Desperate Strangers. Carla Cassidy

he replied.

      “Oh, Nick, it will be fine. I can’t imagine a single reason why they won’t like you. Besides, it’s time to meet them. We’ve been dating a long time and talking about marriage.”

      He nodded and his gaze went to his coffee.

      She took a sip of hers and continued to look at him over the rim of her cup. She still had a hard time believing this terrific guy was in love with her, but it must be so. Otherwise he wouldn’t be here with her now.

      “We have time for a quick breakfast before my family arrives. I’m sorry, I don’t know what you like to eat.”

      He looked up and smiled once again. “I’m not much of a breakfast eater. I’m generally good with just a couple cups of coffee.”

      “Me, too.” She was ridiculously pleased that they had even this relatively small thing in common. “There are so many things I don’t know about you. Do you have a big family?”

      His eyes darkened slightly. “No. It’s just me. My parents were killed four years ago in a car accident and I didn’t have any siblings.”

      “Oh, Nick, I’m so sorry.”

      The smile he offered her wasn’t as big as the last one. “Thanks, but it was a long time ago.”

      It might have been a long time ago, but it looked like raw grief that had momentarily darkened his eyes.

      “This is all so awkward,” she said in an effort to change the subject. “You probably know everything there is to know about me and I don’t know anything about you except for the really important things.”

      One of his dark brows quirked upward. “Important things?”

      She nodded. “You must be a good man. You are kind and good and love me passionately. I wouldn’t have dated you so long and agreed to marry you if you weren’t that kind of person.”

      He frowned and shifted positions in the chair. “I’m no saint, Julie. And while you can’t remember me, don’t try to make me into one.”

      She raised her chin and smiled at him. “Okay, but I stand by my feelings. I know who you are at your core, Nick. I wouldn’t have settled for less.”

      He drained his coffee cup and jumped up. “Is there anything we need to do to prepare for your family?”

      “Make a fresh pot of coffee,” she replied. “Unless something drastic changed in the past year, my family chugs coffee like it’s the fountain of youth.”

      “You sit tight, I’ll make a fresh pot,” he replied. “And while I’m doing that you can give me a quick refresher on your family members.”

      She took another sip from her cup, set it down and then leaned back in the chair. “I can only tell you what I remember about them from a year ago.”

      Grief and anger suddenly rose up in the back of her throat. Grief over the missing memories of the people she loved, and anger that her brain continued to betray her by not functioning right.

      Nick poured the water into the coffee machine and then turned back to face her expectantly.

      “George is my father and he runs the business and us with a heavy hand. Lynetta is my mother. She’s loud and opinionated and as tough as Dad. Max is my oldest brother and he’s just like my father...they both have a lot of bark, but not too much bite. Then there’s Tony who is a year older than me. He’s quiet and, like me, doesn’t like confrontation. Finally, there’s Casey. She’s the baby of the family and is the apple of my parents’ eyes.”

      She couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips as she thought of her baby sister. “She’s also spoiled and wild, a bit lazy and totally gorgeous.”

      “And all of you work at the pawn shop,” Nick said.

      She nodded. “That pawn shop isn’t just our business, it’s a family legacy of sorts. My grandfather started it, but it was Dad who built it into the largest pawn shop in Kansas City.”

      “Everyone has heard of Peterson Pawn, but I’ve never been inside the store.”

      “Once you meet my family I’ll take you in with me and give you the grand tour.” Once again a roll of emotions swept through her. What had changed at the store over the past ten months? What had happened in her family’s life that she couldn’t remember?

      Had Max finally found somebody to date? What about her other siblings? Max and Tony hadn’t even been dating anyone ten months before. Casey was the only one in the family who dated often, exchanging men as quickly as she changed her nail color. Had Julie gone to a wedding? Had she been Casey’s maid of honor like the two of them had always promised each other?

      She wanted to pull her brain out of her skull and shake it violently until it started working right again. What was the amnesia protecting her from? A car accident?

      Don’t tell. The two words thundered in her head, momentarily stealing her breath as an icy hand gripped her heart.

      “Julie? Are you all right?” Nick gazed at her with a touch of concern.

      “I’m fine.” She forced a smile as she stood. “I’m just going to set out some cups and cream and sugar for when the family arrives.”

      “Can I help?”

      “No, thanks. I’ve got it.” She needed to do something to keep the simmering fear in her at bay. Not only was she afraid of the phone threat, now a new rivulet of anxiety swept through her as she prepared for her family to arrive.

      She placed the cups on the countertop and then turned to face him once again. “How do you feel about little white lies?”

      “What are you talking about?” He said the words slowly...a bit warily.

      “I was just thinking that I’d like to tell my family we’ve been dating for well over a year. I don’t want them to know I have no memories of you. That will just complicate things with them.”

      He leaned back in the chair and nodded. “If that makes you feel better, then I don’t see why we can’t tell that little white lie.”

      She sighed in relief. She loved her family, and her father and mother had raised them to be loyal to each other and to the pawn shop. She’d never made trouble. She’d worked long hours and done everything she could to be an obedient daughter.

      She might not know what had gone on for the past ten months in her life, but one thing she knew for certain...if they made her choose between them and Nick, she wanted her man.

       Chapter Four

      “Who in the hell are you?” George Peterson was a tall man with broad shoulders and a slight paunch. As he glared at Nick, he raised his square chin as if in anticipation of a brawl.

      He and his wife, Lynetta, had entered the house without so much as a knock and now stood just inside the kitchen.

      “Dad, be nice,” Julie said with what sounded like a nervous laugh. “Sit down and I’ll get you both some coffee while we wait for everyone else.”

      George didn’t move. Nick walked over to him and extended his hand. “I’m Nick Simon. It’s nice to meet you.”

      George hesitated a moment and then shook hands. Nick couldn’t help but notice the rolled-up morning paper in George’s hand. When Nick had awakened earlier than Julie, the first thing he’d wanted to do was to check the morning news, but he hadn’t been able to find the remote for the television.

      “Sit down, George,” Lynetta said as she took a seat at the table.

      He moved to a chair next to his wife and placed the paper in the center. “I brought in your morning paper.”

      “To