Love, Greater Than Infinity (Book 1: New Adult Romance)

by Avondale, Cora

  Inexplicable fury ignited Teddy’s being. Lou watched him with a cautious eye. “Don’t even think about it, kid. I’m getting sick of stopping you from intervening.”

  “Then stay out of it.”

  “Hey, Juvie,” Lou said with force. “I’m saving you from yourself.”

  “I don’t need your help, Lou. You’re part of the problem.”

  Luke doubled back with the pale of fresh ice. The door of the suite swung open and Misty’s claws snagged the lapels of Luke’s robe as they both disappeared into their lair. But the reminder was still there. Both Lou and Teddy heard Misty’s signature nasal giggle and the smacking of flirtatious kisses.

  Teddy stared at Lou. He stared at me. “It’s not our place, Teddy.”

  “Then whose responsibility is it? Huh, Lou? When their Free Will has gone and mucked up everything, who’s gonna clean up the mess?”

  “They are.”

  “Sure, right,” Teddy pouted with disgust. “And Gracie? I’m just supposed to stand by and watch her world crumble around her and do nothing?”

  Lou shrugged and dismissed Teddy with an exhausted wave of his hand. “You’re impossible, kid. Let it go.”

  “I don’t want to ‘let it go.’ I want to do something. I want you to do something. Isn’t that our job? I mean, for crying out loud, Lou—it’s four o’clock in the morning—on her wedding night.” There was desperation in Teddy’s plea as he gazed at Lou with watery eyes and a disconsolate heart. Lou could tell that he was unraveling.

  “You can look out for her, Teddy,” Lou finally acknowledged. “You just can’t fall in love with her. Make sure you understand the difference.”

  Lou’s hula skirt rustled with sobering humility as he approached Teddy, and slapped his shoulder—a rare act of consolation. “The lower dimensions are filled with moments of chaos, and confusion, and grief, and sadness and incomprehensible suffering. And yet, it’s all relative. Even time and space, right? No two observers experience time and place in the same way. But not love. Love, like the speed of light, is always constant. I’m just not sure you’re strong enough to handle the consequences of that, Teddy.”

  Teddy stared down Lou. There was a heavy mass in his heart that was unbearable, and it made Teddy want to be as far away from everyone and everything as possible. In a world of ambiguous morality and arcane injustice, love was the only constant.

  Teddy drifted his way up to the seventeenth floor and entered Gracie’s honeymoon penthouse, where he found her sound asleep. It was just before dawn, and the sky withered from listless black to restless gray. The mercury ocean murmured without conviction, and the beach palms swayed in silence. Everything seemed to be waiting with uneasy anticipation, as if the sun might not rise. It was an uncertain morning in an uncertain world.

  Teddy gazed at Gracie. She lay beneath billowing pillows of angelic white, and a plush embroidered comforter smothered her in her sleep. She cradled her head with one arm and her bare shoulder peaked out from the security of her blankets. Even though it had been her wedding night, she now slept alone, dreaming of a happy future with her husband who had already abandoned her.

  Teddy tried to consider which was worse, allowing her to conjure false dreams in her sleep or forcing her awake into a harsh reality. She would get hurt either way, and for the first time, he sincerely hated his helpless existence. He didn’t understand why he had been assigned to watch over Gracie when all he wanted was to rebel against everything that was happening to her. Teddy hated himself. He hated Destiny, and Fate, and all the laws of the universe. He hated the Dimension Council for making everything so hard, and he hated God, whoever or whatever He was—if He even existed at all.

  Teddy wallowed in a chair in the corner and waited for sunrise to wake Gracie. He had watched her sleep many nights, but this was the first night he noticed they were truly alone. It was just Gracie and Teddy, fighting against the world, and she didn’t even know he was out there, watching over her. His heart throbbed with dejection. The muted light crept upon them, and he yearned for a way to avoid the reality of daylight; a way to maintain their connection beyond the secrecy of dawn; a way to prolong their time together.

  Lou was right. Teddy had fallen hard for her, and not even that realization quelled the longing in his heart.

  Chapter Eight

  A keeper may interact with the lower dimensions to facilitate predetermined events

  The morning after their wedding night, Luke and Gracie surfaced from their honeymoon suite in order to eat breakfast in the hotel’s buffet ballroom. They fed each other morsels of freshly baked banana bread and organic strawberries. Luke dipped one of the strawberries into a bowl of whipped cream and dotted the tip of Gracie’s nose.

