Free Losing Francesca by J. A. Huss

exasperated sigh, or grunt my disapproval of his questioning, or even show that I am annoyed. Even though I am very annoyed. I just sit in silence.
    "You're just gonna shut me out? Me? Of all people? Me?"
    I look up at him and he's pointing to his chest as he waits for my answer.
    "It's me, Fiona. Brody. And you can tell me anything."
    I shrug and internally wince as my indifference wounds him so acutely, it's painted across his face. "I'm not Fiona, Brody. I'm an accomplished liar, I admit that, but I'm not lying about this. I'm caught up in something strange, a weird coincidence. I'm just a girl with another family who wants to go home."
    He studies my face as the words come out.
    "And," I continue, "I have no idea who you are or why you think you're special to me, but you're not."
    I meet his eyes for the last part, waiting for the hurt, but he smiles.
    "Yeah, OK. Whatever."
    And the silence takes over.
    And I welcome it.
    I watch some tiny fish congregate around my toes and let out a little laugh as they nibble on me. "I wish I had a camera," I say out loud before I can stop myself.
    Brody reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone and hands it over. "Knock yourself out, Fee."
    I shoot him a dirty look at the name, but take the phone. "What good will this do me? It's yours, not mine. And they won't let me have access to the internet at the Sullivan house, so there's no point because I won't be able to upload it."
    "Upload it to where?"
    "Never mind."
    He pushes my hand away as I try to hand the phone back. "Just take the picture and I'll make sure you get it."
    I smile inside and wake the phone up, swipe my fingers until I find the camera, and then point it down at my feet in the water and take the picture.
    "Your feet?" he asks. "You want to take a picture of your feet?"
    I nod and then scoot my legs over so I can take a picture of both of our feet. When I'm done I look up and he's smiling again.
    "What?"
    "I just think it's cute that you have a foot fetish. I mean, typically that's reserved for old men surfing for weird porn online, but OK."
    I laugh. "You're a goof. I collect pictures of my feet when I travel, and since I'm here, I need a picture to capture the moment."
    "Oh, I'm the goof? I've heard it all now, Fiona Sullivan. First you tell me you're some stinky foreign girl named Francesca who has no memory of the god-like being that is me, Brody Mason, and now I learn you're a foot fiend!"
    I push him playfully on the shoulder and he stands up in the river and takes my hand. "Look, I get it, you've got stuff you'd rather not tell me. You've got secrets, a whole secret life maybe, and you'd like to keep it that way. I'll live with that. But now that you're here, and you have to stay for a while, I think you should consider spending every waking moment with me."
    His tone is full of jokes and laughs, but his face is something else entirely. His face almost breaks my heart, that's how much pain is hiding beneath the surface.
    "OK," I whisper. "I'd like that, Brody."
    He sighs out so much tension I can almost feel it in the air.
    "But only on one condition."
    His mouth turns up in a crooked smile. "What's that?"
    "You'll show me how to get to the lake tomorrow. Because I am not only a fan of feet, but beaches too."
    "Why wait until tomorrow? It's right down there." My gaze follows his pointing finger downstream towards a bend in the creek. "We can go there right now. Come on."

Chapter Fourteen - Brody

    For a few brief minutes, as we walk along the upper bank of the creek, I have small doubts.
    At first they are just out there, drifting, like a mist, or maybe more like a swarm. A swarm of those nasty little gnats that gather in clouds each summer. The voice in my head, the one that's been talking to me since I was seven and Fiona went missing, says: This girl is not her, Brody. She's said straight out she's not her. And if you're wrong, and she's right, and you let her back into your heart, you'll be the one who