Just as I shoved a few more fries into my mouth Mrs. Yandell returned with mustard which she deposited on the table next to Adam’s plate and smiled at me. “I called over across the street and they're setting up your room now.”
“But I—”
“No buts! They’ll take great care of you over there.” She waved a hand in the air and walked away, stopping at another table to say hello on her way back to the kitchen.
I didn't know what to say. Without a lot of money, but with nowhere else to go, I didn't have many alternatives. Any alternatives. Adam came back to the table, slid into his side of the booth, and picked up his burger. With one hand, and without a word, he brought the sandwich up to his mouth and took a bite so large I wondered if I’d finish half my dinner before he was ready to get the check and leave.
As I ran a knife down the middle of my burger to make it a more manageable size, my eyes traveled up to the neon clock above the kitchen window. We still had an hour before we even had to head back. I took a bite of my beef patty and closed my eyes as the savory grease spread across my tongue. My mouth involuntarily formed a smile.
“Vegetarian,” he said and laughed.
“That might've been a lie,” I muttered, mouth half-full.
Before I even finished chewing my second mouthful, Adam all but inhaled two-thirds of his burger in two enormous bites. With a smile, he finished off the last bite of his burger, wiped his mouth, and tossed the napkin on his plate.
Standing up he announced, “I have somewhere I need to be right now. Take this,” he said and tossed two twenty dollar bills on the table in my general direction, “and go check into the hotel. I'll be back to get you in thirty minutes.”
“But I thought I wasn’t leaving your—”
“I promise I’ll be back,” he cut me off.
“Okay, I guess I don't have a choice anyway. Theme of my day.”
“In front of the hotel in thirty. Okay?”
“Sure,” I said and he started to walk away, “and thanks for dinner.”
He turned back and quickly caught my glance before pushing the door outward. He smiled at me. Big pearly white teeth temporarily blinded my irritation. I was glad to be sitting down. Feeling like a teenager in another eighties movie, my knees literally felt weak under the table. The guy was so hot and despite my initial reaction to his aloof approach, he was starting to grow on me. He seemed nicer than I was willing to admit to his face. My cheeks burned at the thought.
I looked down at my plate and it finally hit me. I was alone with someone else’s forty dollars, no ID, no clue where I was, and no way to contact anyone I knew. I didn’t even know anyone’s phone number anymore. Lost to the address list in my cell phone. My dead cell phone. Stuck in the tow truck. I sunk further into the hole beneath my butt, drowned another fry in ketchup, then drowned my self-pity with the rest of my fatty, greasy meal.
After finishing up, I walked out of the restaurant to a chorus of, ‘see you tomorrow!’, ‘nice meeting you!’, ‘sleep well, Deb!’, from a handful of people I hadn't even met. If Adam had been my first impression of Cedar Falls I was happy to be proven wrong by everyone else. Though I had to admit, my initial reaction to his requests might have been a little too sensitive. Now, fed and full, I considered that the guy was just doing his job.
Outside, with a quick glance in either direction, I crossed the street for the Cooper Hotel. Daylight faded into sunset and I caught sight of the North Star sitting just above the roof of the hotel. My aunt Sylvia was the one who taught me about constellations when we all went camping for a weekend the year I turned six. My mom was there. She loved camping. Simultaneously I smiled and frowned, turning my lips into a thin, emotionless looking line. I pulled the door open and entered the lobby.
Things were quiet just inside the door. Whoa, I thought and found my feet at a standstill just inside the door. The place was outrageously ornate. Every piece of rich, cherry toned wood had been carved to display leaves, flowers, trees, animals. Wainscoting with grand columns. The place was like a testament to wood.
Every flat wall surface displayed patterned wallpaper. I felt like I walked into the wild West in the 1800s where horse motifs and other wagon train style scenes were the primary paper decoration. And it wasn’t the vinyl stuff usually plastered to people’s walls. Someone had spent a lot of time pasting the paper and getting it lined up just right. It was a lot to take in but I approached the front desk with wide eyes.
I dinged the bell next to the ‘ring for service’ sign and a head topped with frizzy red curls appeared in an open doorway just behind the mahogany counter top. She said goodbye then hung up the receiver of the phone and approached the counter.
“Hi there, welcome to the Cooper Hotel,” she said and extended a hand across the slick surface, “I’m Chloe, and you must be Deb?”
“Uh, yeah,” I responded and reached out to shake her hand.
“Mrs. Yandell said to take good care of you. We've set you up in one of our suites on the third floor, if you'll just follow me,” she came out from behind the desk and stopped short, “oh, you don't have any bags?”
“No, my suitcase is still in my car back at the garage.”
“Ah, that makes sense. You're the girl with the car trouble.”
“Yes. And I think there's some mistake. I don't think… um… a suite is—”
I cut myself off not sure how to tell her I couldn't afford such a fancy room as a suite. A broom closet with a pillow would do the trick. Or that I’d be happy with crashing in the lobby on a sofa. The fireplace at the far end of the space was roaring, it would keep me cozy all night.
