by Lauren Burd
Emma appeared wounded. “You can only take my word.” She stood, preparing to leave. “I hope you realize the risk we took in coming here to meet you.” She began to walk away, but then stopped and came back to the table. “I hope you can forgive us one day.” Tears stood in her eyes as she made her way outside.
Zurich
“What do we do now?” I asked, trying not to worry about the danger.
Samuel remained silent so long I thought he hadn’t heard me. “We’ll go to Zurich. I can get us money and new passports there.”
I gave him a questioning look. “Why do we need new passports?”
“I’d rather be overly cautious. Thanos, Ethan, or someone else may have put our passports on a watch list. The last thing we want to do is tip them off on where we are or where we’re headed.” Samuel stood and left money on the table to cover our bill.
“How long will we have to stay there?” I asked as we walked to the front door.
“A few days at least. It takes a while to get high quality IDs.”
“Is there any way I can call my dad? I want to make sure he’s safe.”
He seemed reluctant. “I think there’s a phone outside you can use. I’ll go get the car. Just try not to take too long.”
I ran back to the counter to get a calling card. When I made it out to the phone, though, someone else was using it. I waited at a polite distance, but as the seconds ticked past, I grew impatient. Samuel would be back with the car soon, and I didn’t have the time to waste waiting for the woman on the phone to finish. I cleared my throat, hoping to get her attention. She gave me a dirty look, but after another minute, she hung up. I gave her an awkward smile as she turned to leave.
It felt like forever before Dad finally answered. “Hello, Dr. Taylor speaking,” he said in a sleepy voice. I’d totally forgotten about the nine hour time difference.
“Hey, Dad,” I said, relief flooding through me.
“Oh, Alina. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you tonight. How are you doing?”
I thought about how to answer. It wasn’t as if I could tell him the truth. He also didn’t know I was supposed to be on a plane to his place. I had wanted to surprise him for the Christmas holidays. I guessed that wouldn’t be happening now.
“I’m fine, Dad. I’ve just been keeping real busy. How about you? Do you have any plans for the holidays?”
“No. I was going to volunteer to be the on-call neurologist, but Dr. Thompson is going through a divorce and doesn’t have his kids, so he wants the distraction. How are the wedding plans going?”
I grimaced. I’d completely forgotten about my fake engagement to Duncan to explain my absence from school. “We put them on hold for now. Things were moving so fast, and I just needed some time to think about it.”
“Is everything okay? Not that I’m not relieved that you’re taking a step back, but did something happen?” I heard worry mixed with relief in his voice.
“No. Nothing happened. We’re just taking a break. I’m going to travel around for a little while with some friends I’ve made here. I’ll probably look into a few of the universities also.”
“Traveling with some people you met? How well do you know them?”
“One of the girls is Duncan’s sister; the other is his cousin and a friend from her school.” The ease with which the lies flowed surprised me. I wondered if the wires in my brain had gotten scrambled during my illness because I’d never been very good at lying before I’d gotten sick.
“Is there a number I can reach you at?”
“Not yet. I don’t have an international phone, but I’ll be sure to pick one up soon. Oh, they just pulled up,” I said, watching Samuel pull up to the curb. “I better go. They’re waiting on me.”
“Try to be safe, sugar plum, and call me if you need anything. I love you.” The worry from earlier in our conversation had crept back into his voice.
“I love you, too, Dad. I’ll call you soon. Bye.”
“Bye.”
It took everything I had to hang up the phone. Tears burned at the back of my eyes as I walked over to meet Samuel.
“Is everything okay?” he asked as I climbed into the passenger seat.
“Yeah. My dad’s safe. I just miss him a lot, and I really hate lying to him.”
Samuel gave me an understanding smile. “It’s safer for him that he doesn’t know everything.”
“I know that. It doesn’t mean I have to like lying to him.” My voice was unintentionally harsh. “I’m sorry. I’m just tired and…” I trailed off, turning to stare out of the window.
“I’m sorry this is happening. I know it’s not fair of me, getting you caught up in this mess. All I wanted to do was keep you safe, but it looks like I can’t even do that.”
I turned to look at him. “There’s no reason for you to apologize. I made the choices that got me here, and even though I can’t remember half of them, I wouldn’t change them even if I could. I can’t explain it, but when I’m with you, it just feels right.”
A smile pulled up the corners of Samuel’s mouth. “I feel the same way. I just wish I could give you something more than this.”
“Whoa. Any more and I might have a heart attack.” We both laughed at my lame attempt at a joke.
* * *
We didn’t arrive in Zurich until late in the evening. We only stopped once during the entire drive, and I had picked up something to eat, but that was hours ago. My stomach felt as though it were going to cave in on itself.
Samuel had made several phone calls toward the end of drive. He was still on the phone with someone, but they were speaking German, or at least it sounded like it. I was surprised at how fluidly he switched between languages. I was also curious if I would ever get to be as good as he was.
“Where are we going?” I asked once he was off the phone.
“To the hotel. I thought you might like to shower before we headed out to eat. They have a great restaurant on the premises if you wanted a nice meal.”
