But, instead, I found myself heading toward the bed and breakfast I'd found on my GPS. West Bend didn't exactly offer much in the way of lodging, even after all these years.
This place was cute enough, though, I thought as I pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine. It was like something out of a movie: a little white farmhouse, complete with a big wrap-around porch and rocking chairs in the front.
Hell, a border collie even came running up to greet me as I dismounted the bike.
All in all, this was exactly the opposite of the kind of place where a tattooed chick riding a Harley Road King should be staying.
Especially if I were trying to lay low here in town.
But I told myself I was just passing through. This was only for one night, and then I'd be out of here. I was just visiting my grandmother.
That's it.
I was sure as hell not coming back here to revisit my past, out of some sense of nostalgia for my relationship with Silas.
And I was certainly not interested in staying in West Bend after being told that Silas might be here, and not living in Vegas, the way I had assumed.
Certainly not.
"Hey there." I squatted down to pet the shaggy dog, and turned the name tag over in my hand. "Hi, Bailey. Well, you're just a gorgeous girl, aren't you?"
A woman appeared on the porch, and a toddler ran out onto the porch.
"Daddy!" the toddler cried.
"No, no, sweetie," she said, as I came up the steps. "That's not daddy. Are you Molly?"
I nodded. "I called and made a reservation earlier."
She held out her hand. "I'm June," she said. "It's nice to meet you. Little Stan heard the bike and thought you were his daddy. So did I, for a minute there. My husband Cade rides a bike, owns a shop in town. He does custom paint jobs."
"Oh, yeah?" I said. I hadn't pegged this sweet-looking and heavily pregnant woman as the wife of a biker. "I'll have to swing by the shop, take a look."
"Come on in," June said. "How long will you be staying?"
"Only for a few days, I think."
June chattered away as she took my credit card, one of the many fakes I owned, recommending some of the tourist attractions outside of town. She offered to give me a tour to the house, but I declined. "You know," I said. "I'm pretty tired and I have some work to do, so I'll be just fine hanging out in the room."
"Oh, what kind of work?" June pushed open the door to one of the bedrooms. "The bathroom is just inside there."
"I'm an attorney," I said. Or rather, Molly was an attorney. Molly McAdams was a motorcycle-riding entertainment lawyer from Los Angeles with a live-in boyfriend named Tyler and a cat named Alice. Molly was one of ten core identities I kept on rotation, whose details I knew like they were part of my own history, and who served me well.
"What kind of law do you practice?" June asked.
"Entertainment law," I said.
"Oh, that's interesting," she said. "I'm sure you've heard that West Bend has our very own movie star."
"I hadn't heard," I said absently. All I could think about was the fact that I wanted to get inside the room and rinse the dust from the road off me. The hotel I'd stayed in the night before, on the road from Vegas, hadn't exactly been the best and I felt grimy.
"We do," she said. "River Andrews. She does romantic comedies. She took up with Elias Saint, moved here to West Bend."
My heart raced at the name. Damn it, I thought. What the hell was with the Saint brothers being brought up at every turn? It was like fate was throwing my fling with Silas right in my face.
"Well," June said, leaning down to scoop up her toddler. "There’s coffee and tea in the kitchen - one of those brewers with the individual cups, so you can just help yourself. And there are some baked goods and fruit on the counter. If you haven't eaten dinner yet, I can recommend a few restaurants. And I usually put up a breakfast around nine in the dining room."
"That sounds fantastic, June," I said. "Between the coffee and the internet, I think I'll be all set until tomorrow."
"All right. That's easy enough," June said. "We're in the house next door if you need anything. The phone number is posted on the refrigerator."
As soon as the door closed, I slid my backpack off and unpacked, munching on a protein bar as I drew a bath. I sank into the tub, the warm water enveloping me, and laid my head back against the porcelain, closing my eyes.
I couldn't get the thought of Silas out of my head, the memory of our not-so-distant encounter.
Silas tracing his finger over my shoulder and down my arm as he sat in the tub, facing me. Silas, his face close to mine, his voice barely more than a whisper, sliding his fingers along my thigh and between my legs, then slipping them inside me on the balcony at the hotel restaurant. Silas looking up at me, his face between my legs as I lay on the piano.