Bell, Book, and Sandals

by Melissa L. Webb

  I stood there, watching the delivery men bring in my new bedroom set. I had found the most beautiful antique carved cherry wood sleigh bed and all the pieces to match. It was even better than the bedroom set I had at home. Things were going so well now that I was on my fated path. I don’t know why I had avoided destiny for so long. It and I were about to become best friends forever.

  “You’re in a good mood,” Van said, watching me watch the men.

  “Yeah, well, shopping always does that for me. There’s nothing quite like retail therapy. Speaking of which, I got you a present, too,” I said, smiling like the Cheshire cat.

  “You didn’t need to do that,” she told me. “I don’t need anything.” Her eyes held a curiosity that belied her words.

  “I know you said the TV acts up now and then, so…” I stopped as two more movers came in, carrying a state-of-the-art 70” HD flat screen TV. “I got that for you.”

  “What?” she squealed in delight. “No way…I…” She turned back to me. “I can’t take that. It’s too much,” she said, her face falling a little.

  “Hey,” I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “It’s the least I could do. You’ve already done so much for me. Plus…I can’t say it’s entirely a selfless gesture. I’ll be watching it, too.”

  A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, threatening to come out and play. “But it costs so much.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Money is something I never have to think about.”

  “It must be nice,” Van said, eyeing the TV.

  “Yeah, but it’s true what they say. It can’t buy you happiness, and that’s all I want.”

  Van threw her arms around me in a hug. “Don’t worry, Max. I know you’ll be happy here,” she whispered before letting me go. “And thank you,” she added before flitting off to instruct the movers on where to place the TV.

  I smiled. I knew she was right. I could feel it in my bones. I was going to be happier here than I had ever been before. Ever. And my mom thought I was crazy when I said I needed to do this. Maybe I had been. But safe and sane didn’t amount to much at the end of the day if you were unhappy. And I was. More than I had ever known.

  “Knock, knock,” someone called from the doorway. I turned around and smiled. My first guest. “Well, hello, Mr. Blackhawk.”

  “Call me Danny,” he said, coming into the entrance foyer.

  I nodded and glanced over his shoulder, locking eyes with a shorter guy standing in the doorway. The ground seemed to sway as I held his gaze. I reached out, steadying myself against a stand as energy coursed through my body. It hummed through my veins, making me feel more alive than I ever had before. I couldn’t tell you what was happening. This was something totally foreign to me.

  I broke eye contact with him, shutting mine for a second, and just like that, the humming was gone. I felt empty, hollow inside at the absence of it. Immediately my body begged for more. I was nothing without that energy coursing through me. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. What was wrong with me?

  “Are you okay?” Danny asked as he steadied me. “Do you need to sit?”

  I shook my head. I was slowly beginning to gain control again. “I’m fine,” I said breathlessly. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast. That’s probably all it is.” I straightened up and smiled at him. “Thank you. I’m okay now.”

  “Good,” he said and turned to the guy in the doorway. “This is my old roommate, Jensen Harris.” He smiled mischievously at me. “He had to come up and see the new girl for himself.”

  “Hey,” he said, coming all the way in. “We don’t get new people around here very often. It’s always a big deal when it happens.”

  “Oh,” I said, stirring everyone with my dazzling intellect. Not. Give me a break. I was still trying to figure out what just happened to me. I shook myself mentally, forcing my manners back to the surface. Make small talk, Maxie. You were always so good at small talk. “Old roommate?” I asked, avoiding eye contact with him.

  “Yeah,” he said with a nod. “We use to share a place, but now I have my own apartment on the fifth floor.”

  Fifth floor? The thing with the red eyes was on that floor. Was it a coincidence? I didn’t know what to think anymore.

  “Yeah,” Danny said, pulling me from my thoughts. “It was a nightmare to live with this guy.”

  Jensen chuckled. “Funny. I seem to recall it was my idea to move out.” He turned and looked at me. “Don’t let him fool you; I’m nothing but a delight to have around.”

  “Yeah, right,” he responded good-naturedly. “Is Van here?”

  “She’s in the living room, hovering around the movers.

