Pam attempted humor to shift her embarrassment. “So, John Doe. You think you have me all figured out?”
“Only scratching the surface, my lady. But I hope you’re powerful itchy and continue to let me scrape away that tough exterior,” he said, his eyes never leaving her face.
“Okay…” Pam inhaled deeply. “So what else would you like to do today, besides eat?”
“So we’re a twosome, are we?” he asked.
“This is the twenty-first century. A girl can assume such forwardness. Besides, I could grow old waiting on a man who doesn’t even know his own mind.”
Pam said it in fun, but John grew serious. “And that doesn’t bother you?”
“It makes you all the more a mystery, and it so happens, this weekend I am up for the challenge.”
“Glad to hear that – I think.” He glanced off to the side and his expression distorted. I followed his gaze and saw Denise talking with the new baker and a customer.
“That’s the woman who is bent on adding inches onto the waists of unsuspecting customers,” Pam said in a playful tone.
“Yes, the new baker,” John said soberly.
Pam glanced back at him. John stared at the trio with unmasked scrutiny. “What’s the matter? Seen a ghost, or do you still have that compulsion to try your hand at baking?”
“Perhaps,” he said. “Think I’ll mosey on over there and introduce myself – in a matter of speaking. The name John Doe is kind-of growing on me.”
Pam watched as Denise introduced her employee to John. The woman was pleasingly plump like you’d expect all bakers should be, her chestnut hair swept into a bun under a net, but it was her facial features that held one spellbound. Her large, brown eyes concentrated entirely on the man, and her smile broadcasted, I am listening. Undivided attention was a noble quality not too many people mastered or extended to their fellow man these days.
Pam observed the trio – the concentration of the two engrossed in conversation and the obvious boredom of her excluded friend. Denise glanced toward the table and shrugged her shoulders. Denise headed Pam’s way.
“Well, I think I lost Cassie for a few minutes. Your man has captured her full attention.”
Pam grinned at her constant reference to John as her man. “Did they know one another? That would be a stroke of luck for John.”
“Not sure. If Cassie does, then she’s beating around the bush with all kinds of questions that John can’t answer.” She grabbed Pam’s cup and took a drink. “Oh, that tastes good.”
“You’re welcome,” Pam said. She looked back to the counter and gasped. “They’re gone!”
“Who?” Denise turned in her chair. “Huh? Maybe Cassie took John into the kitchen. He was showing interest in her recipes, and I have told her to be friendly to the customers. Although she’s probably carrying it too far, inviting the public into her workspace. The health department might have some objections.”
“Maybe John really is a cook or baker, and she’s trying to trigger a memory,” Pam suggested. Part of her wanted John to move forward in his personal quest for his identity, but a selfish part desired to keep him as John Doe, at least for the duration of the weekend. It apparently showed.
Denise beamed. “Pamela Legend! What’s that I see, hope or despair? Not wanting to share your new friend with his past yet? I knew it!”
The blush had not left Pam’s face when John reappeared and headed straight for the door. His anger was easy to read. He never glanced sideways – as if he’d forgotten that he’d come in with Pam.
Pam sighed. “So much for your hopeful notion of my John. It appears he doesn’t even remember our plans for the day, or me for that matter.”
Denise patted Pam’s hand. “Go after the man. He looks like he could use a friend.” As she departed, she squealed, “mysteries are so exhilarating!”
Pam could think of another descriptive word for John’s behavior. She stood and hurried toward the door.
Outside, Pam blinked as the sunlight blinded her momentarily. She scanned the street to the right and left. No sign of John. Defeated, she strolled again, and as luck would have it, she saw John’s head buried behind a book as she passed by the library. Pam squinted and read the title – Legends. A smile erupted. She remembered the message included with the ornament gift from the North Pole and decided she could use some enlightenment in legends herself. She pushed open the door and walked the short distance to the table where John sat.
“Here you are,” Pam said. “Did you plan on deserting me for the entire day? You could give a girl a complex, you know, since I was the one who invited you out today.”
“Like to read?” he asked without glancing up. “This stuff is fascinating.”
“Did Cassie send you here? You came from the back kitchen so angry and set on a mission. I feared for you, and then you just rushed on by like you forgot I existed.”
John pulled her down onto the seat next to him. He gripped both hands and held her frozen within his puzzling search for something beyond the surface. He spoke low and direct. Pam found her heart fluttering with every word.
“Pamela Legend. You mean everything to me. Surely you see that. I need to offer you a whole man, not half a man. You have been a leading light in this dark place inside my brain and the main reason I need to get to sort this out.”
“You’re wrong there. You need to be the main reason. A