  “Luke!” Gracie cried out and reached for her napkin. He swatted her hands away and kissed the whipped cream off her nose. He nibbled on her lips and neck, which ultimately evolved into long drawn out session of tonsil hockey.

  Gracie finally pushed him away. “Luke, show some restraint. We’re in public.”

  Teddy sat next to Gracie in the booth and eyed Luke with disdain. Yeah, you already double-dipped last night. No need to strive for the “Man-Whore” award.

  “So? We’re on our honeymoon.” Luke leaned in for a deeper kiss, but Gracie pushed him away. “C’mon. Behave.”

  “Or what, you’ll discipline me?”

  Teddy rolled his eyes and shifted in his seat. Gag. Barf. Someone euthanize me.

  “Or else I’ll consider ordering room service for the rest of our vacation.”

  “Ohhhh, that sounds even better,” Luke cooed, lunging for Gracie’s neck like a starving vampire.

  “Luke! Please—” Gracie exclaimed. “I’m trying to eat here.”

  Gracie shrugged off his advances and turned her attention to a set of glossy beach resort brochures. “C’mon, finish your banana bread and help me pick out what we’re doing today.”

  “Okay, okay. No need to sound like my mother.” Luke said it with embittered condescension, and Gracie picked up on the insult.

  “Well, don’t act like a five year-old and we should be fine,” she snapped.

  Luke stared straight at Gracie. “You know you’re really cute when you’re mad. Especially when you still have whipped cream on your nose.”

  Gracie blushed and quickly wiped her face with her napkin. Luke laughed aloud and kissed her lips.

  “Too cute, Sassy.”

  “C’mon, now. Quit fooling around. The concierge said we have to make our reservation this morning before eleven o’clock if we want to do something this afternoon.”

  “I already know what I want to do. I want to go parasailing.”

  Gracie fell silent and dropped her eyes.

  “What? What’s wrong, Sassy?”

  Teddy shifted in his seat. She’s afraid of heights, dumb-ass.

  “I’m afraid of heights,” Gracie said.

  “Well, I’ll go parasailing and you can watch me and be scared for me.” Luke popped his last morsel of banana bread into his mouth.

  “Well, I’d rather do something that we can do together.”

  “Like what?” Luke asked, glancing over at Gracie’s brochure. “Beach salsa lessons?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. It sounds kinda fun.”

  “Parasailing is fun. Beach salsa dancing is geriatric exercise.” Luke tossed the brochure across the far end of the table. “Let’s go snorkeling.”

  Gracie frowned.

  “What? What’s wrong with snorkeling? You’re afraid of sharks, too?”

  “No, I’ve just never been.”

  “All the more reason to go. You’ll love it.”

  She doesn’t know how to swim, genius.

  “I don’t know how to swim.”

  “What?”

  “I thought I told you,” Gracie insisted.

  She did, jerk-off. You were just too busy fantasizing about the waitress’s butt.

  Luke laughed out loud. “You’re jo
king, right?”

  Does she look like she’s joking, moron?

  “Christ, Gracie. You’re afraid of heights, so that means no parasailing, helicopter rides, or rock climbing. You don’t know how to swim, so that means no snorkeling or water skiing. What the hell are we doing in Hawaii for our honeymoon then?”

  “I don’t know. I wanted to go to Paris, but you said Paris is boring.”

  “It is. I’ve been there like eight times with my parents. Museum after freaking museum is not my idea of a fun romantic honeymoon.”

  “Well, I’ve never been to Paris,” Gracie said quietly. Luke didn’t hear her.

  “Okay, what about this?” Luke proposed, picking up one of the brochures from Gracie’s pile. “An afternoon with the dolphins. It says, ‘for ages nine and up.’ ”

  “You’re making fun of me.”

  “I most certainly am not. Look how much fun these toddlers on the cover of the brochure are having.”

  “Why don’t we do the volcano trails?”

  “You’re afraid of heights but not afraid of active volcanoes?”

  Gracie stared at Luke, wondering if he was serious. Then she realized it was easier just to give in. “Okay, you’re right. We don’t need to spend the day together. I’ll do my thing and you do your parasailing. We can meet up for dinner.”

  “Really?” Luke smiled a little too wide.

