A Treasure Worth Seeking
By: Shellie - shelliemg at gmail.com
Chapter 4"I…I met this guy."
The laughter on the other end of the line stopped instantly and a silent moment stretched between the two friends. "You did what?"
"It’s not like that. I just met this guy. He lives next door."
"Is he cute?"
Lauren pictured JC in her mind and snorted, "Shell, he’s…gorgeous."
"Is he gay?"
The thought hadn’t occurred to Lauren before. "Um…I don’t think so. I mean…I suppose he could be. Either way, he’s really nice."
"Where did you meet this gorgeous guy? You just got there, damnit!"
"He’s my neighbor. He came knocking on my door."
"Wow. How do you do it? You’ve been single for like a day and already you have met a man. Do I need to get my bridesmaid dress back out of the box?"
Lauren balked, "Oh hell no. Shellie, I said I met a man. I said nothing about liking him. He’s nice, he’s handsome…he’s even rich but I’ve been down that road before, thankyouverymuch. I’m glad to have met a nice person. That’s as far as this one is going, don’t start jumping to your conclusions."
"Mmmmhmmm. Yeah. We’re sitting here, talking about your manuscript and out of the blue you burst out with an ‘I met a man’ and now I’m the one jumping to conclusions? Right. Sure. Fine. Whatever."
"Don’t start with me. I was simply stating that I happened to meet the person that lives next door to me. He’s nice. That’s it."
"No, he’s nice, handsome, and rich…did I forget GORGEOUS?"
"I’m hanging up now."
"I’ll send you a virus through e-mail that will eat your C: drive."
Lauren gasped with mock surprise, "Why you vicious little…I can’t even believe you said that to me. You are Satan’s spawn."
"I am. And you are crazy. Why wouldn’t you let this go any further than friendship? Have you sworn off men or something?"
"Yes. Absolutely. You already know how I feel about marriage. Remember??? Did I not just get divorced?"
"Okay…see, here’s the thing. Swearing off men and getting married are two way different things. I never suggested you marry him…okay, well I did make the crack about the bridesmaid dress, but no men? Never? Not even little diddle-diddle every now and then?"
Lauren burst into laughter. "Diddle-diddle? Um…no. I have never, nor will I ever diddle a man. I will not be having sex with any just for the hell of it either. Just because you’re a hoochie…"
"Hey!" Shellie cried indignantly. "I’m not a hoochie! Fine. You can sit and rot for all I care. I’ll come visit and I’ll diddle your rich, hottie neighbor myself. Fine by me!"
"Shellie…."
"What?"
"You are driving me insane."
*****
Although she accused Shellie of it, Lauren really felt that it was she that was going insane. She wasn’t about to admit it to Shellie, but the truth was that she hadn’t been able to get JC off her mind since the moment she’d first opened her door to find him standing there looking at her with those big, sad eyes. Blue as the ocean that stretched forever into the horizon. She’d been both embarrassed by her staring and yet, still unable to turn away. Thankfully, Caroline had been there to save the day.
Every time he’d stopped by in the past three days he’d been smiling and sweet, nothing even remotely similar to the haunted man she’d seen that first morning. Again she wondered about the root of his sorrow. Had it passed? Instinctively she knew it had not. Things that ran as deeply as what he’d been feeling…they didn’t pass that easily.
She’d begun to look forward to his visits, dreading the day when mail would start appearing in her own mailbox and his reason’s for visiting would cease. By then she hoped they’d be close enough friends that they didn’t need that excuse. Deep down she tried to tell herself that the main reason why she desired his friendship so strongly was because she’d come to realize that it made her quite uncomfortable to be so far away from home, living alone with just her daughter. What if something went wrong? Who would she run to for help? And it was true to an extent. But Lauren knew…she knew there was more.
Frustrated, she looked down at her computer where it lay unused in her lap. She read the three paragraphs on the screen and cursed, highlighting them dramatically and hitting the delete key with resounding force. It was crap. As had been every word she’d written since she’d moved out to the beach. Damnit, this was supposed to be her writing retreat. She was supposed to sit for hours and let the words just pour from her fingers. Instead, she often found herself typing little JC JC JC’s across the page.
Sighing, she closed the machine and slid it to the side. She dropped her head back against the plush leather of the sofa and reached out, running her fingers over the cushion beside her, seeing JC’s expression of bliss when he’d first dropped into the matching chair in the corner. No, Josh, you can’t take my chair home with you, but you can damn sure come and sit in it whenever you’d like.
Okay, this train of thought was taking her nowhere fast. Pushing herself up from the couch, she headed to the kitchen to fix her and Caroline some dinner. As she walked she frowned at the fact that apparently no one had sent her any mail today.
******
It was late when she heard the soft rapping on her back door. Sitting her novel on the coffee table she moved through the darkened room knowing instinctively who she’d find waiting. He stood wearing an apologetic smile. "Hey, did I wake you up?"
"No, I was reading. Come in." She stepped back allowing him to enter before pushing the door closed again and heading back to her spot on the love seat. "Come in, sit down."
He followed her into the living room, perching on the sofa’s edge as if slightly nervous. "I…I forgot about the mail today. I’m sorry it’s so late."
She pulled her legs beneath her, tucking the hem of her tee-shirt nightgown around her bare thighs. His eyes followed her hands as they moved, before he looked pointedly away from her and down at the mail clutched in his hands. "Oh…here. Nothing really fun and exciting today," his smile seemed distant.
"You okay, Josh?"
At the sound of his name, he looked up and nodded slightly… unconvincingly. "Yeah, I’m just having a down day. That’s all. I couldn’t sleep last night and it made me feel like hell all day."
"Anything I can do?"
He shook his head in the negative. "Nah. Nothing’s wrong that a good night’s sleep wont fix." He pasted on a broad but insincere smile as he raised to his full height. "I’m gonna go try now. See you tomorrow?" He asked as he moved slowly for the door.
"I’ll be here. Anytime you wanna come by. Mail or no…okay?"
He smiled and waved before stepping out the door, closing it softly behind him.