Manage Me: A Vagabond Romance

by J. D. Fox

  I strode into the hostel lobby and made my way towards my room and shower, glancing over the open space to see who was hanging out this morning. A look in the direction of the lounge showed me that Dakota had joined Amelia at their usual table, and the two women had their heads bent over journals. A peek inside Dakota's journal would definitely give me a little bit of insight into more of who she was.

  As I made my way over toward my room, I heard Drake call my name and looked over to see him waving frantically at me. I walked over to him, ready to ask him what had happened.

  "Maggie didn't show up. We don't have anyone to help out with the laundry, and we have a bunch of people due to check in today. We need an extra hand to help out with the sheets."

  "Fuck. Okay, let me get showered and then I'll get started on it. In the meantime, get on the phone; I have a roster of extra temps in the top drawer, see if one of them can come in."

  "If you guys need help, I can do it."

  I turned around to see Dakota standing behind me, journal in hand.

  "No. You're a guest, that's not necessary."

  "Yeah, but I'm staying for free. I need to find some way to pay my way, and I'm known for my folding of fitted sheets."

  Her face was completely deadpan when she said it, but there was a twinkle in her eye all the same.

  "Yeah? That part of the curriculum at your fancy college?"

  She nodded seriously. "You bet. Along with coffee brewing and dealing with judgmental pricks."

  I couldn't help grinning back at her despite her prickly statement. "You're definitely making me regret letting you stay here for free."

  "No, I'm not. Otherwise, where would you find a random extra pair of hands to help you with a laundry crisis?"

  I laughed. "Fair enough. I'll shower and meet you in the laundry room. Drake, can Amelia watch the front while you show Dakota the way?"

  Drake nodded, unable to push away the amused smile that played on his face. "Sure thing, Boss."

  He led her away while I headed for my bathroom. I heard an amused, borderline lady-like snort from Amelia as she took her spot behind the desk. "Something you wanted to say?"

  She shook her head, though her smile belied her gesture. "Nope. It's just fun to watch a flirtation grow."

  I snorted in return. "Yeah, right. That's not a flirtation."

  "Sure, Ryan. Whatever you say."

  "I promise it's not. When I start flirting, you'll know it."

  She waved me off. "Go shower. You'll be late for your laundry-folding date."

  I rolled my eyes as I made my way towards my room.

  I showered and dressed in double time before heading up to the laundry room, where Dakota had already made good headway into the pile of sheets that had come out of the drier. She'd also switched in the sheets that had just come out of the wash and dropped a pile of soiled linen into the washer without giving an extra second's thought to the fact that she was touching the dirty sheets of complete strangers. I couldn't help respecting her a little bit; I'd been in the industry all my life, and I tried to avoid laundry whenever I could help it.

  I went to the other laundry table and pulled a pile of towels toward me, watching her tuck the curved ends of a fitted sheet into each other before placing it neatly on the table in front of her.

  "You weren't lying; you're great at that. I've been doing this for a long time, and I've never really been able to master it."

  She looked up at me and smiled the first real smile I'd seen on her face yet. It seemed to light her up from within. “My mom's been a hotel maid for years. Sometimes when she couldn't find a babysitter, she'd take us to work with her after school and we'd do homework in the laundry room."

  The little insight into her life made me want to know more. "Us?"

  "Me and my little sister, Rose. She made sure we knew exactly how things were meant to be folded because we usually tried to do the housework at our place, but as long as we did it wrong, she would always pull the sheets out and refold them. My mom can't stand not having things look right. It just defeated the purpose of us trying to take work away from her, so we learned to do things her way."

  It was the most she'd ever said, and it was all about her family. "What's your mom's name?"

  She smiled fondly. "Maria. Maria Wagner. Her grandparents were German immigrants. She's really tough."

  "What about your dad? What's he like?"

  "Now? I have no idea. I haven't seen him in seventeen years."