“I don’t really have the clothes for a nice meal.”
“What happened to the outfit I got for you at the hotel last night?” he asked suspiciously.
“I, um… I gave it back to Mr. Bennett before we left. I don’t have the money for clothes like that.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to buy them. They were a gift.”
“Well, I’m not in the mood for rich food anyway. I’d really just like to get a pizza,” I said, trying to direct the conversation back to dinner and away from my wardrobe.
“Did you want to shower before we eat?”
I wrapped my arms around my stomach to stifle the gurgling coming from it.
“Dinner first, then hotel,” Samuel said, chuckling lightly.
We stopped by a little pizzeria on our way to the hotel and picked up a couple of pizzas. I felt strangely out of place walking into the hotel carrying my bag and two pizza boxes. The clerk checking us in kept giving me funny looks, as if he could sense I didn’t belong in the posh retreat. I squirmed beneath his gaze, but as soon as Samuel threw his arm around my shoulders, the looks stopped.
As we took the elevator up to our floor, I felt myself fading. It had been a long day, and all I wanted to do was eat, shower, and go to bed.
“I’m sorry about the room,” Samuel said, opening the door. “The one I wanted to get was occupied.”
I stared in disbelief. A blanket of stars visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows made the city below seem more like a painting than reality. The crisp white leather furniture captured the view outside perfectly. A small door led out onto the balcony that melted into the into the night.
“Are you kidding me? This place is nicer than most apartments.” I wondered how much money I would owe him by the time our visit in Switzerland had ended. I threw my bag on the sofa and grabbed a slice of pizza from the box.
“Aren’t you going to wait for me?” Samuel asked as I began eating.
“Um, sorry. It just smel
led so good.”
He sat down on the sofa next to me and grabbed a slice.
“Aren’t you full yet?” He stared at me as I nibbled at one of the few remaining pieces of pizza.
“Yeah, but there’s not a fridge, and I don’t want to waste it. Besides, it’s not like I have to worry about getting fat right now. From what Dr. Williams told me, the virus is making me burn through calories like a jet engine.”
“I just don’t want you to get sick.”
I shoved the last bit of pizza in my mouth and glanced around the room again. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“It’s off the bedroom. I told you not to eat too much. I knew it was going to make you sick.”
“I’m not sick. I need to pee.”
Samuel flushed slightly but didn’t say anything else.
After picking the wrong door and winding up in the closet, I found the bathroom. The floor-to-ceiling windows continued there. I accidently hit a second switch, thinking it was the fan, and an opaque tint covered the windows. I sighed in relief. I wouldn’t have been able to use the restroom with the whole world able to see inside.
I eyed the large spa tub in the corner as I washed my hands. It had been nearly two days since I’d showered, and the thought of soaking in a bath was just too much to resist. Everything I needed to bathe was already in the bathroom, so I didn’t need to get my bag. As I stripped, a light knock on the door reminded me that I wasn’t alone.
“Is everything okay?” Samuel asked through the door.
“Yeah.” I wrapped myself in a towel, just in case. “I was just going to get a bath before heading to bed.”
After a pause, he asked, “Did you need anything from your bag?”
“Um… no. There’s a robe and soap in here. I should be okay. Thanks, though.” I felt weird talking to Samuel while wearing nothing but a towel, even if a door stood between us.
“All right, let me know if you need anything.” I listened as his footsteps faded into the distance.
The bath felt wonderful and gave me time to think about everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours. I was supposed to be in Los Angeles visiting my dad with my fiancé. Instead, I was in Zurich with Samuel, the man I should have been running from. Duncan was… I wondered what he was doing. Was he okay? Was he looking for me? Did he really believe that Samuel would hurt me? Why had he lied to me? When this was all over, he would have a lot of explaining to do. I shook my head, clearing away thoughts of Duncan.
When I started to drift off to sleep, I decided to get out of the tub. I peeked out the door to see if Samuel was in the bedroom, but all I saw was my bag lying on the bed. Despite wearing a robe, I ran to my bag and grabbed undergarments before ducking back into the bathroom to get dressed. I regretted not keeping the clothes Samuel had gotten for me at the last hotel as I slipped back into the clothes I had worn the previous night. I would have to do some shopping tomorrow.
I went back out into the bedroom and noticed that several pillows were missing from the bed. Walking out to the living room, I found Samuel in the process of preparing a makeshift bed on the sofa.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m pretty exhausted and wanted to get to bed early. Besides, we have a lot to do tomorrow, and we both need to rest.”
“Oh. Why are you were sleeping out here? I thought you would take the bed.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not being ridiculous. I had the bed last night; you should have it tonight.”
“No. I had a bed last night, too.”
“The guest bed doesn’t count.”
“How would you know? Did you sleep on it?”
“No, but─”
“No buts. I’ll sleep on the sofa tonight. I’ll check with the concierge in the morning and see if he can’t move some things around and get us in a two-room suite.”
I crinkled my nose, but from the look on his face, there was no budging him. “Fine, but when you wake up sore all over from sleeping out here, I don’t want to hear any complaints. Also, if you can’t get a different room, then you get the bed tomorrow night. Deal?”