  “Yeah, really. I don’t mind,” Gracie tried not to sound too disappointed, and Luke pretended to believe her.

  “Thanks, Sassy. You’re the best,” he leaned in and kissed her cheek. Luke slid out of the booth and abandoned his breakfast. “It starts at eleven, so I gotta get upstairs and change.”

  Luke didn’t wait for her response. He simply kissed Gracie again before leaving her alone at the table to finish her omelet, bacon, and toast—alone. Gracie tried hard not to notice the other young newlyweds enjoying each other’s company over a lazy brunch as they cuddled with giggles and flirtatious whispers. She sat there for half an hour. She had lost her appetite, but she wanted to prove to herself that it didn’t bother her to eat by herself. She gazed out into the view of the ocean, a solace sea of crystal blue refracting glimmers of white. She couldn’t see the beach from her seat, only the ocean that seemed to stretch into infinite loneliness. Teddy watched Gracie gaze at the water for ten minutes before her pensive sadness got the best of him.

  Teddy left the table and headed for the concierge’s podium. The concierge was rehashing the details of last night’s basketball game with the front desk attendant. Teddy saw his opportunity to scribble on the concierge’s notepad and swipe away an activity brochure. When he returned to Gracie’s table, the bus boy was clearing away her full plate of food. Teddy snuck the pamphlet in front of her while Gracie rummaged through her purse, digging for a twenty dollar bill. In fancy restaurants, Gracie always paid more in tip than she should because she was more afraid of appearing cheap than she was of overpaying. She didn’t realize that everything, including their meals, would be charged to Puffy Ellington’s credit card through the couple’s final hotel bill.

  When she looked up, she spotted the activity brochure on the table. It was opened to the full-page advertisement for Nature Outing: Tour of Maui’s Indigenous Wild Butterfly Sanctuary.

  Teddy watched her consider it, then quickly slid out of the booth and approached the concierge desk.

  “Hello, I’d like to sign up for this outing.” Gracie handed over the brochure to the concierge. “For the Wild Butterfly Sanctuary. Today, if you still have space available.”

  “Certainly, Miss. Your name, please?”

  “Gracie Harris… I mean, Gracie Ellington.”

  “Ahhhh, yes. I’ve got you already scheduled for today. This note was left on your behalf.”

  The concierge pointed down at his notepad: Please sign Gracie Harris up for the Butterfly Sanctuary Tour this afternoon as requested by her Handsome Secret Admirer.

  “Looks like my husband knows me better than I thought,” she said with smile. Teddy smiled in unison. The relief on her face was worth the deception.

  “They’re scheduled to depart a quarter to noon from the main lobby,” confirmed the concierge.

  Gracie tore off the note from the notepad. “Thanks so much.” She cradled it in her hand and entered the elevator to arrive to her penthouse suite. The maid had cleaned a few minutes earlier and an immaculate tranquility had taken over the room. The bed was made, the pillows were fluffed, and a crystal vase of tropical flowers rested on the patio table on the balcony. The sliding windows were open, circulating the aromatic ocean breeze through the sheer opal curtains. The maid had replenished the miniature bottles of shampoo and heart-shaped soaps along the porcelain ledge of the Jacuzzi, and she had hung fresh fluffy towels and plush matching His & Her robes on the nickel-plated hooks.

  Gracie glanced at her watch and considered her wardrobe. She rummaged through her unpacked suitcase and pulled out a simple summer dress with a pastel floral print and spaghetti straps. She headed into the bathroom and started the water for the shower. She started to undress when she caught sight of a crimson smudge on the lapel of one of the robes. Gracie scrutinized the scarlet crescent moon and realized it was a lipstick imprint. She immediately seized the robe and scurried out into the hallway.

  “Excuse me, excuse me?”

  The cleaning lady glanced back at Gracie and halted her supply cart.

  “Hi, sorry to bother you. But you gave my husband a dirty robe. May I have a different one, please?”

  Surprised, the cleaning lady looked back at the room number of Gracie’s suite, confirming she had properly cleaned it. When Gracie displayed the glaring cherry lipstick on the robe’s white terrycloth, the maid gushed with nods and apologies in incomprehensible Chinese.

