Room 47 // Laurmani

Chapter 2

"Sooooo, what did you think?" Dinah asks you with a smirk the following day over your usual Starbucks lunchtime meeting.

"She's..." you begin but really can't find a word to describe Lauren at all.

"Quirky?" Dinah offers.

"I guess," you sigh. "She wasn't what I expected at all"

"But you're still going to keep seeing her, right?" Dinah asks like she would be disappointed if you didn't.

"Yeah," you say slowly. "I suppose"

You sip on coffee, as Dinah seems more interested in the newspaper in front of her. You actually haven't been able to stop thinking about Lauren since meeting her yesterday. She confused and scared the hell out of you but at the same time she made you feel kind of giddy and strangely optimistic, you guess that's her job but...the way she was looking at you sometimes... You just really like how she makes you feel. You're sort of bummed you don't see her till tomorrow again.

Later on in your apartment, you've made Keith his favourite meal, enchiladas with side salad, the recipe originally coming from your mother. You like it too but it isn't your favourite meal. It's strange you live in one of the most vibrant cities in the world and you and Keith have never gone out to a fancy restaurant and tried something new.

"Hey, did I tell you about my folks good news?" Keith asks over the small dinning table. You shake your head as you take a sip of wine. "They found a buyer for the ranch" he grins. "That's great. I wasn't really expecting anyone to buy that place though" you say surprised.

The Powers family owns a ranch down in Tennessee, you and Keith sometimes go there at the weekend. You're very much a city girl but you like going there because it always seems to be sunny and you're always treated well there by the rest of the family.

"The new owner even said they were gonna come down every few weeks and help out with labor" You narrow your eyes. "That seems too good to be true, first of all this person buys the ranch for what, half a million dollars? Then allows your family to stay there as long as they pay rent AND wants to help maintain the crops and animals?"

"Crazy right?" You make an uncertain noise. "I don't want your family to get ripped off. Just tell them to double check the paperwork" "Yeah, yeah..." Keith grumbles.

Keith isn't the smartest of men, neither are his brothers or parents who live and work on that ranch. You love them though; you don't want them to get ripped off, or worse, be left homeless all because they didn't understand the basic terms and conditions. You remember the time when you first met his parents. They looked at you like you were some sort of alien, that ranch is out in the middle of nowhere, it was probably the first time they had seen a person who was a city person. You spent like 10 minutes explaining your world and they still looked confused. At first they seemed to think you were one of those snobbish city people, but in time they grew accustomed to your standoffishness and sarky sense of humor. You're now one of the family and really, they feel more like family than your own parents do.

"Uh, maybe we should go there this weekend?" Keith asks in a way that seems he doesn't want to bother you. You smile at his thoughtfulness. "No, that's fine, I could do with topping up my tan" you smirk at him.

"How's your counseling going? I mean I know you've only went once but..." "Fine" you say quickly, for some reason not really wanting to discuss it with him, or anyone in fact."I mean I had a pretty decent sleep last night so, progress?" you joke."Yeah I guess but it won't work overnight or anything though Normani" "I know" you say in understanding.

Come Thursday you are practically bouncing in your office chair and looking constantly at the clock for lunchtime to come. For some reason you're nervous again but you're also a little...excited? You don't know why but your stomach is doing flips as you cross the street again, your strides are longer and faster, you just want to get there. You just want to see her again. Just to confirm that your first meeting wasn't some strange dream you had.