Carnations for Emily

Chapter 19: Wheres Jack?

Emily was on a plane heading for New York City tonight.
With a few documents in hand, she recalled what her boss told her:
"Emily, I need you to head out to New York tomorrow night.
That guy you came back with info about at the end of October sounds interesting and I wanna know more about him.
Please do this for me, you're the only one who would go." The man asked.
"Sure! I'd love to go.
I've been meaning to go out there for the last few months anyway." Emily said.

"Hmm, Jack...
You're who I'm looking for..." Emily said this as she pulled a picture from the folder.
The photo was of a young man with black and red hair with tired blue eyes.
"Now the only question is...
Where are you?
I've called you the last few times before I got on the plane, but you never picked up...
It's making me worry."

Within hours Emily's plane finally landed in New York City.
When she woke up from the nap she took, Emily looked outside her window at the beautiful city lights.
It was night fall and the city was absolutely lit up.
"Wow..." she stared in awe.
Emily hadn't been to New York before now.
Though she recalled the promise that she and Jack made when they were kids...
Her childhood voice rang in her head:
"You'll take me with you... right?"
Emily shook her head to shake off the memory.

As she stepped off the plane and into the airport, Emily spotted a chauffeur holding a sign with her name on it.
She ran up and held out her hand, going for a handshake.
"Ah, miss Emily I presume?" The gentleman asked.
"Yes, nice to meet you!" Emily said with glee.
"Well if you come with me miss, I'll take you to the hotel you'll be staying at." The chauffeur said.
"Thank you." She nodded.

"So you're all the way from Seattle huh?
For the "Seattle Gazette"?" The man said.
"Why, yes.
I'm a reporter looking for talented people.
Actually, I'm here looking for someone in particular." Emily explained.
"I see, well I hope you find them miss." The driver went quiet and let her be til they got to her hotel.
"Here we are.
New York's finest." The driver said
"Oh my..." Emily was at a loss for words.
The building was big and was a light blue hue, with some gold design including the words for the building.
"Sky View Harbor..." Emily said it's name.
Now that she though about it, the place was along the water front of the city so the name does make sense.

Emily had gone inside with the few suitcases she had, grabbed her room key from the front desk and entered her room.
"Nice place." She said.
The room was light blue just like the building.
The bed looked and felt extremely soft, with its golden comforter.
There was a decent sized TV sitting in front of it.
Emily sat down on the bed and turned the TV on for a moment.
"Heh, cartoons." She said.
It was nice for the people at her job to get her such a place to stay til she got a hold of Jack.

A few hours later Emily was in the mood for some tea as well as something to snack on.
She pulled out her phone and searched the internet for place to go and found out about a place called "Cole's Cafe".
It was a little, worn down looking yet some how cozy place hidden off along an ally.
"This place looks nice...
"Best tea in the city"... hm?" Emily mumbled to herself as she looked through the reviews section of the website.
"I'll check this place out." Emily thought.

An hour later...

Emily heard a little bell ring as she walked into "Cole's Cafe".
As soon as the bell rang she heard a mans voice echo from the back of the counter.
"Hang tight, be right with you." The voice said.
Emily decided to sit down at the booth closest to the counter.
As she say down and man in a turquoise dress shirt and faded black hair came out from around the counter.
"Welcome to my cafe, what would you like?" The man said.
Emily thought it over for a second, she figured that this man was Cole.
"I'll have the house tea please." Emily said.
"Can do miss." Cole rushed off back behind the counter again.
Within a few minutes Cole came back with Emily's tea.
"Thank you." She said.
The cafe's house phone rang and cole excused himself to go answer it.
As he did, a young woman with medium length black hair and eyes as green as Emily's, came out to talk.
"Is there anything else you need miss?" The woman asked.
Looking closer, Emily could tell this woman was a little older than her.
Probably as old as Jack...
"No thanks, thank you though." Emily said.
"Hmm..." the woman stared at Emily for a second.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"No, just the way you look seems familiar to me." The woman pondered.
Emily as usual had her brown hair down, her green eyes were clearly visible through her bangs.
She was also wearing a yellow dress under the denim jacket she had on.
"Well, my name is Belle.
If you need me for anything while you're here let me know." Belle walked away to occupy Cole, who Emily could only guess was her dad, and left Emily alone.

After a few moments of enjoying her
Drink, Cole walked up to Emily's table.
She could tell that he had a question in mind from the look on his face.
"Excuse me but your name wouldn't happen to be... Emily? Would it?" Cole asked.
"Yes, how'd you know?" Emily spoke.
"Well the way you look was described to me by another frequent customer of mine." Cole paused.
"He has black and red hair, and looks like he hasn't slept in weeks.
Jack is his name, sound familiar?" Cole said.
He looked to Emily, who turned red.
"Jack comes here?!" Emily spoke.
"Have you seen him lately?
I'm looking for him!" Emily continued.
"Hmm, so you haven't seen him either." Cole paused again.
"He typically comes around once a week, but we haven't seen a sign of him in a month.
Belle and I are worried." Cole finished.
"S-so he's missing?!" Emily shrieked.
"Calm down, calm down. We aren't really sure if he really is missing or if he's just been busy." Belle came up to Emily's table to join in the conversation.
"When you came in we figured you've been around him and may have know what's happened." Belle said.
"No...
I didn't even know he came here.
I've only just arrived in the city.
...I'm looking for him too..." Emily said quietly.
"Other than that, you're the girl he's been talking to me about.
So it's nice getting to finally meet you." Cole spoke up.
Emily thought to herself.
"He's mentioned me?" Her face turned a deep red.

When she finished her drink Emily spoke up again.
"So you two haven't see him or heard from him in a month?"
Both Cole and Belle shook their heads.
Emily frowned at them.
She then got up bowed in thanks and began to leave the shop.
Til Belle stopped her.
"Hey Emily wait."
Emily turned around in the door frame.
Belle ran up to her and gave Emily her number.
"Let's keep in contact while you're here. I'll take the day off tomorrow and together we'll scout through the city for Jack. Sound good?" Belle smiled.
Still frowning, Emily nodded.
"Thank you..."
After saying her goodbye, she left Cole's place.

When Emily got back to her hotel room, she flopped down onto her bed.
Depressed and worried, she curled up into a ball.
"Jack... where are you?" She mumbled to herself.
She was scared for him, unsure of his whereabouts, she felt tears start to fall from her eyes...

"I miss you Jack..."
Chapter 19: End.