  I froze, feeling like a first-class piece of shit. No wonder she'd been offended at the idea of being thought of a daddy's girl. Her dad had abandoned her, her mom and her sister when she'd been just a kid.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

  She shrugged. "Don't be sorry. No reason you would've known, and I probably would've come to the same conclusion."

  "Well, your mom sounds like a badass. Do you look like her?"

  She laughed. "No, not at all. My sister does, though. She has the delicate blue eyes and blonde hair. Complete Aryan wet dream."

  I laughed. "What's Rose like? Like, as a person?"

  She gave that same fond smile she'd given when she was talking about her mom. "She's the best. She's loud and fun and she just... commands attention, you know? She's really, really funny, and she has the most amazing singing voice."

  "Yeah? Is that what she's doing?"

  She nodded. "Trying to. She went to NYU to study music performance and education. She's giving a good go of it, and she's freelancing as a voice and piano teacher on the side."

  "She sounds really cool."

  "She is."

  That stopped our conversation for a while, and we continued to fold sheets in companionable silence until she spoke up this time. "So...is Jacob your older brother? Or younger?"

  I smiled what I thought must be a pretty similar smile to hers. "Younger, by about four years."

  "Are there any more of you?"

  "There are actually six of us altogether."

  "Whoa! That's a huge family. Do you all live out here?"

  "No, we live all over. One of my brothers is working for a really cool farming non-profit in Rwanda, and I think another one might be in Thailand right now, but I can't exactly be sure."

  She stared at me. "You're not sure whether or not your brother is in Southeast Asia?"

  "Oh no, I'm sure he's in Southeast Asia; I'm just unclear as to which country in Southeast Asia. Last I heard, he was in Thailand, staying in Koh Samui and living it up."

  "Does he work in hospitality too?"

  "Yeah. We grew up in it, kind of like you did, but Hudson got burnt out a little while ago and decided to take off. He's always kind of been the lone wolf of all of us, so I can't say any of us were really surprised. I think Jacob talked to him a few weeks back."

  "You all sound like vagabonds. Except for Jacob."

  I grinned at her. "I like that! The Baxter Vagabonds." We paused again, continuing to fold. "You're pretty good with words."

  She blushed as she continued to fold the endless sheets. "Thanks. Once upon a time, I thought I was going to be a writer."

  I nodded sagely. "That does explain the book snob attitude."

  "Shut up." But there was less rancor in it as there had been this morning.

  "Why once upon a time?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "You said that 'once upon a time, you THOUGHT you were going to be a writer.' So why didn't you become a writer?"

  She looked hard at me. "Because fairy tales are for little kids, and that stopped a long time ago.”

  We'd hit on a sore subject again. I focused on my towels as she went over to the drier and pulled out the fresh load of sheets. As she bent over, though, I couldn't help noticing the lush curves of her hips, the swell of her ass, hugged by the closely-fitted jeans, as she leaned down to pull the last lingering towels from the bottom of the drum. When she stood up again I looked back down to my work, but not quickly enough that she didn't catch me lookin
g at her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her smile, but I stared down, clearing my throat as I started folding in double time.

  The quiet settled in once more. Hartley had always said that a true test of companionship was not in the kind of conversations you had with someone but on the type of silences. And even though I'd never really liked silence, there was nothing wrong with this one.

  After a while, I looked up at her. "I think that's enough for now. The afternoon shift is going to come in soon. We can go make some beds if you're okay with that.

  She wiped her hands on her legs.

  "Sure thing. Which beds am I taking?"

  I pulled out the list of reserved beds in the women's dorm. "Here you go. There are five beds altogether, and the communal bathroom hampers that need to be emptied out. If you wouldn't mind bringing the sheets you pull off the beds back here, that would be awesome."

  "Not a problem at all." She loaded up a cart with all her required linens with a calm efficiency she must have learned from her mom and headed toward the door. I held it open for her so that she could make her way into the hallway. She gave me one last smile in thanks before she went on her way. I stood in the hallway staring after her, watching her hips sway to and fro like an idiot. When she got to the end of the hall, I watched her avoid my gaze, but I knew I'd been caught staring at her once again.