“Don't worry about anything, your room is covered,” she said, as if reading my mind, then walked towards the elevator past the opulent grand staircase that took up over half of the visual space in the lobby.
“What do you mean covered?”
“Mr. Cooper has taken care of everything, follow me.”
“Mr. Cooper? As in Cooper Hotel, Cooper everything in town, Cooper?” I was dumbfounded.
My feet moved to catch up to the hotel employee. She didn't look much older than me. Her navy blue and green uniform seemed slightly out of place for somewhere so empty. But despite its formal structure, it set off her eyes against her pale skin. She had a little bounce to her step. A happy bop.
“Yes, he called in earlier after Mrs. Y. He knows you’re stuck in town for a couple days, and wanted you to see what Cedar Falls really has to offer. Hospitality!”
The elevator arrived. It was more modern inside than I expected compared to the lobby. Chloe talked to me about the sights in and around town as we rode up to the third floor. I tried to listen, absorb what she was telling me, but I couldn't think of anything other than Mr. Cooper. Coop, as his garage nameplate indicated. Town owner. Or at least major holder of many businesses in town. And my new favorite person. I definitely needed to track the guy down and thank him profusely.
Chloe handed me my key and pointed down the hallway to the door at the end on the far left. I thanked her and started for my room. She tossed me a little wave and headed back downstairs in the elevator. All I could muster was a smile and a wave in return.
The wallpaper on my floor had a similar vibe to the lobby. Lots of old time scenes. Except, up on the top floor, the wainscoting was white and they installed bright red carpeting. To further the creepiness, dimly lit halls made me feel as if I was on the set of The Shining. The thought made me laugh out loud as I opened the door to my room. Home, for the next couple days.
Inside the room, I plunked down on the edge of the bed and looked at the digital clock on the side table. I had about ten minutes before I was expected downstairs. With no luggage I felt lost on how to pass the time. As I spied a spot of dirt still on my pants from the puddle incident earlier, I remembered the damage done to my hair and face. That might take more than ten minutes to get under control, I thought.
CHAPTER SIX
My feet traversed the olive green carpet
to the door of the bathroom. The reflection looking back at me was worse than I had imagined. Jet-black mascara and eyeliner had pooled up just below my lower lid area, leaving a hard edged crust of dried out makeup resembling a week-old black eye. Actually, two of them. I turned on the hot water and unwrapped the thin bar of hotel soap.
My hair was essentially a lost cause. But I understood why Adam laughed at my appearance. Spiny spikes of curls stuck out at a ninety-degree angle from my forehead. Separated from each other I looked like I was going for some alternate version of Jheri curls. Rick James would have been jealous if only the curls would rest flat on my forehead. But my straightener, like everything else, was still in my luggage. The running water warmed and I ran the facecloth under the stream then added hotel soap suds.
Dragging the coated cloth across the sensitive skin beneath my eyes felt too rough after just a few passes. It was like using sandpaper coated in straight lye and my makeup was being stubborn. I resigned to the fact I was stuck looking like a raccoon with an eighties hairstyle until I could get my suitcase. Could this day get any worse, I wondered, while staring at my frown. Then I thought better of wishing for added challenges.
“Forget I thought anything,” I announced aloud to the air above my head, as if some universal force would hear me calling off the dogs of my day.
I cleaned up as best as I could, including running my fingers over my bangs. There was still a bit of hairspray and gel that let me form them into a flatter version of curls. Like I’d plunked a life-sized version of black plastic Lego hair onto the top of my head.
Shrugging at the general lack of improvement in my appearance, I decided it really didn’t matter how I looked. The only people I expected to see in the next hour had already seen me at my worst today anyway. Key in hand, I headed back down to the lobby.
Adam was waiting curbside with the engine running and I got in the passenger side. He pulled away from the hotel without a word and we rode, mostly in silence, back to the garage.
Instead of chatting, I heard the faint cry of Robert Plant coming from the speaker in the door. Plant insisted he’d lose his mind for loving his baby. I turned to stare out the side window, identifying with the potential for going nuts. I felt beat down. Exhausted. Ready to be done with this day. This week. And, if I was being honest, the past fourteen years.
We arrived at the garage and I got out of the car but Adam stayed in it with the engine running. I paced around my car and caught a glance from him every time I spun on a heel. Every time our eyes would connect, his would immediately dart downward. I wondered why he suddenly seemed so uncomfortable looking me in the eye.
Minutes later, when the tow truck driver pulled up, Adam shut down his engine and made his way inside the building. The driver apologized in the neighborhood of twelve times as he got out of the truck. He handed me my purse and apologized again. I checked to make sure the contents were intact (they were) and I told him it was my fault. We thanked each other and he left me beside my broken car. I fished out my suitcase and went inside to take care of the fifty dollar deposit.
