Questions for Answers

Chapter Fifteen

Tristen observed the card I'd given him, "I must've brought this in with the rest of the mail, I didn't even notice anything."

"That's what I was thinking too. It was either that or someone came into our house and set it there, then left, which is very unlikely", I said.

He flipped it around, "Why is the card so vague? Who are you supposed to be meeting? Why is the reason unknown? And what's in Italy? Did you accidentally enter a sweepstakes and win? Cause if that's the case, I'm down to go. I mean, even if that's not the case, I wouldn't mind going."

"Really? That's surprising coming from Mr. Skeptical", I said jokingly.

"I'm not saying we have to go specifically to this place, but babe, come on. Italy? And you know I've been saying that we were gonna start traveling. This is the perfect opportunity to go get our passports. Plus, it's dated a little more than a week after my birthday so if you wanted to do something big, hint hint, this would be the perfect time to do it", he said excitedly.

I crossed my arms, "So you're okay with this?"

"Yeah! Like I said, we don't have to go to the place on the card, but there's so much to do in Rome. I think we could have some real fun."

I smiled at the thought of traveling with him. I couldn't deny that it was something I really wanted to do, but I still felt a little weird about how I received a letter in the mail about it. I threw up my hands, "Alright, you win. I guess we're going to Italy."

He ran over and kissed me on the cheek, "Perfecto! Ah, I gotta brush up on my Italian."

"Please don't do-"

"Mama Mia!" He shouted while doing the typical hand gesture.

I shook my head, "You're ridiculous and I'm leaving."

He laughed, "Wait, where are you going?"

I reluctantly answered, "Um...Tim sent me a message last night. He told me happy birthday but I didn't see it until just this morning. When I texted him back, he called me and briefly said that he wanted to meet. So I'm gonna go see what that's about."

He was visibly uncomfortable but tried being supportive, "You sure you're okay going? Want me to come with you? I can go in to work a little late, they won't mind."

I shook my head, "No, don't be late to work because of me. I'll be fine. Maybe he wants to apologize."

He softly sighed, "If you're okay with this, then so am I. But you let me know if anything happens and I'll come swoop in and save you, alright?"

"My knight in shining armor", I said jokingly to him.

He kissed me and sent me on my way. Tim didn't want to meet at the house, so he gave me the address to a restaurant in town. I arrived about fifteen minutes later and already saw him sitting outside with his back turned. It'd been a while since I had seen him, so approaching him was nerve-wracking. I cleared my throat and spoke softly, "Tim?"

He turned around to me and raised his eyebrows in shock. He awkwardly stood up and directed me with his hand, "River, sit, please."

I took my seat in front of him and he joined me in sitting down again. Neither of us said a word, so I was able to observe his body language. He was fidgety, constantly touching all over his face and looking over his shoulder. He kept switching between both his legs to cross over to the other. Seeing him like this put me on high alert. It got me back to the feeling of being watched by someone and I instantly became uneasy. I finally spoke up, "Um, Tim, why did you ask to meet me?"

He jumped as if my words had startled him, "What? Oh, uh, I wanted to know how you were. H-how are you?"

I sat back in my chair to put some distance between us, "I'm...a little confused right now. Are you okay?"