  I took my own pile of clean laundry to the men's dorm and went about making the beds in there. Thankfully there were only three for me to do and two private rooms, and I was able to finish my work quickly.

  On getting back to my room after having finished, I pulled out my phone and shot a quick text to Jacob.

  Ryan: Can you try to find out a little more about Dakota from Lauren? Don't tell her why I'm asking.

  Jacob: Sure thing. I won't say a thing to her about my sudden and unwarranted interest in her friend, Captain Obvious.

  I groaned. I just knew he was going to make a mess of this.

  Chapter 8

  Dakota

  After I finished helping Ryan with the beds, I went back to hanging out with Amelia. As soon as she saw me, she cleared a spot for me at her table and got up to get a cup of coffee with me.

  "How do you take it?"

  "Almond milk and one sugar, please."

  As she fixed the coffee, Drake came over and lovingly placed his hand on the small of her back. She looked up at him with such clear adoration on her face that I had to look away. I'd never been entirely comfortable with PDA, though I wasn't a prude, and their affectionate behavior wasn't nearly as in-your-face as Lauren and Jacob's flirting had been the day before, but there was something about that warm surety of true love that I just found difficult to look at. Maybe it was about the end of my own recent engagement, but it was more likely about how Cody and I had never really had that, to begin with.

  I shook myself out of any thoughts of the past when she came back to the table and handed me my coffee.

  "Thanks." I sipped at my mug and looked around the main lobby, fully taking in the area for the first time. "This is a really pretty hostel. I wasn't expecting it to be so nice."

  It was decorated with comfortable furniture and the warm colors I'd come to associate with California. The lounge we were in had a corner that was dedicated to the breakfasts that were included in the room rates, but the rest of the space looked like a well-appointed café. The open floor plan revealed a cozy-looking sitting room with sliding glass doors that opened onto a fire pit. It looked like they actually wanted people to come down and socialize with one another.

  Amelia looked around too."Yeah, it isn't like any hostel we've stayed in. Usually, they're really run down and falling apart, and the owners are usually just trying to scrape together as much money as possible without offering much aside from a bed. But there's always a nice one wherever you go. I think this one used to be a shit pile, that but Ryan started a remodel as soon as he bought it. No idea if he'll make any money off it, but it's beautiful. It actually kind of reminds me of the hostel where Drake and I met."

  "No way! You guys met at a hostel?"

  "Yeah, in Panama. I was backpacking in Central America with a friend, and we'd stopped in this little mountain town that had taken like 8 hours to get to by bus. We were disgusting and exhausted, but as soon as we got to the check-in desk, I knew it didn't matter, and that I wasn't going to be leaving unless he was coming with me."

  "Wow. Just...wow."

  "Yeah. It sounds a little nuts when I talk about it now, but at the time it just made sense. We made sense. Since then we've kind of been wayfarers. We have a soft spot for hostels."

  "I can understand why."

  "I'm actually kind of jealous of you, getting to stay in the dorm. It was always my favorite part of backpacking."

  "What were some of your other favorite parts? I've never been backpacking."

  We continued talking easily throughout the rest of the afternoon, with her telling me about her adventures and me telling her about growing up in Michigan until a shadow fell over our table. I looked up to see Lauren grinning down at me.

  "Hey!" I stood up to give her a hug. "Lauren, this is Amelia; she's a poet, and she's married to Drake. Amelia, this is my friend Lauren."

  They shook hands, and Lauren pulled up a chair to join us at our table. "So," Amelia said, looking at Lauren in that way I'd come to realize was her way of getting to know a new person, "you're the intrepid adventurer who dragged Dakota up here."

  "I wouldn't say dragged..." Lauren said, evasively.

  "I would," I muttered.

  "Good job," Amelia said quietly. "It seems kind of like she needed it."

  I laughed. "Okay, that's enough."

  "Where are you guys headed next?"

  Lauren and I looked at each other. "We're not really sure. We've kind of been playing it by ear, but I for one really like San Francisco," Lauren said with a straight face. Oh, I'll bet you do, I thought as I looked at her. She seemed to be glowing — just a little bit.

