He wouldn’t really—or maybe he would.
He’d replayed the scene of her falling through those stairs about a dozen times while she was up there, and if she couldn’t be safe, he was taking her out of here, memory or no memory.
He’d almost lost her once, and he wasn’t going to risk it again.
“You’re right. Sorry, I know I shouldn’t have done that, but I had to get up there. Something made us run. I don’t know why, but we took off in this direction.”
“Running away from someone?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
There had been nothing on the second floor that Bo knew of, and it was easy to think you saw something in the room full of smoke and flames. But if she could remember this much, there had to be more there.
Bo slipped his arm around Erin’s shoulders as much for support as to make sure she didn’t bolt on him again.
“Okay, show me where.”
She zeroed in on the exact spot where they had found Joe dead and Erin pinned under a beam.
“What else?” he prompted.
She stared at the spot for a while and then sniffled. When she glanced over at him, fat tears rolled down her cheeks.
Bo was stunned. He had never once seen Erin cry. Ever.
“Nothing. There’s nothing else. We came here, but that’s all I know. Why can’t I remember this? Why can I remember other things but not this?”
Sobs took over, shaking her body, and Bo wrapped his arm around her again, walking her out of the warehouse and back into the light and fresh air. Outside, her tears subsided after a few minutes, and he let her lean on him until they did. Another first.
“I’m sorry,” she said, sounding miserable.
Bo looked down into her face, wishing he could make every bit of pain he saw there go away.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“We don’t know that, do we? I remember running and Joe following me, but I don’t know why. I led him to his death. It was my fault. Maybe his family is right to blame me.”
“No.” Bo said the word with absolute conviction. “First, you don’t remember enough to know what happened, let alone take responsibility for it. Second, you and Joe were both experienced firefighters. If you knew you had to get out, and he followed, it was a good call, or he wouldn’t have gone. What happened next was an accident, or it was someone else’s doing. But either way, it is not your fault. Don’t even go there.”
Erin seemed as shocked at his vehemence as he was, but some of her distress cleared.
“Okay. But how can we stop them from demolishing this place? If I can’t come back, I may not ever remember the rest.”
Bo agreed, but he didn’t know if he had enough to reopen the case and stop the demo. A few vague memories wouldn’t be much to argue with.
“C’mon. Let’s go back to the office and see what we can do to make that happen. It might be too late, but we can try. Then you’re going home to relax, dress up in something nice and let me take you out, okay?”
She wiped the tears from her face and frowned. “Okay. Jeez, I hate crying. It makes me feel like such a girl.”
Bo laughed and hugged her one more time.
“Now there’s the Erin I know.”
She smiled slightly and Bo smiled back, but it didn’t reflect how he felt. Not really. It was good that she was remembering—it seemed like more memories surfaced every day. He couldn’t help but wonder how long it would be before she remembered that she hadn’t wanted to be with him. Until that happened, he’d be there for her. He’d do his job, and then he’d leave this all behind, as well.
ERIN GRIMACED AT the pile of clothes on her bed and made a frustrated growl, looking at the clock. She had four hours before Bo came back to take her for a night out. He’d said to wear something “nice.” She wasn’t sure what “nice” meant, but she was fairly sure it wasn’t anything on her bed. Everything she’d gotten before was casual, flirty, but not necessarily what she needed for a fancier excursion.
She needed to get something appropriate, not that she had much of an idea what that was, and she needed it now. She needed some shoes, too.
Grabbing her bag, she headed for the door. There would definitely be something at the mall, and it couldn’t be that hard to find a nice, basic dress and some shoes, right?
Twenty minutes later, she was in one of the larger department stores at the Carousel Center—now also known as Destiny USA. She hoped it was her destiny to find the right dress, and fast.
Spotting the women’s department, she approached a clerk who looked well dressed, and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Yes? May I help you?” The woman was maybe a few years older, but looked like a million bucks.
“Please. I need something nice for a dinner date. A dress, I suppose? Can you find something that would be appropriate?”
The woman stood back and took in Erin from head to toe, making her feel a tad self-conscious, but this was no time to be shy.
“Do you know how nice? Very formal, or less so?”
“I have no idea. He said something nice,” she said, rolling her eyes.
The saleswoman laughed. “I think I have a few ideas. Some new styles we just got in from New York.”
“Sounds good.”
Erin followed the woman, whose name tag said her name was Emily. They arrived at a rack of dresses.
“We’ll find something here. I’m Emily, by the way.”
“I’m Erin.” She stared at the rack, frowning. “They’re all black. Don’t you think something with more color?”
Emily winked at her. “Trust me. If the key word is ‘nice’ you can’t miss with black. It will fit in anywhere. Especially these, with your figure. You don’t need much to be stunning.”
Erin couldn’t be sure, but she thought this could be the first time a woman ever made her blush. Emily chuckled, grabbing a handful of dresses and beckoning Erin to follow.
“Here, try these on. This one first,” she instructed, and Erin realized the woman hadn’t even asked her size, but she probably didn’t need to. The woman seemed to know more about dressing her up than she did, so Erin decided to trust her.
Dutifully shucking her jeans and T-shirt to try on the first dress, her trust was well-placed. The slip of fabric fit like a glove.
“Wow,” Erin breathed, looking at herself in the mirror.
It had appeared innocent enough on the hanger, but on her body, there was nothing “nice” about this dress. The soft fabric skimmed just above her upper thigh, and Erin had to resist the urge to tug it down. She could feel air-conditioning from the vent at the side of the dressing room wafting up and cooling her...no, this was too short.
And when she saw the price tag in the mirror, she decided it was also far too much money for so little fabric.
“Erin, do you need any help?”
“No, thanks. I, um, I think that first one isn’t quite...me.” Or doesn’t cover up enough of me to go out in public, she thought as she flipped through Emily’s other choices.
One designer dress was simpler and offered a bit more coverage, as well as being about