The Everlasting

Five

She looked up every time the bell overhead rang.

    Shawn chuckled beside her. “Looking for someone? Did something happen while I was gone yesterday?”

    Rose gave him a reassuring smile, though she was sure he could see right through it.

    “Nothing much. Just the usual.”

    He gave her a knowing look, but said no more as he moved toward his office.

    Heather moved in beside Rose, bumping her with her bony hip. “So, I hear David put in a good word for you. Hear Shawn’s thinking about give you a bit of a bonus in your next paycheck. He values employees like you, especially since he has a lot of emergencies, if you know what I mean.” She raised her eyebrows suggestively.

    Rose furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but Heather just smiled and went to go take an order.

    By the time closing time came around, she was fairly deflated; disappointed that he had not shown up. Had she really wanted him to come to tease her?

    Yes, she decided, she did.

    She couldn’t explain the feeling of needing to be near him, but she couldn’t deny it. She wanted him, more than anything.

    After she put the money in the lock box, she placed it on Shawn’s desk and headed back into the café to finish up the bit of cleaning before she could lock up.

    It was her turn to close. She didn’t mind; it gave her time to think. She usually kept the soft music on as she did, to give her a bit of company. She liked the music that Shawn chose to play. It was interesting, and was often the inspiration for a lot of her work.

    Throwing the dish cloth in the sink, she grabbed her things from the back and headed out to her car. She was close enough to walk from her apartment to the café, but Shawn didn’t feel easy with this, and would instruct David to walk her home.

    She wouldn’t have a problem with this, but David was a large, quiet man with shifty eyes, as if he was always on guard for a threat, and he made her slightly uncomfortable with how closely he walked next to her. So, she started driving her car, eliminating the problem all together.

    Her apartment wasn’t anything to brag about. It was small and cozy with all the bare essentials, which included two bedrooms, one bath, a kitchenette and a small sized sitting room that was mostly taken up by drawings and sketches, and a painting here and there.

    As she opened the door, she immediately felt the feeling of not being alone.

    She flicked on the lights quickly, looking around. Something didn’t seem right.

    Looking over it, everything was in order, but it felt tainted somehow, touched, as if someone who wasn’t supposed to be there still lingered, leaving behind the sense of their presence.

    She dropped her keys on the counter; still unable to shake the feeling that someone had been there.

    A shower, she thought. A nice hot shower is what I need.

    After a long shower to ease her nerves and tension, she grabbed at her sketch book and made a large mug of tea to calm her mind.

    She curled up on her couch and flipped open her book. The drawing wasn’t complete yet, but she could already see it in her mind: the waves of ash blonde hair that threatened to fall into his eyes, angular face, and eyes the color of wheat. He wore a hood, his face turned to his shoulder, his eyes glaring into hers. It was how she had seen him when he had run from her.