I woke up on my couch. I had no idea how I ended up crashing on it, but considering the crowd I was hanging with of late, it was certainly a welcomed inconvenience.
Learning, fighting, and conversing with witches definitely made my life way more interesting than it was before. The memory lapses, fits of missing time, and being at the center of a mystical relationship turned sour, was beginning to wear me the down.
I eventually remembered why I woke up on the couch. Eager and without much needed training, I played around with some of the spells from the books I had purchased from Esscenxe. I was lucky I didn’t end up getting killed or turning my neighbor’s home into a mud hut. Magic was definitely the reason why I had blacked out and ended up on waking up on my couch.
Something definitely happened between the time I evoked the spell in the backyard and the moment I woke up on the couch, because as soon as I stood up, I noticed my clothes were in tatters. But what?
I wasn’t sure what havoc had ensued.
I picked up my phone. It had been a while since I received a call from either Robert or Donovan. I debated calling Robert, as I missed his sincerity, and his kindness, but decided against it.
I took a shower, changed my clothes, and played around with more benign spells in the backyard before I received a phone call around noon. It was Robert. I almost didn’t pick up his call. I felt somewhat guilty about Donovan, and since Robert was so damn nice, I felt I needed some time coming to terms on how I felt about him. But I yearned for his pleasantries, and who wouldn’t want to talk to someone who hung to your every word.
“Robert,” I said, “I was just thinking about you.”
“Yeah, me too. I mean, of course I was thinking about you, it’s why I called you. Yeah...uh, yeah, that’s one of the reasons why. But listen, remember how I had asked you if you wanted to go out sometime this week. Well,” he said, clearing his throat, “I just wanted to let you know that I gotta postpone. I forgot I was going to a writer’s conference. It actually started yesterday, so I’ve missed quite a chunk of it already.”
“Okay,” I said. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him cancelling a date with me, even though I hadn’t committed to a second date. I bit my tongue. Robert did the courteous thing by calling me. He definitely didn’t have to do that. Internet guys were usually pretty rude post first date when they weren’t interested. Not Robert though, he was more eager to see me after our first date, and more thoughtful too, when you compared him to other guys.
“You know,” Robert said. “My flight doesn’t leave until 4:00 p.m. You wanna meet for lunch somewhere?”
He was making an effort to see me one last time before he flew out of town, how could I say no? “Where’s the conference?” I asked.
“Chicago. I’m only going to be there for the dinner tonight and the book signings tomorrow.”
“Where do you think you want to go to lunch?”
“If you’re interested, we could meet at a place downtown, or I can pick you up, I mean, there will be plenty of time after lunch and my flight. I’ll be able to drop you off, what do you think?”
“Why don’t I pick you up instead, Robert?” I said.
“You don’t have to do that. I can pick you up.”
“You can pay for lunch. I’ll drive.”
I wasn’t sure exactly why I was jonesing to drive. But I wanted to get out on my own accord. I had had a long freaking morning.
“Can you text me your address?” I said. “Then I’ll put it in my GPS.”
“Sounds good. Can we do this before noon?” Robert asked.
“How about in thirty minutes. It shouldn’t take me that long to get ready.” I had already done my makeup, but I still need some freshening up, I thought. I didn’t want Robert to remember me in an awful light before he skipped town for a couple of days.
“Okay, how about 12:30 then?” Robert said.
“Yep.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.”
“Bye, Robert.”
“Bye, Sahara.”
As I spent the full hour getting ready—didn’t expect it to take that long, but wasn’t surprised it did as I wanted to look my best for Robert—I started to realize that I had wanted to see Robert all along, but was too afraid to accept his offer or of asking him myself.
I spritzed on some perfume and realized I had only fifteen minutes left if I was to make it to Robert’s house on time. If there was traffic on the 91, I would’ve been screwed.
I put myself together and grabbed my purse and got into my Mazda. I made it onto the onramp with ten minutes to spare, and luckily, traffic was very light.
