Exquisite ~ Book One

Ten~

"Yeah, I am simply splendid..." I trail off as I reread over the last paragraph once more. Andrew tries to look over my shoulder at the page but I hurriedly fold it back up and tuck it to my chest. "We should start heading back." I say abruptly. Andrew jumps at the stern of my voice but leads me back to the car in silence. Somewhere in my gut, was churning, confused and sick. I didn't know why and was starting to wonder if I ever would. Is it possible that I could be carsick?

"Would you like to stop and get a drink?" Andrew asks as he turns his right blinker on. With pursed lips yet, I nod my head, watching him as he pulls into a small coffee shop. As he gets the door for me I wince and pinch my eyes shut.

Dennis...

"Dearest Rose, I do not wish to ask you of such great things, but I do wish you'd stay. I do love you and can grant you a rose bush or anything else you could wish for, I could give you it all-"

"Love is not about money and so I wish nothing of the matter." I say and sit up straighter, tensing.

I fall out the car door and land to my knees where I wheeze. Andrew comes in to my side, holding my hair back incase I were to hurl and I give him a weak smile.

"Someone help!" He yells, suddenly unsure of what to do and any confidence at all for that matter. I look up to him, my forehead up against his knee as he holds me, my body shaking.

-

"Rose, that's not what I meant either. If you'd just listen to me-"

"I've heard enough and I do wish to stop talking of this. If you wouldn't mind, I'd greatly enjoy so. It's not that I'm upset, it's just that it makes a woman feel as if she has no power of herself and power is what drives me from land to land and across all seas sailed. I've yet one more place to go and you know fairly well I must go."

"But I cannot go with you." He says in defeat. He pulls his hand back and clears his throat.

"Then you must have a little faith in me in coming back. Of course it will take quite some time, I do have strong intentions of coming back around. Maybe then you can manage a break to come with me." It wasn't a question, but he needed to know that neither was it a question of me coming back. My intentions were pure.

"My Bella, my Rose, I'm sorry for such stress made. If you'd allow me to take your arm, it'd be an honor to walk with you through the roses you'd prefer tending to." I smile now, and sip at my coffee once more before he slides from his seat and lends me his hand, helping me up as I brush off my skirts. He then takes my arm through his and we make way to the door, my umbrella opening as we exit through the rain.

-

"Anna?" Andrew asks as I raise an eye. As soon as it was open it was shut. "Are you sure you're okay?" The light, the noise, it was all to much.

"I'm dandy!" I snap. Andrew jumps back some and my breathing returns to normal as I lay my head back. "I'm just tired..."

"You slept for ten, nearly eleven hours." Andrew replies. I turn my head to the side and open one of my eyes farthest from the light, peering over to him in a slim glare. He bites his tongue and I turn my head back. "Can you sit up Bella?" He asks in a small, pleading voice. I groan but force myself up, Andrew wrapping an arm around me to hold me up. I lay my head on his shoulder.

"Can we just get a drink and go?" I beg him through a cry.

"I'll go get you a drink, but we're staying here 'til you're well enough and that is final." With that, he was gone. I lean back in the seat and close my eyes again, opening them as I feel Andrew's returned presence and smell the aroma of coffee. I smile. "Here you go ma 'dam." He says in voice of a royalty. I knew he was mocking me but I still laughed and pretended a curtsey in my seat.

"So Andrew, what are you in this for?" I ask as I blow at the steam that only continues to rise. "This ride and journey across America?" I add on. After sipping at his own coffee, he turns to face me and smiles as he answers.

"I do enjoy traveling, though I'm not a fan of traveling alone. I also do have a strong interest in you and your writing..." He pauses and rethinks something ever so briefly. "What about you Anna, Bella?" I lower my gaze and inhale deeply as I think, twirling the liquid around in the glass the coffee had come served in.

"I guess the same as you." I answer honestly, unsure of what he'd meant fully by "interest in you".

"Then we must be a good team," he jokes lamely. I don't laugh, but I don't remain at all tense either.

"What's your middle name?" I ask him. I'd always had an obsession with middle names, the second name they owned but never used.

"Lee," he answers briefly. I simply remain smiling as I sip at my drink, glancing out the window. "Favorite season?" He asks by chance.

"How could I choose just one?" I answer with such curtesy. "I think I enjoy fall most due to the color change and the smell of the Earth as it does so. Spring would have to be my second favorite due to the rainy seasons and such." My face warms with the thoughts of this, happiness spreading through me.

"And how are you now?" He asks me as he places a hand over mine. I look up and over to him, my breath low and hitched.

"I'm..." My face tenses and untenses in thought, my mouth struggling to choose between open and shut. "I think I'm giddy."

"Giddy?" He asks with a small laugh following after it.

"You know, like heedless, erratic?" He only laughs more.

"So dizzy and reckless?" I nod my head and laugh along with him for a while. Lowering my head in my small fit of laughter he catches a finger under my chin and turns it to face him, his own lingering inches away from mine.

"Andrew..." I start but never finish.