Adam explained he had another appointment in town so we had to scoot. I wondered what other types of appointments the guy kept. But I was emotionally, physically, and mentally worn down and more than happy to get this day over with. All I wanted was to get back to the hotel, charge my phone, take a long shower, and get in bed for the night. I tossed my suitcase in his backseat and noticed the pile of wood and blankets had disappeared.
As we pulled up to the hotel he said, “I’ll let you know tomorrow about the car.”
“Okay, thanks.”
He said good night as I closed the door. He flipped a U-turn and ambled up the street before I got inside the hotel. Chloe and I waved at each other as I stood, waiting for the elevator. Up in the suite, after a fast but blazing hot shower, I plugged in my cell and climbed into bed to sleep off the sigh-inducing events of my life.
CHAPTER SEVEN
My eyes opened despite a heavy crust on my corners, both inside and outside. I cursed the heavy makeup for making my face feel like I had something heavy on my face still. And I’d scrubbed off every last black bit of it in the shower. With a glance at the clock I realized I slept almost twelve hours. I must have needed the extra sleep though because, other than my eyes, my body felt refreshed and ready to take on the day. Not that I had any idea what the day would bring, I was stranded in what my grandfather would have called a one horse town.
I swung my legs out from under the covers, flipped the blanket off of the rest of my body, and crossed the room for my suitcase. With my flat iron hair straightener, small bag of makeup, and outfit in hand I made my way to the bathroom to get ready. The twinge in the back of my head told me I’d need coffee as soon as possible. Guess I’d spend another meal getting acquainted with Cooper’s Diner.
About an hour later I was moving into a full-swing tension headache but I was ready to go. Key in hand I left the solitary comfort of my hotel room. As the elevator brought me down to the lobby, I dialed my cousin’s phone number. I knew Rachel would be home, she told me she took the weekend off from her retail job. When her answering machine picked up, I left a message.
“Hey Ray, it’s me, hope you’re doing okay. I won’t be able to get down there for a couple more days unfortunately. Car problems. But if you need anything, even just to talk, give me a call. I’ve got my cell phone.”
The elevator doors opened as I hung up on the call and I crossed the lobby without seeing another person. I hadn’t really thought about it the night before but the hotel was really historic looking and it surprised me so much that the place wasn’t more jumping on a weekend. Or jumping at all. I got the sense I was all alone in the place other than the young guy manning the front desk. We waved at each other as I passed but we didn’t speak. That was fine with me, I needed caffeine.
I pushed out onto Main Street, happy the one restaurant in town was directly across the street. From the looks of things the diner was where everyone in town gathered. Even if nobody frequented the hotel they sure loved their food in Cedar Falls. And I could smell fresh brewed coffee before I even entered the building. It made me smile as I made my way inside.
The booth from last night was open so I sat on the other side to avoid the hole under the vinyl. An entirely new group of people took over the restaurant and the level of chatter was high when I walked in. Moms with their young kids, a group of three guys all in what looked like construction gear, and a different waitress. She was much younger than Mrs. Yandell and I was secretly sad not to see the friendly woman this morning.
I ordered grits, biscuits and gravy, some bacon, and, of course, a coffee. People looked in my direction from time to time and I could hear rumbling whispers through the place about who I was and why I was in their small, tight-knit town. Nobody but the waitress talked to me today though.
After about an hour, I polished off the last of my food and java then made my way out of the restaurant. I didn’t even realize it while I sat inside but the whole thing made me very uncomfortable. I felt like I was on display. Like everyone knew who I was and sat there judging me for my lack of preparedness in letting my car break down. I just wanted to get to Santa Barbara.
Outside I spied a bench a little ways down Main Street and decided to go sit and make a few phone calls. First, I called my dad. He didn’t pick up so I left a similar message to the one I left Rachel. Then I called my uncle Gary, Ray’s dad, expecting everyone must be at his house and that’s why I couldn’t get any of them at home. No such luck. Another answering machine. I opted not to leave another rambling car trouble message and just hung up with a long sigh.
“Where the hell is everyone?” I asked while staring at the display on my cell phone.
“Hey there, Deb!” I heard from somewhere beside me and looked up to see Chloe coming down the street in my direction, waving at me.
“Hey Chloe, how are you?”
“Peachy, heading to work. You
?”
“Eh, I’m not sure yet. I’m caffeinated but I can’t reach any of my family.”
“Oh that sucks, do they know you’re stuck?”
“No, my phone was dead yesterday and everyone seems to have run away this morning. But whatever, I’ll hear back from them later I’m sure. Work? At the Hotel?”
“Yup, off to relieve Lenny.”
I pointed at the book in her hand, “Are you in school?”
“Sure am, and since my job is so slow I usually get to do all my schoolwork for a week in one shift. Do you go to school?”
“Oh no, I didn’t get into all of that college crap. I barely got through high school to be honest. I’m not really very intellectual.”
“I don’t know, Deb. I think anyone can get a degree it isn’t about being super smart but more about time management. Do you work?” She asked and sat down on the bench next to me though I hadn’t invited her to sit.
Alternate Plans (California Dreamin' Series Book 2) Page 4