Flirting With Destiny: Aedyn Book 1

Chapter 5

Lauren 

The sandwich shop that Julie and I called our favorite place was also a bread shop, specializing in delicious homemade breads that you could smell the minute you walked in the door. Each day featured a specialty, like Honey Whole Wheat, Sun-Dried Tomato Herb Parmesan Sourdough and Apple Cinnamon Swirl, just to name a few. You could pick which bread to have your sandwich made from, never an easy decision. A few steps before I entered the shop, I stopped to make the call to Jules. 

 "Hey Jules, come meet me for lunch. I need some girl time with my best friend." 

"It's Chip again, isn't it?" 

"Well, yea. That and... have you heard any news about anyone who passed away recently?"

 "What do you mean?" 

"Well, I saw a guy, er, a man, a very well dressed man going into the funeral home just a while ago when I was at the dry cleaners. I didn't recognize him, from what I could see of him anyway. I only got a glimpse of his face and I just wondered who he was. He's very distinguished looking and pulled up in a limo." 

 "You mean like in the last week or so?" She paused and there was a slight silence like she was thinking. "No, I can't say I've heard of anyone passing. Give me a sec to tell Wanda I'm going out and I'll be right there." 

"I'm at our usual place. Meet me in ten?" 

"Sure, hon." 

I entered the shop and picked a seat near the wall. I didn't want our private conversation broadcast to the entire lunch crowd. The ping of my cell phone broke my concentration and I glanced to where it laid on the tabletop. It was an alert from a dictionary app on my phone that gave me a "Word of the day". In a fit of irony, the word displayed on my screen was "incongruous". It meant, "Not in harmony or keeping with surroundings or aspects of others". Hmph. That should have been my horoscope for the day. I had an app for that too, but "incongruous" was exactly what I'd been feeling about my relationship with Chip... and my life in whole.

As I waited, I realized Jules had everything. A nice house and family, a good husband who made enough money for them to hire Wanda, the full-time live-in nanny and housekeeper. She was lucky. When was my horoscope app going to tell me it was my day to be lucky in relationships? Curious, I tapped on the app and read the advice in the relationship category. It wasn't good. I scrolled to the one-week relationship forecast and read that. Not good again. I scrolled to the forecast for the month. Damn, still not good. I pushed the phone away. Stupid horoscope. Those things weren't accurate anyway. Frustrated, I grabbed my phone again, then deleted the app and tossed the electronic traitor in my purse. 

 Jules blew in the door in her usual hyperactive flurry. I met her at the order counter and we put in our choice of sandwiches, then returned to the table I'd chosen for privacy. We chewed on the daily sample of the freshly baked bread we'd been handed until a girl in an apron called our order number. 

"I'll go get it," I said, too antsy to sit still. I returned and set the wire baskets on the thick, rustic wooden table. 

"You look stressed," Julie said. 

"Damn, my poker face must be broken today," came my sarcastic reply. 

She laughed and I sat down, pushing Jules' basket toward her. Looking down at my sandwich, I sighed. I suddenly had no appetite for the fantastic looking food staring up at me. 

I looked at Jules. Her face was always bright and happy, so I asked, "Do you count your blessings every day?" 

 She picked up her sandwich and gave me a quizzical look before sinking her teeth into several layers of meat, veggies and cheese.