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Chapter two

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Three days later, I was changing bed linen at the B&B I'd called home since I'd arrived in Marysville. Mrs Waters strode past with her arms filled with fresh tomatoes from the garden. "That looks wonderful, Em. Can you help me make up the room next to yours, please?"

I smoothed the pretty green doona cover, then followed my boss down the hall. "Sure. Are we full tonight? We never normally use that room."

Mrs Waters dropped the tomatoes on the kitchen bench, the round red fruit rolling in every direction. "Stay put, you lot. No, we're not full."

She was off again, and I trailed her to the massive walk-in linen cupboard outside my room. I held out my arms as she piled them full of sheets, pillows and blankets. "Then, why are we using the blue room?"

She pushed open the door opposite mine. Seldom used and the tinniest of all the rooms in the guest house, its topaz walls made it seem like a small sparkly cave. The view was amazing though, the single bed facing out over the rolling green of Mrs Waters' lawn and away to the mountains.

Plucking a sheet from my pile, she said, "Because, we're taking on board another permanent guest."

"What? Who?" I'd been at the B&B for over three years and I'd never known anyone to stay more than a weekend other than me, besides the endless stream of stray cats and dogs Mrs Waters adopted on a weekly basis.

"North," she said simply, throwing the sheet high and letting it float softly to the bed.

"North? The guy I found on the road?" My voice was already high and critical. "Why is he coming here?"

"I've been checking in on him since you told me the story," she explained. "Dr Mike said he's back up on his feet again and they're releasing him this afternoon."

"So, send him home."

"They can't. He still can't remember who he is and he wasn't carrying ID. The police say no one matching his description has been reported missing. The poor darling, all alone. I offered him a place here until he works something out."

Something was brewing in my chest, and I realised with horror that I was feeling excited about seeing him again. Shoving the girlish feeling away, I said, "Well, that's just great. He could be a psycho, or a rapist, and you're just inviting him in here."

Ignoring my taunt, she fluffed a pillow. "Do you know what people said to me when they found out you were living here?"

"No."

"They warned me that you were probably a no-good runaway; a drifter. You'd probably raid my jewellery box in the middle of the night and steal my car to make a getaway."

"They could have been right."

"They are normally scared and stupid and closed minded." She threw the pillow on the egg-shell blue covers. "North is my guest as much as you are, and you will treat him as you would any other paying member of this establishment."

Petulant, I retorted, "Oh yeah? How will he pay you? In beard hair?"

"I stopped by the clinic yesterday; North will help around here, just as you do, while he regains his strength." She leaned against the door frame, admiring the little room. "Lovely. He'll be happy here."

"You can't take in every one of us strays, you know."

"I know nothing of the sort."

Frustrated, I rolled my eyes and tried to leave. "You're a mad old lady. I'm going to start dinner."

"He has rather lovely eyes, don't you think?" Mrs Waters mused, not acknowledging my insult. "I feel like he's awfully familiar. Like perhaps I've seen him somewhere before. That's usually what people say about you, isn't it, dear?"

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