Mirror Mirror

Chapter 19

Jarrod ordered the house special, which consisted of a light green salad and a huge unhealthy cheese pizza.  Sarah recommended it and he couldn’t say no.  She ordered for herself a mineral water, and asked if she could share the pizza with him.  She wasn’t afraid of food, and Jarrod liked that.  As they waited for their order, they resumed their conversation.  After Stephen and Lacey had left, Sarah had told Jarrod a little more about herself.

She felt comfortable to be with him.  All her previous tensions had drained away.  Jarrod told her funny stories about his days at school, and she really enjoyed listening to them.  He was the first man, beside Stephen, who was able to get that close to her, and that too, in a matter of minutes.  She had never let anyone else in before, but somehow she felt she could trust Jarrod.

 When he asked her about her past, she wasn't too happy to share it with him, but eventually she told him how she had lost her parents, and how she felt about a lot of things.  She steered clear of the topic of her mirror, and Jarrod wisely kept the events of the past few days to himself.  He was careful not to let her know that he had been away with Stephen, trying to find a way to help her.  He wondered if she would ever tell him what was going on with her right now.

“You know what the strange thing is?”  She was saying, and he snapped out of his thoughts to listen to her.  “I actually had a dream about you last night.”  She was blushing furiously as she said it.

“Me?”  He asked, and when she smiled, he confessed.  “I have been dreaming about you for years.”

They both fell silent for a second.  Jarrod was wondering how he might have gotten into her dreams, and she was thinking how shallow she must have been not to take notice of him sooner.  She remembered vaguely now, that Stephen used to tell her Jarrod said ‘hi’, and she would just ignore it.

She hated that she ignored him back then.  Jarrod.  He was here right now with her.  From the dark corner of her mind, she heard the voice tell her to go back home.  She wanted to for a moment, but the thought of leaving Jarrod to go brush her hair or something, was just too much.  She shut the voice out, and concentrated instead on the way his grey eyes sparkled, the sensual way his mouth moved as he spoke, the slight curl on his lips when he stopped, his heart-stopping smile.  Even his unusual hairstyle had her hooked.  She longed to touch him again, to run her fingers through his hair or brush against his hands, and as if on cue, his hand came up over the table to cover hers.

 His touch was electrifying, just like before.  She swallowed hard when she met his eyes.  They remained that way, as if time had stopped, only to be interrupted by the waiter serving them their food.

“The food here tastes great!”  Jarrod said, enjoying watching her eat. 

 The cheese stretched almost a mile between her lips and her hand, but she wasn’t the least bit self-conscious eating it.

“Yes, yes it does.  Stephen and I come here all the time.  It’s sort of like a mutual place of meeting.  After lunching with you though, I don’t think I’ll ever feel the same about it.”

“That bad, huh?”  He said grinning.

“No, that good.” She smiled back.  She was at totally at ease with him.

 “Sarah,” He asked, wiping his lips when he was done, “Would you like some coffee or dessert or something?”

“Uh, uh.  I’m stuffed.”  She said placing a hand on her flat belly.  “You go on ahead though.”  She offered.

“No, thanks.  I’m done too.”

He paid the bill and stood up offering her his hand.

“Wanna take a walk on the beach with me?”