Chapter Ten

IT DIDN'T TAKE Jax and Carly long to realize the waitress had sent them on a wild goose chase. "I don't believe this." Carly whined. "Why would she protect them. She doesn't even know them."

"Apparently," Jax said as he turned the car around. "She liked them better than she liked us." He glanced over at her. "Maybe it had something to do with the way you behaved."

"Any woman would have behaved the same way." She declared. "If they heard about some woman putting her hands all over her husband." Then she asked. "Are we going back to the diner to make the woman tell us what she knows?"

"And how would we do that?" Jax retorted. "Torture it out of her?"

"Then what are we going to do?" Carly wanted to know.

"There's only two directions to go in from that diner." He told her. "All we have to do is go in the other direction and we'll be right on Sonny and Brenda's trail."

* * * * *

THE SHERIFF FINALLY released Sonny and Brenda from jail the next morning. "Keep your clothes on in public places from now on." He warned them as they were leaving. "Or next time it'll be for a longer stay." Then he had the deputy drive them back to where their car was still sitting.

"That was definitely not the right place." Brenda declared, as she got behind the wheel and continued to head in the direction of Maine.

"No kidding." Sonny laid his head back and closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the wind on his face. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the night before. He had a weird sort of memory loss. He could remember cartoons he watched as a child and claustrophobia, but not much else. He would have never made it through last night if it hadn't been for her...his wife. He looked over at her and took her hand in his. "Thank you."

"That's one thing I wish you'd have forgotten forever." Brenda told him, understanding what he was thanking her for. "I'm just glad I was there for you, this time."

"I know you didn't get much sleep, last night." She told him. "Why don't you lay your head down in my lap and get some sleep." She added as a further temptation. "I'll even run my fingers through your hair while I'm driving. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah." He laid his head down on her lap and settled himself more comfortably on the car seat. "I'd like that very much."

Sonny wasn't sure how long he managed to sleep, but he was suddenly woken up when Brenda slammed on the brakes and he banged his head against the bottom of the steering wheel. "What the hell is going on?" He sat up rubbing his head.

"This is it, Sonny." Brenda looked aver at him and beamed. "This is the place we've been looking for."

The place was named Somerset Junction. It was a picturesque little town that was bordered by a lake. It looked like one of those little villages that exist only in those water globes that you shake to make it look like it's snowing inside.

"Can't you feel it." Brenda asked excitedly. "This is the place we've been looking for." She inhaled deeply. "You can even smell it in the very air."

"The only thing I can feel." Sonny retorted. "Is another bump on my head to match the other one I was sporting before you knocked my head into the steering wheel."

"I forgot." She laughed. "You're always grouchy as a bear when you first wake up."

She drove the car forward. "I know this is the perfect place for us, Yogi." She told him. "And that proves it." She pointed to a sign in a window saying. Accountant Wanted: Inquire Within. She pulled the car up to the curb and parked. "Let's go inside and get you a job."

"I don't even know if I remember how to do a set of books." He complained as he got out of the car.

"Well, they don't have to know that." She declared, as she took him by the hand and dragged him into the real estate office. "Schmooze them, baby, schmooze them."

"What does schmooze mean?" He asked.

"Never mind." She hissed to him. "You keep your mouth shut and let me do all the taking for you." She went up to the receptionist's desk. "Hi, we saw your sign in the window looking for an accountant. Has that position been filled, yet?"

"No." The receptionist looked her up and down. "Are you applying for the job?"

"No, not me." Brenda assured her. "My husband is." She added. "I know we both must look disreputable." No kidding, Sonny thought, they'd just spent the night in jail and they both needed a shower, not to mention a fresh change of clothes. "We've been traveling for days just to get here."

"I'll buzz Mr. Simmons." She told them. "And see if he's up for an interview."

"Thank you." Brenda smiled, then went back to Sonny. "See, it's a piece of cake."

"I haven't gotten the job, yet." He reminded her.

"You will." She assured him. "I know you will. Because this is the perfect place for us. It's the place I've been looking for. I know everything is going to work out for us here and we're going to be happy here."

The receptionist told them to go into Mr. Simmons office. He was ready to give Sonny an interview for the position. The interview went pretty well, but a hairy moment came when Simmons put Sonny's skills to the test and asked him to take a look at his books and to tell him what he thought. But luckily his contrary memory came to his aid and he was able to remember how to do what Simmons was asking of him.

When Simmons gave Sonny the job and added that a house came with the position rent free, Sonny began to think Brenda was right.

"I told you so." Brenda crowed as soon as they were outside of the real estate. Then she practically bounced to the car. "We're not in this town for ten minutes and not only do you have a job, we've got a place to live. Rent free, no less." She added. "Get in the car, baby, and let's go and look at our new home."

"All right." Sonny admitted, as he climbed into the car. "Maybe you're right. Maybe this is where we belong."

"It is." Brenda promised. "You'll see that it is."