He laughed softly. “Deal.”
“I guess I should get to bed then?”
“Yeah, I think we both should. Would you mind setting the alarm for seven? That should give us enough time to get breakfast and do some shopping before our appointment at the bank.”
I nodded. “Is there anything else you need?” I found myself hoping he would ask me to stay up with him or maybe to give him a goodnight kiss. I hadn’t kissed him since last night, and he’d felt so distant all day. It was probably just nerves, or perhaps he was preoccupied with the things he’d learned or needed to get done. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it had something to do with me, though.
“I can’t think of anything.” He kicked off his shoes and sat down on his improvised bed.
“Well… goodnight,” I said after a few awkward moments of silence.
“Goodnight.” He looked up at me, his eyes smoldering for one brief moment before turning back to ice.
I felt off balance as I made my way back into the bedroom and crawled under the covers. My mind raced as I considered what just happened. Had I done something wrong? Despite being exhausted physically, I couldn’t seem to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. After an hour, I finally gave up.
Slipping on my jeans, I used the exit in the bedroom and went out onto the balcony. Snow covered nearly everything outside, and the night air was crisp. Usually I would have been wrapped in several layers and wearing a parka. Instead, I stood outside in bare feet with nothing but jeans and a t-shirt, and it felt little different from the toasty room I’d just left, thanks to the virus.
The sparkling stars and dancing city lights painted a magical scene. It was hard to believe there were monsters in the world when I stared out at that view. The past few weeks had taught me better, but it was comforting letting myself be fooled for a little while.
I scooted along the balcony until I came to the living room window. I tried to resist the urge to look in and see if Samuel was restless, too, but I soon gave up. He appeared to be sleeping peacefully on the sofa, his arm tossed across his face to block the light streaming in from the window. I watched him sleep for a few minutes before I realized how creepy it would appear if he woke up and caught me.
Running back to the other end of the balcony, I ducked into the bedroom and threw myself under the covers. My heart raced in my chest as my brain kept throwing up images of Samuel catching me. What if he wasn’t asleep? What if he was just pretending? I tried to calm down, but it just got worse. I was too scared to get back out of bed, so I lay there and tried to make myself sleep. Eventually, my thoughts started to muddy, and sleep pulled me under.
Errands
The alarm blaring from across the room woke me up the next morning. I stumbled over and fumbled with the machine until I managed to turn it off. The bright numbers glared at me, daring me to crawl back into bed. Rather than getting a few minutes of pointless sleep that would no doubt leave me even more tired, I decided to use the extra time to my advantage. I went to the bathroom and did my best to make myself look presentable.
Looking in the mirror, I realized I didn’t have much to work with. Dark circles hung heavy around my eyes from lack of sleep. There were several red lines with accompanying folds on one side of my face from falling asleep on the crinkled pillow case. I’d taken off my jeans before bed, but my shirt looked like I’d wadded it up while half wet and thrown it in the corner to dry. Throwing my hair in a ponytail, I went to work washing my face and brushing my teeth. By the time I finished, I at least appeared awake, but I couldn’t do much else without a clean change of clothes and more sleep.
I walked out to the living room to wake Samuel. A light blush suffused my cheeks as I stared at his sleeping form. His arm still lay across his face, but the sheet had fallen down around his waist, revealing his bare chest. I sw
allowed my desire to go over and touch his perfectly sculpted muscles. A small moan escaped his lips, and I remembered standing out on the balcony, staring at him while he slept. It wouldn’t be any better being caught this morning than last night.
“Uh… Samuel? It’s time to get up.” He stirred slightly but remained asleep. “It’s a little after seven,” I said a little louder. No response.
I debated about what to do next. I thought about a Sleeping Beauty reversal for a split second, but instead decided to grab one of the pillows from the arm chair. Tossing it at his stomach, I said, “If you don’t get up, we won’t have time to get anything to eat, and I don’t think you want to be around me when I get really hungry.”
Samuel caught the pillow just before it hit its intended target. “I’m awake.” He sat up and stretched. I turned my back as he stood. It was one thing to stare at him while he slept, but quite another matter with him awake to catch me. I couldn’t resist glancing at his reflection in the windows, though. He wore only a pair of boxer briefs that left little to the imagination. I quickly pulled the tie holding my hair up out as I felt heat spread through my body.
“Are you done in the bathroom?” he asked.
“Um, yeah.”
“I won’t be long.”
He walked into the bedroom, taking his reflection with him. My heart raced in my chest, preventing the blush from completely leaving my skin. I set to work cleaning the living room to help relieve some of my nervous tension.
“You know they pay people to clean the room for you,” Samuel said as he rejoined me.
“I know. I just hate leaving a big mess for someone else to clean up.”
“We better get going. I spoke with the concierge and made an early appointment with the boutique downstairs.”
I didn’t like the way he said boutique. It made it sound really expensive. I wasn’t wrong.
“Good morning. My name is Frau Bachmann. I’ll be assisting you today,” a woman in her mid forties greeted us as we entered the little store.