They pulled back, looking at each other with longing and knowing. What was happening between them was far bigger than either of them could have imagined.
# # #
As they walked hand-in-hand back to the car, they looked for the keys one final time. On the way they created a plan: if they didn’t find the keys by the time they got to the car, they would contact Rose Garden security, Daniel’s landlord and Kathryn for a ride to his place.
Daniel noticed that he didn’t feel as tense about the whole situation as he had initially. Being in Shelby’s presence and talking through solutions with her made everything feel easier. When they got to the car, Daniel noticed something shiny and silver on the rooftop of Daphne, his green Subaru wagon.
“What the hell—“
He walked over to Daphne to find his keys sitting right on top of the roof. Daniel held them up before Shelby, bewildered.
Shelby, on the other hand, couldn’t contain herself. She burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard she was leaning over gasping for air.
“What’s so funny there missy?”
“The keys,” Shelby gasped in between laughs, “were on top of,” she could barely get the words out, “the car!”
“Yes, I see that. And however do you think they got there?” Shelby’s laughter was so hilarious that he was close to busting at the seams as well.
“Your mom.” Shelby was doubled over. She couldn’t believe it. The whole key incident had been orchestrated by his mother. She knew it.
“My mom?” Now Daniel wasn’t laughing. And he was pretty sure Shelby was delusional. “My mom is dead Shelby.” Suddenly he got very serious.
Shelby stopped laughing. Shit. Her and her big mouth.
“I know Daniel. But you know how people say that when our loved ones cross over they often come back to give us messages or play with us?” She was really hoping he would follow her lead on this one. She hadn’t been able to finish her conversation with Kathryn, so she didn’t have a full plan in place. Kathryn told her not to mention it until they could intuitively feel into the situation more and devise a better plan. But already Daniel was beginning to feel like her best friend and it was difficult to keep things from him.
“No. I don’t know too much about that kind of thing. But if my mom did do this, she must have had some reason beyond just giving me shit.”
Shelby breathed a sigh of relief, he wasn’t going to lose it and shut down on her.
“Well, it was a thought. How do you think they ended up there?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Daniel said. The mention of his mother made him think about the rustling in the rose bush, the eerie feeling in the air and how taking Shelby to Maui had popped into his mind—seemingly out of nowhere. Maybe Shelby was on to something. Maybe his mom was trying to get his attention. Although honestly, he thought, she was going to have to be a lot more direct if she wanted to get any sort of message through to him.
Chapter 6
“Okay, so one more time Shelby,” Kathryn said the next day as she stood in tree pose, sipping a steaming cup of green tea in her living room the following morning. “You saw her as a wispy outline of a woman and she told you that 1) it was taking her a lot of energy to present herself to you in that way—a topic we do need to explore at another time, and 2) that you needed to go to Maui with Daniel. And he leaves the day after tomorrow on this trip? And when do you see him next?”
“Yes, ma’am, that is it,” Shelby replied. She knew it sounded outrageous, but at the same time wickedly interesting. She had never before in her life had such a mystical experience and she had absolutely zero idea how to handle it. “And I see him tonight, then tomorrow for lunch and after that it’s all completely out of my hands.”
She had brought Laney along as well, figuring the more intuitive beings she had helping her through this conundrum, the better. Laney was curled up on Kathryn’s cream sofa, her dirty blonde locks swept up on top of her head, and two knitting needles in her hand. Laney had recently taken up knitting, promising that she would be making scarves for all four sisters for the upcoming holidays.
“I don’t understand why Shelby is getting to have all of the cool non-physical experiences. I thought I was the woo-woo one in our family,” Laney jokingly whined.
“Oh stop, you,” Shelby faux-swatted at her. “I need real help here. Focus.”
“Scott, you’ve got to come in here,” Kathryn called into the other room. “Shelby communicated with a dead person last night.” The sound of the words “dead person” brought Scott immediately into the living room, placing his hand on the small of Kathryn’s back as she stood in tree pose, kissing her on the lips. “You are so beautiful. Isn’t she beautiful?” Scott asked Shelby and Laney.
