Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (11 page)

As he moved a little closer and
she
could see the veins in
his
neck were going crazy, throbbing.
His
eyes never left hers.

Just
then
,
his
cell phone rang.

She
thought to herself,
that
damn phone
.

He glanced down at
his
phone and sadness ran across
his
face. "I'm sorry I have to take t
his
call." He walked outside for privacy.

Maybe he had
a girlfriend, or a wife. For a moment
jealousy filled
her
heart
.
She
quickly wiped
that
thought from
her
mind and heart.
She
did peak outside, and
his
conversation
appeared
serious enough he continued to stare at the ground.
She
fixed
her
plate and warmed
her
coffee in the microwave.
She
paced the kitchen floor an
d a few times and peeked out the window
. Patience
was
a virtue
she
usually took pride in practicing, but
she
had none t
his
morning.

He
stood
outside at least ten minutes. As he walked in
she
heard a car pulling up, Mike turned to the driver and
raised one finger to let him know he needed one minute.
Her
heart sank when
she
knew he might be
leaving.

"What's going on Mike, are you okay?"
She
asked him as he closed the door.

"I will explain everything later, and I'm going to leave my truck. I don't know when I'll be back and I might not even be back today. You have my cell number if you need me. If I don't make it back, I'll send my brother Lance to fix the furnace. I will give you a call later, but I just don't know when."

Wow, umm, what could
she
say? "Don't worry about the furnace, and I'll see you later." He reached down and kissed
her
on the forehead and then he left. Not the first kiss
she
had in mind, even though
his
lips were very soft.

Did t
his
have something to do
with
his
work? Did t
his
have something to do
with
his
family?
Whatever
happened,
Mike's demeanor totally changed after
that
phone
call.
T
his
day did not start like
she
had hoped.

Chapter 10

12:10 p.m.

Lana
dreaded the idea of going outside, but Mike said something about firewood on the side of the house. What's in the bin might get
her
through one day, but no longer than
that
.

As
she
stepped out the wind and cold
chilled
her
to the bone
. The wind blew strong and the sleet and sand stung
her
face. It pierced
her
skin like glass cutting
her
. The only building on the side
was
a pump house but it
was
locked.
She
decided to give up and bring in all the wood from the bin and hoped it
would
last the day and night.

Walking back to the front of the house
she
felt an overwhelming eerie feeling come over
her
. It
was
an uneasy feeling of being watched.
She
looked over at the empty house next door. The small bushes next to the house
scraped
the side as the wind blew. It sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard.
She
quickened
her
step to the front of the house. As
she
rounded the cor
ner
her
peripheral vision saw
someone next door. Hairs stood up on the back of
her
neck when
she
saw a man, staring
right
at
her
.
She
pulled
her
windblown hair aside to get a better look.
She
saw nothing.
She
disregarded it as the wind moving the clouds and causing a reflection off the window.
She
ran the rest of the way to the front door, constantly looking behind
her
.

She
stood in front of the fire trying to gather
her
bearing and calm down
her
emotions
.
The
morning started out bad, and
it
got worse.
T
his
incident played havoc on
her
raw emotions. All
that
just added worry to
what already happened
with
Mike.

The morning
seemed
so ambiguous
with
the incident
with
Mike.
She
wondered what made him leave. Surely, he
would
have told
her
if there
were
a family emergency.
She
racked
her
brain trying to figure out what made him leave. Then an uneasy thought crossed
her
mind. Maybe he
was
a drug dealer. Oh God,
she
hoped not.
She
wished
she
wouldn't have thought o
f
that
because now
she
'll worry about it. If he
was
a dealer he
would
de
finitely have people come after him
.
She
couldn't jump to conclusions, and
she
needed to give him a chance to explain.

*****

While reading
her
book
The Count of Monte Cristo
her
cell phone rang. "Hello."

"Hi stranger, how
's
your morning
so far
?" asked Mike.

"My morning
has been
great, and yours?"
Her
heart started beating fast just hearing
his
voice.
She
turned the corner down in the book
and sat it on the coffee table
.

"Busy, and I wanted to tell you how sorry I am I ran out on you."
His
thoughts drifted to last night. How
his
heart ac
hed for
her
. He knew
he
would
n't
was
te
any
time on
t
his
woman
.

"
That
's okay I could tell
it
was
important
."
She
wanted
to know the reason, but
she
figured
Mike
would
tell
her
in due time
.

"We'll talk about it later tonight. How about if I can get away early t
his
evening we go out to dinner?"

She
could hear Mike shut a door.
The door shutting
was
a good sign he's in an office. Unless of course, they were making drugs in the warehouse, and he
shut
the door so
she
could
n't hear
the drugs being made
.
She
rolled
her
eyes at herself for thinking such a ridiculous thought.

She
didn't bring the right clothes to go out to dinner
with
anyone, especially
if it's a nice place.
"If you don't mind, why don't we have dinner here?"
She
needed to think on
her
feet. "
That
way if you're running late you won't feel bad. How does
that
sound?"

"You do have a point. I tell you what, if I get done, how about I order a pizza and pick up some beer?
There's a place called Franco's and they make
a great pizza."

Beer and pizza did sound good. "
That
sounds
great, and if by some chance you're running late, don't worry about it."

"You are so sweet. I did want to tell you I've been thinking about you today and I enjoyed last night," he said.

She
could tell he seemed as breathless
as
her
. Even though their conversation
was
over the phone,
she
could hear between the lines. "I've been looking at the fire and thinking about you too. I enjoyed yesterday as well. Do you miss me?"
Her
heart
was
caught up in the moment. Normally
she
didn't ask men
that
question, usually
she
didn't care.

"Yes, I miss you more than I ever thought
possible
, and what does the fire have to do
with
us?" Mike asked. Tonight he
intended to
show
her
how much he missed
her
, he
planned on
kiss
ing
her
. The thought of kissing
her
in front of the fire made him breathless.

"
That
's
what my grandmother always told me.
My grandmother
was
Native American and
her
ancestors look
ed
into the fire and the flicker of the flames
told them their
future."
She
walked around the room cleaning.
She
picked the pillows up and fluffed them and put them back on the couch.
She
walked into
the kitchen and emptied
the dish
was
her and
she
rearranged the toiletries in the bathroom.

"What did the fire tell you about me?"

"
That
's a great Indian secre
t. I could tell you but then it might not
come true,"
she
said.
She
stood by the fire and stared at the flame, hoping some kind of prophecy from
her
ancestors
would
enlighten
her
.

"I
certainly want every wish to come true.
See what you've done to me, you make me miss you even more. To be honest, I have done nothing but think about you today. You linger in my mind when I'm getting coffee, walking down the hall, and sitting at my desk. I have a ton of stuff to keep me busy here. But I'm having a hard time concentrating. I just wanted you to know I do miss you and I'm thinking of you." He w
his
pered.

"Mike is there someone
with
you?"

"No."

"Why are you w
his
pering?"