under ‘Recently Viewed.’ Some of it, I remembered. But some of it I could’ve sworn was completely new to me.”
Eden had spent the past week since coming home from the hospital trying to make herself remember stuff. But it was no use. She’d even tried online searches to find ways to retrieve memories, but nothing helped. At her recheck with Dr. Srirani the past Friday, the doctor had told her not to worry. Memories often returned without rhyme or reason, a puzzle piece here or there. But it was also important that Eden not press herself too hard either. If a memory was meant to come back, it would, in time, Dr. Srirani had assured her. She’d also recommended Eden start keeping a dream journal by her bed too, since sometimes memories would be revealed subconsciously at night while the brain slept. Eden had gotten one that day on her way home from the doctor’s office, but so far, nothing.
She shrugged and concentrated on Lena again. “Sometimes, I get a buzzing in the back of my mind, like there’s something there, but I can’t see it. It gives me a headache, so I try not to force things too much. Like I told you last time we talked, the doctor said the memories should come back in time. I just have to be patient.”
“Aw, sweetie. I’m sorry.” She gave a small shrug. “But you still remember how to groom animals, right? If not, we’re in big trouble here.”
“No, I remember how to do my job.” Eden laughed. Her grin quickly fell, though, as she remembered the phone call she’d gotten on the previous Thursday from the prosecuting attorney for the murder case. “But what I don’t remember is what happened with the crime I witnessed—which is a big problem since I’m scheduled for a deposition on Wednesday.”
“Oh gosh!” Lena said, her brown eyes widening. “That’s right. You said you didn’t remember anything about the case.”