  The maid handed a clean robe to Gracie and expressed her embarrassment in flurried Mandarin. Gracie smiled, trying to assuage her, but the maid simply wanted Gracie to understand that she took her work very seriously, and she was appalled at herself for not seeing the stain, and she always double checked each towel and robe before placing them in each room, and she would never knowingly put a dirty robe in one of the suites.

  Gracie didn’t understand a single word, but the fact that the cleaning lady felt really, really bad about the robe was obvious. She wondered if the maid remembered to pick up the five-dollar tip she had left on the night table. Gracie coaxed the maid down the hallway towards her suite and encouraged the maid to wait outside. Meanwhile, Gracie retrieved the five dollars and handed it to her. Immediately, the Chinese maid returned the money and wagged her finger in refusal. Finally, she shooed Gracie back into her room with a new pristine robe and a respectful bow. Gracie returned to the bathroom and hung up the new robe next to her own, thinking how lucky it was that she noticed it before she entered the shower. Gracie didn’t notice the two fresh bath towels the maid had draped along the silver towel bar were unevenly hung and slightly damp.

  Chapter Nine

  A keeper may not destroy property in the lower dimensions

  Gracie entered the lobby ten minutes late and caught up with her tour group. They were being herded into a white mini-van by the group’s tour guide, Freddie Fontaine, a friendly African-American kid from Wisconsin who flashed his Hollywood smile and whistled with a shake of his head when his guests asked if he missed the Midwestern winters. There were six guests in total—two middle-aged women from Louisiana with big hair and bigger accents; a retired married couple from France, and a “Hair Clubs for Men” bachelor from Detroit. Teddy noticed that Baldy from Detroit had his eye on Gracie from the start. Gracie’s sweet face, feline green eyes, and friendly zeal made her a magnet. When Gracie worked at O’Connell’s, she never had the heart to blow off clingy middle-aged loners the way Bebe or Stella did, which simply made the desperate ones gravitate towards Gracie even more.

  Teddy spotted his intentions from a mile away, and warned Baldy’s keeper about the way he was eyeing
Gracie the entire van ride to the marina.

  “Hey, make sure your mortal isn’t aiming to get fresh with a girl half his age, or I’ll get fresh with him.”

  Baldy’s keeper, a defensive old Blue Hair with a peacock neck and silver stare, didn’t like Teddy’s insinuations—not one bit.

  “He wouldn’t dare hit on her,” said Blue Hair with haughty offense. “She’s not even his type.”

  “Oh really? And who’s his type? Any female who responds to ‘sit’ and ‘lay down?’ ”

  Blue Hair widened her eyes, protracted her peacock neck, and squawked her disdain. It was a callow and crude comment, and Teddy knew it. But he had every intention of protecting Gracie and he wasn't about to let some hairy gorilla sleazebag—disguised as a gregarious fun-loving insurance salesman wearing Bermuda shorts and an undershirt tank top—ruin the solace and beauty of their day together.

  The butterfly sanctuary was an isolated swatch of undeveloped land, a combination of jagged sand dunes sprouting wild willow brush and bleached meadow grass. It was a fifteen-minute speed boat ride from the marina to the island sanctuary, and the group was hustled out of the van and onto a modern double-tier recreational boat that looked like a high-top tennis shoe bobbing along with the water’s wayward currents.

  Freddie, the tour guide, stood on the edge of the pier, offering his steady hand for support as each of his guests mounted the boat’s stern and stepped inside its lower deck. Thelma and Louise from New Orleans hung onto Freddie like two cats fearing the water. They bellowed with ecstatic laughter as the boat teetered dramatically back and forth with their heavy entrance. The European couple secured their balance using Freddie’s hand, and jumped from the pier into the boat with delicate French Riviera manners. Gracie, who was secretly terrified of the surrounding water, took Freddie’s hand and hesitated while stepping onto the deck. Then, there was Baldy, who ignored Freddie’s assistance in a proud display of macho verve, and awkwardly hopped into the speed boat when the cruiser was the farthest from the pier’s edge. He stumbled into its cabin with a heavy thud, and tripped over a life jacket resting along the boat’s interior hull. For the next five minutes, Baldy bumbled around, kicking at the life jacket to set himself free from the entanglement, and shuttered the boat with such tumultuous gyration that everyone else clung to their seats and watched him in horror. It was obvious that Baldy was always picked last by his classmates in grade school gym. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he also had decided during the van ride to make friends with the cute lonely girl from Chicago.