A Walk With the Past

Chapter Four

Tom was tucked away in the corner booth of the Box Brownie Café on Henley Street, right down from the library the next morning. The young lady behind the counter looked like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and she recognized him immediately. Although she did not beg him for an autograph or photo, she did make it a point to swirl the steamed milk in Tom’s latte into several artistically designed hearts.

He smiled and thanked her, and the woman’s eyebrow ring rose with suggestion when she passed him her phone number. Tom blushed and tucked the piece of napkin inside his pocket; quite sure he would dispose of it later without her seeing. She wasn’t bad looking; just a bit too… forward lookingfor his taste.

From his seat Tom heard the bell above the door jingle, announcing that someone had entered. A familiar voice sounded which caused Tom to look up from the newspaper he was reading.

“And how are you faring this lovely morning, Sandra?” Antony sang out.

Urgency rushed through Tom.

He closed the newspaper, finished his late, and then rose to go and stand at Antony’s side. Tom grew impatient while Antony flirted and passed insinuating remarks to the female clerk; the need to divulge details of the night before practically bursting through his pores.

“I’ll take an Americano,” Antony ordered.

Tom fiddled with his fingers and scanned the café while waiting for the man to turn and acknowledge him.

Would Antony believe that the woman appeared in Tom’s room?

And what of Tom being naked in front of her? Did ghosts even care about that sort of thing?

Ghosts….

Tom scoffed at the word, but that eerie sensation from last night crawled up his spine again. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and Tom’s attention went back to the only fellow he was acquainted with who knew the mystery lady existed.

“And please do make it exceptionally steamy,” Antony added with a wink.

Sandra gave him a wry grin and turned back to the espresso machine.

“Um…,” Tom hummed, raising a finger.

Finally finished with his philandering, Antony at last turned to Tom. He looked the young Englishman up and down once with curious eyes, excused himself from the female, and then went back to Tom.

“You found something, didn’t you?” Antony assumed with squinted eyes and a quirk of grey eyebrows.

Tom’s gut churned and he reached out his hand.

“We need to talk,” Tom directed. “Now.”

He tugged at the elbow patch on Antony’s jacket, insisting that the man follow his lead.

“So what’s all this about, Thomas?” Antony inquired from the privacy of the booth.

As if he didn’t know….

Tom settled in his seat, inhaled, and then prepared himself for what he was about to say. “I saw her,” he whispered, and then looked around them with suspicion.

Tom stopped short when the clerk approached their table.

Antony leaned back in his seat and let Sandra move her arm around his shoulders to set the drink down.

Tom briefly wondered if Gregory was aware of Antony’s loose demeanor with women – or at least this one in particular.

“So?” Antony dryly responded.