“The most beautiful.” They giggled in unison. Laney rolled her eyes, pretending to be uninterested in Scott’s love for Kathryn. The truth was, although Laney said she wasn’t ready for a serious relationship, seeing Kathryn and Scott made her (and everyone else who saw them) feel otherwise.
Scott smiled and planted another kiss on Kathryn. “I couldn’t agree more. But back to this dead person you’re talking to. What is this all about? Did she say what she wanted?”
Kathryn jumped in, “Yes, we’ve got all of those details honey. But now we need to come up with a plan. Daniel’s mother has been giving Shelby messages for the past four weeks. And when Shelby gave Daniel the first message, he freaked out. Now the mother is saying Shelby needs to go to Maui with him tomorrow and Shelby has no idea what to do.”
Scott stood, arms crossed, head down, legs at a wide stance, contemplating the situation. He and Kathryn were both extremely fascinated by mystical experiences and believed strongly in the afterlife. But neither of them had ever encountered a situation like this before.
“Have you tried connecting with her again to see if she can give you more specifics about how she wants you to do this?”
“Great question,” Shelby said. “Right as she was leaving, I asked how I was supposed to bring this up to Daniel, since he totally shut down and didn’t contact me for two-and-a-half weeks the last time I delivered one of her messages. She said she would, and I quote, ‘take care of it.’ But who knows what that even means. If she appeared to Daniel, he would probably lose his mind, which is most likely why she is coming to me instead.”
“Well, I think you should be totally honest with him and tell him what happened,” Kathryn said. “That’s how Scott and I handle everything. We are completely honest and work through things with complete transparency.”
Scott chuckled. “Oh, like when you were going ga-ga over that waiter at Andina after the huge fight we had—you know, when we were trying to figure out our future and when we would go to Hungary?”
Kathryn’s face crinkled. “Well, I told you…eventually.” Leaning over to Shelby, she whispered, loud enough for Laney to hear, “But, I waited like nine months until I felt like he wouldn’t be absolutely appalled by my ridiculous behavior. So, that’s actually a good point. He’ll think you’re nuts. Don’t say a word. Ask a lot about the trip, tell him you’ve always wanted to go, see if he invites you. When do you see him next?”
“I see him tonight for some wine at his place and then tomorrow afternoon for lunch. And I think you’re right. If momma wants me to ask him about going, she is going to have to pull out some type of divine intervention Daniel can witness as well. I can’t do this all on my own. It’s been a week of an amazing-awesome love fest. Inviting myself on this trip would be relationship suicide.” Shelby paused. “But you know, she did say that us humans get too wrapped up in timeframes. That keeps sticking with me for some reason.”
“Well, she’s absolutely right,” Scott chimed in. “Time is merely a man-made construct to provide us with the feeling of stability and control. Both of which are, of course, an illusion. But it’s an illusion we need to operate in the reality we’ve created for ourselves here. I knew Kathryn was the woman for me as
soon as I saw her. My mind said that was impossible, not to mention insane. And then I began to have all of these dreams about her and got really strong messages that she was The One. Turns out, I was right. You don’t need a timeframe when it comes to love. You just need love.”
Scott’s words were still ringing in Shelby’s ears as she drove to meet Daniel for lunch the next day at Bread & Ink Café on Southeast Hawthorne. “You just need love.”
But, was what she was feeling really love? Were the synchronicities and messages from the other side (not to mention visits) truly a sign that they were meant to be together? Shelby didn’t have a clear answer. But, she did know that if she could surrender and trust the flow of the Universe, the answers would be revealed.
Daniel was sitting at a table outside the café when she walked up. It was a lovely October afternoon, with clear skies and near-perfect temps for a Portland Indian summer. He stood to greet her as she walked up, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
“I’m so glad to see you,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve been thinking about you all day, especially after our night together. I don’t know how I’m going to go two weeks without you.”
