Gentle Breath of Heaven

Chapter Four.

“Yeah,” Adrian answered the phone. His mind was on getting the large canvas from one side of the room to the other.

“Is that all you have to say to me?” he could already hear the irritation in her voice.

“You called me Vanessa,” Adrian sighed in annoyance. He grabbed two large canvas and made His first trip down to the car.

“First you ignore my calls, my texts, and now your talking to me like this?”

“Look Vanessa, I’m not trying to disrespect you but if you called to argue then now is not the time.” Adrian promised Marissa he’d be at the cafe by six, and it was already five fifty.

“Well can you make time for me? Can you do that for me?”  His strides came to a halt. Even with her pleading he could hear the anger rise in her voice.

His felt his jaw tighten as he carefully chose the right words to deliver to Vanessa.  He knew that on top of not choosing to visit Vanessa’s parents, ignoring her calls had sent her over the edge.

He started off slow still formulating the words as he spoke. “I know I have really fucked up with you these past few days. But don’t confuse that with how much I care about you. You don’t have to ask for my time because you have it. I’m sorry I couldn’t come with you to meet your parents, and I’ll try my best to answer your calls when I can.”

Adrian could feel the tension between the line melt away like butter with every line.  he almost wanted to applaud himself for how quickly that had shut Vanessa up. “I’ll forgive you when you pick me up from the airport this weekend.” She said before she quickly hung up.

Adrian stared at the phone amused at how quickly he was able to mend the rift between himself and Vanessa. “Shit!” he spat when the sight of the time brought him back to his senses. He quickly stuffed the rest of his work into the back seat of his car, and sped down to the cafe.

++

“These look great Adrian.”  Marissa marveled at the pieces laid out across the room. “Thanks,” Adrian said as he ruffled the hair on top of his head.

“I really like this one.” Marissa pointed to the third photo on the right from behind the counter. “I’ll go get us coffee to celebrate your new display.” She disappeared, and Adrian was left alone to marvel at his own work.

When the bell at the entrance sounded all eyes fell on the door like primal instinct. “How did you find this place?” The woman asked oblivious to the rooms stare. She swaggered through the door with confidence. Adrian had not intended to stare at the women, but he found himself doing just that.

“This is nice.” She said to herself as her eyes roamed the room. Stumbling in behind her was a women with a little less grace. Over her head laid a mass of curls. Unlike the other women who wore heels and a skirt, she wore a pair of jeans with a hole at the knee and unclean converses.

“Over there,” she pointed to the table at the other side of the room. Adrian’s ear’s perked at how familiar her voice was. He discreetly took a look into her face.  He laughed to himself when he finally remembered who she was.

”Your hair smells real~ly good.” she said stuffing her face into the top of his head. Adrian’s back was killing him. Carrying her on it made him wonder why he had parked so far.

“I usually don’t go home with strangers, so don’t get any ideas.” she said hitting his chest. He scuffed at her words. The only idea that was going through his head was what he would do if she hit him one more time. When his Impala became a view in the distance he almost wanted to break out into dance.

During the ride back to his place he opened the windows and laid her across the back seat. She sang along to the songs she recognized on the radio, and in Adrian’s head he counted down the time left before he reached home.

“You never told me your name,” Francis said peeking her head over the drivers seat. She let out a small burp and giggled.

"Excuse me~" she sang. With a smile plastered on her face she brought out her hand, "I'm Francis."

“Adrian,” His eyes never diverted from the road and his hands from the wheel.

“Adrian,” She mused to herself.

She was the girl from four nights ago. 

++

“What are you going to do now?”

Kendra peered at me over the rim of her cup as she sipped her cappuccino. Indie music softly played in the background, and Francis stared off into the new photos that adorned the cafe.

“Bills still need to be paid, and who knows how long your last paycheck will last you. You pretty much ruined your career in the world of fashion so forget about getting a job at another fashion magazine.”

With complete uncertainty Francis finally attempted to share her plans with Kendra.

“I want to write a book..”  her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Write a book? Francis-”

Francis pushed her latte to the side intent on getting Kendra’s approval. “I mean I will still have a job on the side. I can find a job with my other degree in digital media design.”

“I don’t see why-”

Francis cut her off before she could finish. “ Just support me,” she sighed.  

Kendra was the first person Francis had shared her idea with. She didn’t want any of Kendra’s judgement, she just wanted to know that if no one else had her back that Kendra would.

“ Of course I’ll support Fran! I just don’t want to see you blindly run for anything.” Kendra took another sip of her drink and hummed as it left her lips in delight.

“So what are you going to write about?”

“I don’t know yet.” Francis couldn’t meet the eyes of Kendra as she said those words. She thought Kendra probably thought the idea was even more ridiculous after hearing that reply.

“Well you should figure that out, shouldn’t you?”

“Right” I laughed along with Kendra.

“To Adrian’s new display!”  A Barista sang from behind the counter. Surrounding her were three or four young people. All of them had a mug of coffee raised in the air. They had grabbed the whole cafe’s attention

“Anything you’d like to say Adrian?” She smiled.  Everyones eyes feel on the meek man who shrugged.

“Thanks for caring.”  

He looked oddly familiar to Francis, but she just couldn’t put her finger on where she'd seen him before.

Had she seen him in here before? In a store? Maybe even at work? She looked around at the photographs on display. It was the reason she had repeatedly returned back to this place.

Suddenly the memory of where she had seen him before struck her like a static shock. She ducked her head down in embarrassment quickly looking back then away to see if he himself had remembered her face. to her knowledge he hadn’t.

“I need to go; emergency.” Francis snatched up her things and hauled ass. She didn’t even give Kendra enough time to let a word in.