Dark Path - Crescent City

INTRODUCTION

Dark Path

Lana finished packing for her first romantic vacation with her man. "Jimmy, have you packed for New Orleans?" She danced around in her apartment effortlessly with anticipation of a great time ahead.

Jimmy sat at Lana's desk working quickly trying to finish the last of his edits and submit his manuscript on time, for once. "Ah, what was that, Babe?" The man seemed to be in a different world when he worked.

"Did you pack for New Orleans?" She stopped her happy dance as she repeated her question. "Are you ready ~ Jimmy?"

Jimmy gazed over his laptop with a sly look that instantly told Lana he was about to lie to her. "Yeah, of course! Honey."

"Ha! You were here for three days, Babe."

"What? Three days? No way!"

"Smell your shirt."

"What? Why?"

"Your shirt. I love the way you smell Babe but you have been sitting on that chair for three days. You need to go home, shower, and pack!"

"Three days?" Jimmy played the game knowing Lana prepared for this trip weeks in advance buying new sundresses, shorts, tops, and sun tanning lotion.

"You've been here since Monday. You said your neighbor made it difficult to work." She stood in front of her man.

The man smiled with several days growth on his face. "Well, you did! I couldn't get you off my mind. So I thought if I could see you, then my mind doesn't have to think about you."

Lana laughed as she rolled her eyes. "Like that makes sense!"

"Perfect sense to me!" He shrugged.

Jimmy moved into the same building a month after meeting Lana at the local coffeehouse on Granville Street. The two quickly hit it off but decided not to rush into anything permanent. Instead of moving into her apartment, he opted for the building but one floor down.

He rarely spent time in his apartment on the ninth floor that faced the back alley. Jimmy felt isolated from the city and closed off from the world when he looked out his windows at another tall apartment building.

Lana, on the other hand, lived on the tenth floor facing west with a view of the mountains over the cityscape. There were times Lana thought Jimmy could be more in love with her apartment than with her.

Jimmy looked down again, concentrating on the final few edits he wanted to make.

"Jimmy?"

"Yeah, coffee sounds great, Babe."

"Yeah, then maybe you can get some from your apartment?" Lana tried to find a way to motivate the man she loved.

"Why?" Still toying with her.

"I am out of coffee!"

"You have my keys, Babe. You don't have to ask." Jimmy looked at Lana over his laptop again holding back his laughter.

She fell into his trap. "No no no no no! I am not packing your suitcase! Jimmy!" Lana pointed an accusing finger.

"Come here." He straightened up so she could see his smile. "Come on."

Reluctantly Lana gave in and seductively walked towards Jimmy as if she were back on the Victoria Secret runway. Then he ducked behind his screen again. "What game are you playing?"

"I just had to finish one...last...edit. There!"

"When I walk to you like this." Lana seductively stepped towards her man. "I want your complete attention mister." She closed the laptop and sat on his lap while her steely green eyes gazed into his dark brown eyes. Neither wavered.

"I...I...didn't save it."

Lana slowly began kissing his face. Just pecking at his cheeks and temple areas. "So?"

"So, I still need to send it to Parker and ahhhhhh, okay!" Lana rubbed Jimmy's ears with her fingers and thumbs. He gave in to Lana's offerings. "I  thought you wanted me to pack."

"Uh-uh."

"No?"

"Nope."

"You confuse me so much, Babe!"

"Uh-huh." Lana gave a sexy little laugh that instantly had Jimmy under her spell.

A couple hours later Lana looked at her bedside clock then yelled. "Jimmy! We're going to be late! There's no way we're getting a cab!"

He scrambled towards the window to see the traffic. "Ah crap! I am gonna have to drive!" He hated the thought of leaving his 1973 Dodge Challenger at airport while in New Orleans.

"You'll get towed. Again."

He pressed his lips together and tilted his head giving in to the situation. "It's the price you pay when you're in love!" He smiled like only a man in love can smile.

"Awwww, that is so sweet, Honey!" Lana covered her heart then pulled Jimmy from the window and changed her tone. "Now move it!"

"Luckily I did packed yesterday when you went out for lattes." Jimmy winked.

"Honey, you...you." She had no words but the look on her face seemed one part relief and another part frustration.

"I know. Adorable, handsome, sexy.."

"Don't get too carried away, Honey. I was about to say, you scoundrel."

Jimmy laughed as she tossed his jeans at him looked at his smelly shirt but balked at picking it up.

"I will give you cute on a Tuesday ~ maybe ~ but today I need you to be Louis Hamilton to get us to YVR in time."

"Why Louis?"

"Never mind!" Lana smiled.

Jimmy never knew or asked of her life before moving to Vancouver. She had dated the men that models notoriously dated; rock stars, elite athletes and champion race car drivers. But she felt like a trophy beside all of them.

With Jimmy, she felt almost a reverence from the moment the two met waiting in line at the coffeehouse. Lana could tell he was different just by the way he spoke with her and never to her. No cheap pick up line. And a sense of humbleness.

In short, the man she had been searching for all those years loved lattes as much as she did. And just as she stopped looking, he appeared without fanfare or cameras going off. The simplicity of love at work.