She ran her fingers through his dark brown hair and sighed. “I know, right? I miss you already.”
“I know. Me too,” he whispered back.
They sat down at the table and stared back at each other.
“I can’t believe, at the same time I meet you, all of this is happening, and I’m leaving for two weeks to go to Maui for a break I’ve been waiting for, for the past year—or my whole life, really.”
“It’s wild, right? I’m so excited for you, albeit a little jealous. I’ve always wanted to go to Maui.” Shelby figured it was as good a time as any to try out Kathryn’s idea.
“Oh really? Have you traveled much?”
“A bit here and there—Mexico, the U.K., Spain, Brazil, Kauai even—but I feel like there’s still a bazillion places I would love to see. Maui is definitely on the list. Will you get to do any sightseeing while you’re there?”
“You know, to be honest with you, I’m not sure. Kaley hasn’t said much except that she, another agent and some publishers are staying at these villas and she wants to spend time reviewing my novel, talking about possibilities with them and see where it takes us. I’m going with it. I haven’t had this much interest shown in anything I’ve written.”
Shelby did her best to keep a smile on her face despite the growing pain in her stomach. There was no way Kaley Hamilton wasn’t going to be all over Daniel. He was amazing, and good-looking. And according to the word on the street, the woman practically dry humped any good-looking male author in a 10-mile radius of her.
Instead, she replied, “Wow, sounds like an adventure.” She took a big drink of water. “A work adventure, that is. Should we order?” Shelby looked down at her menu as though it were the most interesting thing in the world.
“You okay, Shelby? You seem a little, I don’t know…I’ve just never heard your voice get so high-pitched.”
“Oh, was it?” Shelby realized it was. “I’m sorry, Daniel. I’m so excited you are having such an awesome break in your career, but I’m a little bummed that you’ll be gone for two weeks when I was really starting to get used to you.”
“I know,” he reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “I am having mixed feelings about going too. In fact, I had the weirdest thing happen when we were at the gardens the other night. I randomly had this thought pop into my head that said, “take Shelby with you.” Daniel laughed, more loudly than usual. “I mean, isn’t that silly? We just met, like what—a month ago? And we just started spending all our time together this week.” He sighed, taking a big drink of water. “Yeah, we should probably order.”
Shelby couldn’t believe it—he had thought about them going to Maui together, as well. Maybe his mom was orchestrating some divine intervention.
The waitress came over to take their order and, out of sheer discomfort with the whole situation, Shelby decided to dive right in and order. I’ll take the pepper bleu burger, no bun and please add fries.” She caught Daniel looking at her smiling. “I’m starving.”
In truth, her stomach was doing a flip-flopping dance inside of her. Was he going to ask her? Wasn’t he? Was Kaley Hamilton going to attack him? Is that why his mom wanted her to go with him? Was the life she needed to save Daniel’s? Instead of addressing any of those things, she overcompensated by over-ordering in the hopes of acting as though everything was a-okay.
“You know, I’m not that hungry. I’ll take your cup of soup and salad.”
Apparently Daniel didn’t over-order when he wasn’t feeling well.
“Oh, well now I feel like a cow. Literally.” Shelby grinned.
“No, don’t. My head is going in so many directions right now, it’s tough to think about food.” He squeezed her hand and gave her a faux smile. Shelby realized then that he was doing his best to put on a good face, too.
Their meal passed without incident, as they talked about his book, his trip and Shelby’s long-held desire to start her own jewelry business. She had thought about getting a booth at Last Thursday—a street fair on Northeast Alberta—to see how her jewelry did for the upcoming summer, but there never seemed to be any time to research the idea or see about booths at the winter markets. Since meeting Daniel, the inspiration to expand her jewelry’s reach was hitting her hard. Lately, she had spent time at work trolling Etsy.com to see how her jewelry might do with an online store. Daniel was incredibly encouraging, telling her to go for it and sharing his experience with quitting his job in radio to focus full-time on his novel. It was inspiring. Shelby almost felt like she could do it. And with Daniel gone for the next two weeks with the seductress-slash-agent Kaley Hamilton, she anticipated that she was going to be making a lot of jewelry.