  "Then just stay here for a while," Amelia smiled at us. "Whatever your adventure has to teach you, I bet San Francisco is a big part of it."

  "I'll take your word for it as the resident adventure expert," I said before turning to Lauren and diving into the important matters. "How was your day with Jacob?"

  Lauren blushed. "It's actually still going on. He asked if I wanted to go to dinner with him at this really nice place downtown. I said I'd think about it, but I'll tell him no if you want to do dinner."

  "Go! I insist you go with him, and then get up to something extremely dirty, and tell me everything about it in the morning. I made plans anyway."

  Lauren looked at me hopefully. "Oh yeah? With whom?"

  I paused. I'd just said that to let her off the hook for abandoning me, hoping she would just assume it would be with a guy I'd picked up that day. But Lauren had always been curious.

  "She's coming to dinner with Drake and me," Amelia said, coming to my rescue. "We're going to our favorite place on the wharf, and when I found out Dakota didn't know where she was doing dinner, I insisted she come with us. They have the best Irish coffee in the city."

  "Oh, amazing. That sounds perfect. You'll have to take me there when we go explore the wharf," Lauren said as she stood up to go.

  "I definitely will." I stood up to hug her. "Have fun, and make good choices."

  "Yeah, yeah," she said as she sauntered off.

  I sat back down, looking at Amelia gratefully. "Thank you for jumping in. It's okay, though, I can figure something else out for tonight."

  "Nonsense! We're going to dinner. Honey?"

  Drake popped his head above the counter. "Yeah?"

  "Can you call the restaurant and change our reservation?"

  "Sure thing, babe." He ducked down, and we heard him pick up the phone.

  "Oh, so you guys were already planning on date night? Now I feel extra guilty about crashing."

  "Please don't. We have the whole rest of our lives
together, and we love getting to know new people. Besides, you have to see this place. It's an institution."

  I got up, starting to get excited. "Okay! Do I need to change?"

  "Go put on a sweater. It's cold down by the wharf."

  "Okay! I'll see you in a minute."

  ***

  Dinner with Drake and Amelia was just as much fun as I'd thought it would be. They took me to an amazing old bar and restaurant that had been jam-packed with people holding little glasses of Irish coffee and led me straight to a corner table.

  "You have to get the clam chowder. It's a must here," Drake said as we sat down.

  The rest of the evening had continued in much the same vein as the conversation Amelia, and I had been having throughout the afternoon. Neither of them ever made me feel like a third wheel, and both were curious and eager to hear about me; my life, my interests... nothing was too dull for them.

  After we'd eaten, we got up and took a walk around the wharf, all lit up for the tourists who'd come in for the limited good weather of summer. Amelia had insisted on getting ice cream from a nearby place despite the chill coming off the water, and we'd sat on the lawn of the small park nearby to eat our treat.

  Upon getting back to the hostel, they'd each hugged me goodnight. "We'll have to do this again before you leave," said Drake. "Next time you'll bring Lauren. She sounds like a blast."

  "Definitely!" I said, turning and heading into the girl's dorm. I felt a lightness in my step that I hadn't felt in a while. It had been so long since I'd made new friends.

  I'd fallen asleep reading, and in the morning Lauren was still missing from her bed. I smiled to myself as I got up and readied myself for the day. Just as I was about to walk out, though, she stumbled through the door, looking mussed and happy.

  "I'm going to go get coffee. Do what you need to do and come down to meet me. I need to hear everything."

  "Okay," she yawned and went to grab her toiletries from her cubby.

  I went downstairs where I spotted Amelia and Drake sitting with Ryan at one of the small tables in the breakfast area. Given my perception of him as being a judgemental jerk, my first instinct was to shy away from them. But something felt so different after our time spent folding laundry together that I wasn't as reluctant to approach them as I had been. Not only that, but Drake, Amelia and I had had so much fun at dinner the previous night that any lingering doubts were quickly stifled, and I took my coffee to their table without a second thought.