Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (12 page)

"You're taking my breath away." Mike couldn't believe he said those w
ords to
Lana
. He never said those
words to any woman,
but
he didn't believe in playing
games. He believed in spitting out wha
tever crossed
his
mind. "Thinking of you makes me breathless."

She
was
n't quite ready to call him baby because
that
's
her
intimate word.
It
'
s
a silly thing for
her
to think, but everyone had
that
special word they
with
hold until
that
special moment.
Her
word
happened to be
baby
.
She
chose another
word, a fitting word. "Sweetie, you are needed there, and
that
's hard for me to say because I
'd
love for you to be here. But your priority needs to be work. I'll be here when you get home. And don't forget we have nine more days together." Two weeks ago,
she
never dreamed
she
would
say tho
se words to a man, much less someone
she
just met.

Mike liked it when
she
said
home
, and he especially liked the nine days. But he also knew
that
a few day
s
would
n't be
near
long enough. He thought the way
she
said it, it
sounded like it
was
permanent.
With
her
he wanted it to be permanent. "Well, I just want you to know I
would
rather be
with
you," he
said
softly.

"I want to
be
with
you too,"
she
w
his
pered.
She
didn't want to hang up and
she
could tell he didn't want to hang up either.

Because the conversation
seemed to be
getting heavy he decided to lighten the mood. "So what do you want to do t
his
evening besides eat pizza?" He asked.

She
wanted to say
make love to you
, but
sh
e
could
n't be
that
bold
, at least not yet
. But
she
was
bold enough to say. "The only thing I want is for you to hold me."

The
n
a long pause of silence
,
and
she
could hear Mike take a deep breath. "
That
my sweet lady I
'd
be more than glad to do. How about I hold you while we lay in front of the fire? And maybe the fire will tell us what's in our future."

It
was
her
turn to take a deep breath. "I
would
l
ike
very much, and I might even throw in a great back rub." Truth
be told,
she
just wanted to see him
with
out a shirt.

There
was
another pause
with
a deep breath.
"It
's a date. How could I turn down
that
offer?" He could only imagine how it
would
feel for
Lana
to touch
his
bare skin.
His
body quivered the thought of
her
touching him, softly. It
would
drive him crazy, he knew
that
with
out hesitation.

"You
can't, and I think you deserve a back rub
after a hard day's work." Actually,
she
wanted to give him more than a backrub.

She
heard a knock on
the door at Mike's end, and he
covered the speaker of
his
phone, but
she
still heard Mike
answering something about times and dates
. Then he uncovered the speaker and said. "I'm sorry babe
that
was
one of the guys."
She
loved it he called
her
babe because
she
felt cared for and a part of
his
life. If he felt the same way about
that
word as
her
, they were headed the same direction. "As much as I hate to say t
his
, but they need me in the other room."

"I understand, you hurry and do your job and I'll be here when you get done."

"Okay babe," he paused, and he wanted to say
I love you
, but
he didn't, he just said.
"I'll call when I can."

"Bye babe." It sounded good to hear
her
voice say
that
word.

"Bye."

She
danced
her
happy dance in front of the fire.
Oh my God, what just happened
with
that
phone call? I met t
his
guy two days ago and I'm already calling him words of endearment.

Then sudden nervousness enveloped
her
,
she
still don't know what he did for a living.

*****

When
she
put the tea kettle on,
she
stood at the kitchen window and looked all the way down the road. It looked so desolate and eerie, and the woods looked so baron. There were some visible houses in the distance, through the woods. A person could see for at least a half mile through the woods since all the leaves had fallen off the trees.

She
put
her
face over the cup
with
the tea bag as
she
poured the hot water in it. The steam felt so good sweating up to
her
face.
Lana
loved the smell of tea when the hot water first hits the tea bag, and
it
was
even better
with
lemon. Steam rose through the air as
she
raised and lowered the tea bag.
While
she
waited for the tea to get stronger
,
she
just looked out the window at nothing.

After a
few minutes something caught
her
eye in the distance. Through the woods way far off,
she
saw a red jacket moving at a house on another street.
She
guessed he
was
the owner hauling firewood to the back porch.
She
watched the red jacket move back and forth from the back yard to the front yard two or three times
, at least
.

Who knows, maybe h
e wanted
to wrap
his
water pipes. A cold front
was
expected and he needed to prepare for it. Anyway, it
was
n't any of
her
business, but
she
would
mention it to Mike later.
She
glanced down at
her
tea, it looked strong enough. As
she
glanced up,
she
jumped back when
she
saw the man intently looking
her
way.
She
knew he couldn't see
her
but it startled
her
.
Lana
calm down, he sees smoke come out of the chimney and the lights on
,
she
thought to herself. After all, it
was
the neighborly thing to do to watch out for their neighbors.
She
took a deep breath and laughed at herself
for g
etting so spooked all the time, s
he
hasn't been here but a few days and
she
's been skittish
a lot.
T
his
reaction
was
not like
her
, but
she
excused herself from being scared. After all no one
rented any houses on the block,
and it's normal to be a little frightened.

*****

Bored, and checking the clock every five minutes
she
decided to watch the news or catch a movie. Swigging on
her
tea and watching TV,
she
wrapped up in a blanket pointing the remote towards the Sony, and surfed through the channels.
She
stopped when
she
got to a special report.
Today's update: Early t
his
morning a local U.S. Marshal in Boston Massachusetts Marshal Frank Belamy
was
shot while serving a felony warrant. The spokesperson for the U.S. Marshal's office, Stacey Farmer said the house has been under investigation for several months for drug trafficking. The shooter
was
captured and is in custody at t
his
time. Frank Belamy is in critical condition at Massachusetts General and more details on the 5:00 news.

She
thought,
how sad
and I
hoped he pull
s
through
okay
.
She
surfed some more channels and stopped on the movie,
Gone
With
The Wind
on TNT channel
,
and
she
couldn't refuse one of
her
favorite oldies.

Chapter 11

10:45 p.m.

A strong fire burned and all the lights were off except for the bathroom light.
Lana
sat on the couch and watched the TV even though it's on mute. Some war movie
happened to be
on
,
and soldiers got shot then
drag themselves to safety.

The movie didn't interest
her
.
Her
mind raced
with
disappointment.
Sadness engulfed
her
emotions. S
adness filled
her
heart
because Mike didn
't call
her
to let
her
know he
would
n't be
coming. But listen to
her
whine,
she
originally came to the beach for the solitude and now
that
she
has it,
she
's sulking like a two year old.

While lying on the couch brooding in
her
sorrows
she
heard a car coming down the road and
she
jumped up and put on
her
housecoat.
She
did
n't
turn on a light as
she
peeked out the window. In case
the pe
rson happened to be someone besides Mike
,
she
would
n't answer the door.
Not only
that
if it
was
Mike and he's tired he may want to get in
his
truck and head home.
She
anguished over
the
thought. It
was
Mike, and
she
saw him get out of the SUV and he talked a few seconds
with
the driver.