Shadows of the Past

Chapter 5

"Took you long enough," Dez joked as I met him in the foyer of the B&B. "Who was that girl you ran into? You two seemed friendly, with the whole gazing into each other's eyes and holding hands thing." I was taken aback a bit by that, we weren't standing there that long were we?

"Her name is Evie, she's in town visiting family. Why do you ask?" I was still a little distracted by the hand holding comment. She did have very soft hands, and they seemed to fit perfectly in mine for the limited time we were in contact.

"You just seemed oddly close, that's all. Is she a friend you hadn't told me about before now?" I'm not sure why he was pushing this right now but answered his questions nonetheless.

"We just met actually, we sort of collided on the sidewalk and she helped me up that's all," I responded. "I did give her my card though, I said we should get coffee while we're both in town." Maybe it was an odd encounter after all, especially considering the fact that I'm not very fond of people.

"Oh, really? Meeting her for coffee? As in like a date? I'm surprised, you haven't even tried to go out on a date in like 8 months, not since that girl Olivia told you that she had a boyfriend and just wanted to 'experiment' with girls. It's about time honestly, you need to get out more dude."

"I didn't say it was a date, Dez. You know I don't really do the whole dating thing, it rarely ends well for me. Also, Olivia was a mistake, and I really should have read that situation better." I laughed and shook my head. "Evie just seems really nice and it's just coffee, it's not like I asked her out to dinner or something," I felt my cheeks heating up, blushing brightly at the thought of actually asking her out on a date. "Did you check us in?"

"Sure did, here's the key to your room. I didn't realize we got two separate rooms instead of just one with two beds." He tossed the key to me, and I immediately dropped it.

"They don't do rooms with two beds here dude, it's a Bed and Breakfast." I explained, frowning slightly as I bent down to pick up my room key. "Why did you throw them? You know I can't catch for shit," I was ready to take a shower and a nap before we had to go back to the diner.

Luckily our rooms were right next to each other, so we walked together to our respective rooms and Dez promised to wake me when it was time to meet Rick and Mary for dinner. I walked into my room and gazed around, admiring the simple and cozy way it was decorated. The walls were a soft blue, with a plush beige carpet and a queen bed centered on the back wall. There was a beautiful hardwood vanity and matching dresser against one wall, and a very comfortable looking leather armchair with a standing lamp in the opposite corner. Setting my bag on the bed, I walked into the bathroom, yearning for a hot shower. The bathroom was a light, cool, almost seafoam green with a gorgeous marble countertop and a clawfoot bathtub, along with a shower stall next to the toilet. On second thought, a bath sounded amazing. While the tub was filling, I gathered fresh clean clothes and toiletries from my bag, along with my phone. Apparently I had gotten a text while I was in the bathroom from a new number.

It was Evie, she wanted to know when I'd be free to get coffee. My heart skipped a beat as I read the text a couple more times before telling her I'm free tomorrow. I really didn't think she was going to text me at all, let alone this soon. I smiled and set my phone on top of my clothes on the bathroom counter before sinking into the hot water, letting all of the stress from the day soak away and eventually go down the drain with the bubbles.

Getting out of the tub and drying off a little while later, I just slipped an oversized t-shirt on over my head and went to take a nap in the huge bed, sinking into the soft mattress as drifting off to sleep, dreaming of a musical voice and shining green eyes.

I woke a while later to my phone buzzing loudly and attempted to drown the sound out by smothering the god-forsaken device with a pillow. When the noise didn't stop, I dragged my eyes open and squinted at the bright screen. Dez was calling me, why was he calling me? Was I late for work? I swiped up to answer the phone, "what do you want?" I didn't appreciate being woken up from such a nice dream.

"You told me to wake you up so we could get dinner with Rick and Mary, so don't go biting my head off now." His voice was very loud even through the phone. Shit! I forgot we weren't at home, I really had to hurry up and get dressed.

"Sorry, I forgot. I'll be out in a few" I hung up the phone and rushed to put clothes on in a frenzy, throwing my hair up in a messy bun and shoving shoes on my feet. I grabbed my phone, tossing it in my purse, and ran out the door. I met Dez at the foot of the stairs and off we went back to the diner. We had a nice, calm, and uneventful dinner with Mary and Rick, and before too long we were back at the B&B, my feet dragging as I made my way back up the stairs. Despite my nap earlier, I was exhausted. I changed back into my sleep shirt and climbed back into bed, checking my phone one last time before plugging it into the charger and going back to sleep.