Rose sipped at her soda thoughtfully as she sat across from Eli. He hadn’t ordered anything, but instead, watched her munch absently, as she mulled over what he had said.
Could she have been dreaming? No. It was real. How else could she explain the period of time she had said goodbye to Ivan and woke up in her bed the next morning.
But why would Eli lie to her? Had he done something he was trying to hide? And then suddenly, her thoughts had taken a more sinister turn.
She glanced at him. He didn’t look particular dangerous, but there was so little she actually knew about him. And what of Ivan? She had definitely gone on a date with him. Was it possible that he had drugged her? Did he have the ability to hurt her?
So entangled in her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed Eli slip the waitress a card.
When she returned, he held out a hand to her.
“Are you ready?’
She glanced at his hand, and then down at her plate, and then back up at him. She had hardly eaten anything, but she doubted she could stomach anything else.
She avoided his hand and rose from the table.
Once they were outside, he turned to her. “I have to go. I have business to tend to in town, but I’m glad I was able to see you.”
He took a step closer, and the familiarity made her gasp. He reached out and took hold of a stray hair that had escaped from the constraints of her braid. He twirled it around his finger once before tucking it behind her ear.
He gave a small smile without meeting her gaze, and was gone. She watched him maneuver down the sidewalk in the opposite direction.
Just as it had in her dream, if that’s what it had been, his touch left her ablaze, and she knew that there was something more to what he was telling her.
She turned to watch him again. Rose did something she would have never done under normal circumstances. But Eli Austen was not normal.
So she turned in the same direction and followed him.
______
When his knocks went unanswered, Eli figured Martha must’ve scurried off to replenish their stocks.
When Balthazar opened the door, his inquiries were confirmed.
Balthazar gave him a sound smack on the back, and opened the door wider for him to come in.
YOU ARE READING
The Everlasting
Romantik"Who is he? And who's memories are these that continue to haunt me through the night?" Rose Keller meets the boy with the startling gold eyes, after moving to a small town in Massachusetts,. She doesn't know him, but he seems to know her. But before...
