Chapter Seven

BRENDA PULLED OFF the road around mid-afternoon. She pulled into the parking lot of The Silver Spoon Diner. "I'm hungry." She announced. "Let's go in and get something to eat."

Sonny climbed out of the car unenthusiastically. Then he stared up at the sign. "Silver spoon?" He commented. "I highly doubt it. More like greasy spoon." He looked over at Brenda. "Can't we stop at a real restaurant?"

"We're on a budget, baby." She told him as she pushed open the door. "So until we find a place to settle down where you can do the cooking, your stuck-up palate will just have to endure."

"I'm beginning to feel like Yogi Bear." Sonny commented as he slid into the booth by the window. "And what do you mean my stuck-up palate?"

"Yogi Bear?" She asked as she looked over the menu.

"Yeah, you remember the cartoon." He replied, as he looked over his menu, as well. "Yogi, Cindy Bear, Boo-Boo Bear, Snaggle Puss and Huckleberry Hound went flying around in this wooden ark looking for the perfect place. Every time they'd arrive at a place, they'd start singing the Perfect Place song, only to discover it wasn't the perfect place, after all." He paused as he realized something. "I just remembered that. I watched that cartoon as a kid. Who would have thought my first memory would be of a cartoon. But I guess it's a good sign. My memory is starting to come back."

That wasn't music to Brenda's ears, and she held the menu up to her face to conceal the look on her face from him. "I never watched it." She told him. "I never watched cartoons as a child. I was sent away to boarding school at an early age."

"So," He gave her a look. "You're a rich girl."

"That's right." She lowered her menu and smiled at him. "And you're a poor boy. We're a classic romance. Rich girl meets poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks and they fall madly and passionately in love and live happily ever after."

"Is there really such a thing?" He asked cynically. "Living happily ever after."

"I think if anyone has a chance of doing it." She told him earnestly. "It's us."

"So back to what you were saying before we got on the Yogi track." Sonny retorted. "What do you mean I have a stuck-up palate."

"You think no one can cook as good as you do." She informed him. "You always complain about how people cook things. Just wait. When the waitress comes with our burgers and fries, you'll start complaining about the right way to cook them and say they were cooked the wrong way."

"More of my own personality shining through?" He laughed.

"Yes, it is, baby." She held his chin between her thumb and forefinger. "You may have lost your memory, but your still the difficult and obstinate brat that I fell in love with."

"I like the way you're always touching me." He suddenly told her. "You're always caressing my face or running your fingers through my hair. I like it. I like you calling me baby, too."

"Well, I'm glad." She smiled at him as the waitress put their food down before them. "Because it's just something that comes naturally when I'm near you. I couldn't stop touching you like that if I tried." She added with a leer. "There are a whole lot of other ways I'd like to touch you if you'd just let me."

"Does everything always come back to sex." He laughed as he popped a french fry into his mouth.

"When it comes to you." She beamed a toothy grin at him. "You bet."

* * * * *

JASON RELUCTANTLY FILLED Carly in on the latest developments on the search for Sonny. He told her about the red corvette that Brenda had stolen and his belief she had swiped the plates off Sonny's car to confuse everyone.

"You knew Brenda better than I." Carly began to pace the floor. "Do you think she could harm Sonny in some way. Her mother tried to kill her by driving them both off a cliff and into the ocean. Could Brenda do the same."

"I don't know." Jason sighed. "I suppose it's possible. Although I think it's more likely that all Brenda wants to do with Sonny is get him into the nearest bed. Why else would she let him think she's his wife."

"I'm his wife." Carly declared passionately. "Not Brenda. Sonny won't sleep with her."

"You need to face facts." Jason told her. "Odds are Sonny and Brenda are already lovers. If they aren't now, they'll probably be before we're able to catch up with them. They've always shared this powerful sexual attraction to each other. You could feel it when they were in a room together. The air around them would crackle with sexual tension. And Sonny thinks they're married, so he won't think anything is wrong with him making love with her."

"Maybe Sonny will get his memory back before that happens." She suggested hopefully. "Maybe he'll remember who he's really married to."

"What if he doesn't?" Jason asked. "Just how are you going to handle it if does sleep with her?" He warned her. "I don't want to see you try to punish him for it the way you tried after he slept with Alexis. This isn't Sonny's fault, it's your fault." He added. "If you hadn't done nothing but lie to him since you two got back together, when Sonny discovered all of Alexis' lies, he could have come to you for comfort. But your lies drove him out on that road. And everything that's happened to him and that he's done is your fault, not his."

"I know that." She spat. "And if he's slept with that bitch, I'll get over it. All that matters is I get my husband back where he belongs."

Jason wasn't exactly satisfied by that. He wasn't sure she was telling the truth or meant what she said. But before he could press her further, his phone rang. It was Johnny. They'd finally gotten a lead on Sonny and Brenda.

"What is it." Carly yanked on Jason's sleeve demanding to know what was going on.

"Sonny and Brenda were spotted in a motel in Vermont." He told her, then he turned back to his phone. "Stay right where you are. I'm on my way." He turned back to Carly. "I've got to go. We now know in what direction to look for them in. It shouldn't be long."

Jason was in such a hurry to get on the trail, it never occurred to him to wonder why Carly hadn't insisted on coming with him.

As soon as Jason was out the door, Carly grabbed up her purse and headed over to Jax to fill him in on the latest news. "So," She asked. "When we catch up with them, what do you intend to do with Brenda?"

"I'll have no choice." He told her, as they headed out the door to the airport and to his private jet. "I'll have to put her back into the sanitarium she escaped from."

"Good." Carly smiled viciously. "That's exactly where she belongs where she can never get near my husband, again." She suddenly thought of something. "How will we find the motel? Jason didn't even mention in what city in Vermont they were spotted in."

"Vermont isn't that big of a state." He told her. "I don't foresee any big problem in finding the hotel they stayed at." He added. "I've already put my men on to it."

"Good." Carly sighed. "The sooner we find them the better." She added to herself, and hopefully we'll get to them before Sonny goes to bed with her. Despite what she'd assured Jason of, Carly didn't know quite what she'd do if Sonny had actually become lovers with that bitch. She didn't know, at all.