  Danny laughed. “That sounds like my Evangeline. Now, if you two will excuse me, I’ll go rescue those poor guys. Oh, honey,” he called, heading through the sitting room into the living room.

  I watched him in shock. Van hadn’t told me. “He’s Van’s boyfriend?”

  “Yep,” Jensen said and sat down in one of the chairs seated around. “They’ve been together forever. High school sweethearts.”

  “Oh,” I said, sitting in a chair next to him. Yep, still very intelligent. I felt his eyes drift over me. Heat rose in my cheeks, no doubt turning scarlet. What was my problem? I was Maxie Duncan. I didn’t react to guys like this.

  I raised my eyes and decided turn about was fair play. If he could check me out, I could do the same. I took in his average build, his slightly tousled brown hair, his sparkling green eyes magnified behind a pair of dark framed glasses. Overall, he was the typical guy next door. Not usually what I went for. I preferred them tall, dark, and mysterious. So why had I reacted that way to him?

  “So, Danny says you want to be an actress,” he spoke, breaking the comfortable silence we had settled into.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought that’s what I wanted, but now, I’m not so sure. What do you do?” I asked, steering the topic away from my failed acting career.

  “I run a bookstore. ‘Curiouser and Curiouser.’ It’s in Long Beach, near the boardwalk.”

  “Really?” I asked him, thrilled. I may look like a dumb blonde, but one thing I love to do is read. “I love books.”

  He smiled like he had just won the lottery. “You should check it out sometime. It’s not like those cold chain stores. It has class and charm, with a bit of mystery. All the best ingredients for a book store.”

  “I most definitely will,” I told him, meaning it. I was growing more and more intrigued with this guy. Maybe there was a reason I hadn’t found Mr. Right yet. Maybe I hadn’t been searching in the right type of guy. I had a feeling that was about to change. “So, how did you and Danny meet?” I asked.

  “Danny is a high school teacher. He came in my bookstore looking for reading material for his class. We hit it off. I was looking for a new apartment and the rest was history,” he told me with a shrug.

  “What is it with people taking roommates in off the street?” I asked, a little confused by the trust in these people.

  Jensen laughed. “People come into your life for a reason. I think deep down a person knows who to keep in their life and who to discard.”

  “Hey, my ears are burning,” Danny said, entering the room with Van at his side. “Someone must be talking about me.”

  Van slapped him playfully on the arm. “Not everything is about you, Danny.”

  He looked at her. “Well it should be.”

  “Jensen was telling me about how you met,” I told him.

  “See,” he told Van. “I told you. So, Maxie knows I’m an awesome History teacher who thinks outside the box, does she?” he asked, the words oozing with fake modesty.

  Jensen chuckled in his direction. “That she does.”

  “Good,” he said, giving me a smile. “I’d hate to have my talents go unrecognized.”

  I had to smile at th
e banter around me. I never had friends like this before…and I realized how much of a shame that was.

  “Don’t let these two scare you away, Max,” Van said, frowning at the guys playfully. “I know they’re a handful, but they mean well.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I told her.

  “Good. Because they’ll be around here a lot.”

  “Oh, yeah. Especially now that you have that flat screen,” Danny said, turning to Jensen. “Seriously, you should see it. It’s huge.”

  “That’s okay. I think there are more important things to see here,” he said, smiling at me.

  I dropped my eyes, feeling the heat once again creep into my cheeks. Had he really just said that? Had he felt the same thing as I had when we first laid eyes on each other? Had fate lead me to the one?

  Whoa, stop right there. This was not happening. What was wrong with me? He was so not my type. Was I really so eager to find a rebound, that my heart would flutter at any guy who smiled at me?

  I stood up. I wasn’t ready to get involved again. Especially not with Mr.-Guy-Next-Door. I could tell he was a great guy. He just wasn’t the guy. Even if every instinct in my body was screaming for me to give him a chance.

  “It’ll be great to get to know you guys,” I said casually. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on the progress of my room.” I turned, fleeing deeper into the safety of the apartment like the chicken I was. Because deep down, I was terrified. My instincts were howling like a group of banshees. And my instincts were what I based my new life on. This time one of us was very wrong. I was afraid it might be me.

  Eight