After lunch, they walked down Hawthorne, stopping at Swirl for some fro-yo. Over a cup of tart and pistachio frozen yogurt, Daniel shyly asked, “So…is it okay if I call you while I’m in Maui? I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a briefly long-distance love affair and get exorbitant charges on my cell bill. We could try it out.”
Shelby giggled, only slightly wondering if a “love affair” was a long-term or short-term commitment in Daniel’s mind. “Well, I would love to be part of your ridiculously high cell charges. But seriously, that could cost you an arm and possibly a leg.”
“I know, I’m not quite sure how you’ll reimburse me. But really, I would love to stay in touch with you while I’m away. We could Skype even. Although that’s kind of lame, but a possibility. Since I met you everything in my life has changed, and even though it’s only been a week of spending time together, it’s been incredible. I guess I’m kind of worried that things might change while I’m gone,” Daniel looked down, seemingly interested in the tiles on the floor.
“I’m a bit worried, too. I just…I don’t…I’m not sure…I, well, I don’t trust Kaley Hamilton,” Shelby blurted out. She hadn’t meant to say it, but she couldn’t help it. Why wasn’t Daniel tuned in to Kaley’s true motives? Why was this trip happening right as they were falling in love? Daniel looked surprised.
“What do you mean you don’t trust her? She’s a literary agent for crying out loud.” Daniel’s voice had an edge of exasperation to it.
“I’ve heard a few things here and there about her, which has led me to believe that she isn’t exactly the most trustworthy woman.”
Shelby let her voice trail off, afraid to look directly at Daniel, unsure of how he would respond. She continued, realizing she needed to give him more details, so she didn’t sound like a total jealous not-girlfriend, girlfriend. He simply stared back at her blankly, his eyes as big as saucers.
“I mean, I don’t for sure know details about anything, but I’ve heard that she has had romantic liaisons with several of her authors. Her offer to have you come down to Maui is thrilling, but with how good-looking, charming and amazing
you are,” Shelby was hoping some stroking of Daniel’s ego might soften the impact of her message. “I can’t help but wonder if she has other motives.”
Shelby was back-peddling now, but doing the best she could. She silently cursed her big mouth. Why couldn’t she have kept quiet about all of this? He was angry, she could see it in on his face now. The mood had gone from one of connection and love to ego and anger. Shelby felt like she had to back-up her comments, which after saying she didn’t trust a woman she didn’t know, was necessary. And Daniel’s ego wasn’t about to let anyone hint that his big-break trip was anything other than his big break.
“Well I appreciate your concern, but I can assure you that nothing even remotely romantic or flirtatious has occurred between Kaley and I. Even her emails to me about this retreat have been all business.” Daniel took a big bite of his fro-yo to stall. He was confused by what Shelby was telling him, and upset that she would insinuate that something besides him receiving a big break in his career was occurring. “Do you normally feel jealous in your relationships?”
This lit a fire under Shelby. She was simply trying to warn the guy before he arrived at the lioness’ lair.
“Okay Daniel, let’s be clear here—this is not about me being jealous, but rather me giving you a heads-up on what you might potentially be stepping into. This woman is a known seducer of her authors, and so excuse me for being concerned when she invites a man I’m totally falling for to Maui for two weeks to be with her. And then you tell me that she is being vague with details. Well, I wonder why Daniel? Most likely because the only details she has in mind are getting into bed with you.” Shelby knew she was overreacting, but she couldn’t stop herself. She was falling in love with Daniel and now he was going to Maui and, despite his mother’s nudging, Shelby wasn’t going with him. What if she lost him for good?
Daniel’s jaw tightened. Shelby was raising her voice and people were starting to notice. He stood up.
Following Bliss (The Quest series) Page 7