The GPS informed me that I was twenty-two minutes from his house. Unless my Mazda all of a sudden doubled its horsepower, I was going to be at least ten minutes late.
After risking a ticket by illegally driving down the carpool lane, I made it to his house in ten minutes. I parked my car in his driveway, and from the outside, his house was one of the largest one-story homes I had ever seen. It seemed to extend itself to the other side of the block. He’d said he was renting. But still, the rent in these parts, for something much smaller, wasn’t cheap.
I walked to Robert’s front door and knocked. I peeked through the small glass-stained window in the center of the door and could see Robert holding a pink carnation, looking as handsome as he did the other night.
“Hi,” he said as he opened the door, a giant smile widening his face.
“Hello.”
“You look amazing,” he said. I virtually wore the same thing I had worn on our first dress. But this time in satin, and with a subtle purple and lime green trim. Apparently, Robert liked the look as well, as it was confirmed by the sparkle in his eyes.
“Does my chariot await, milady?” Robert asked.
“Chariot? You’re in a time crunch, my friend, I brought forth a 4 cylinder demon on wheels from the future,” I said.
“Don’t worry, we got time, but if we continue to stand on my porch, then our lunch date will be nothing more than a short power lunch. Plus, I got two alarms. One on my watch, and one on my phone, and oh yeah, my tablet too. Three alarms; enough to keep us aware of our limited time if we get engrossed again.”
“That sounds a little OCD to me,” I said.
“I think we are all OCD a little, or we wouldn’t remember to get anything done.” Robert got embarrassed. He smiled and drew back a little. He apparently thought I was implying that he was gushing over me and that wasn’t what I was implying. I was making a joke.
“All right, let’s go,” I said. I walked over to my car and got in the driver’s side. Inside, I pushed the door open for Robert.
Robert put on a pair of stylish sunglasses, which I felt definitely complimented his cherub-like, but otherwise cute face. He had a lot of confidence for a big man. Heavier guys tended to be a bit insecure and would come across as shy and self-conscious. But not Robert. I wondered if he had always been kinda thick, or if his weight gain had been a recent happening. It didn’t matter to me though, because it didn’t seem to matter to him. He was as confident with himself as Donovan, and they couldn’t look any different, but interestingly enough, they shared the same brashness and insecurities.
Quite fascinating.
“You know your way around these parts,” Robert asked.
“About ten years ago, I was a pizza delivery girl in this area. The tips weren’t bad too. I was bringing in more money than friends I had who were waitresses at upscale restaurants. People out here loved their pizza, and they were very grateful to get it from me. A ten-dollar tip wasn’t uncommon, actually.”
“Nice. What was the name of the pizza joint?”
“Frank’s Pizza.”
“Oh my God, I love that place,” Robert said.
“Either way, that is why I know the area,” I said.
“Cool beans,” Robert said.
‘Cool beans’ was an idiom we both shared. Funnily enough, it was a term I’d use whenever the person
I was having a conversation turned into a dullard. I had hoped it didn’t mean the same for Robert.
“Yeah, cool beans,” I said. I looked into his eyes if he took it the same way as me.
“Yeah, I have no idea now what we’re talking about,” Robert said, laughing.
“Beans,” I said in my silly way. “We are talking about beans and why they are cool.” I was trying too hard. Saying ‘cool beans’ wasn’t funny, and I refused to move on.
But Robert laughed out loud. He had my kind of sense of humor, which was gigantic plus in my book.
I turned right on Harbor and parked behind one of the buildings facing the boulevard.
“Where we going?” Robert asked.
“I thought you knew,” I said.
“You were the one that just kept on driving to this area. I’m not familiar with food places down here because they go out of business so frequently. It is a little hard to keep up.”
“I know a place,” I said. “I haven’t been there in years, but it’s pretty cool and I think you’ll dig it. Amazing sandwiches, my friend, like totally amazing.”
“You’re a foodie?” Robert asked.
“I’m a foodie,” I said.
Chapter Twenty-two