📍 Ghent — 2020
"Honestly mum, the trip is going better than I thought. I'm happy you and Gemma forced me out." I said, hanging up clothes for the next couple days in the small wardrobe they provided in the rental.
"Hmm, does it have anything to do with your new travel companion your sister told me about?" She teased and I laughed, picturing the exact face I knew she would be giving me.
"She definitely adds to it. You would love her mum....Robin would have loved her. That's the crazy part, I can't help but feel like the universe brought me a piece of him in her. She keeps me on my toes. She speaks whatever comes to her mind, it's like a storm of sentences and strong ideas coming from her always." I closed the wardrobe, sitting on the bed.
"Well, who knows, baby boy. It's possible. She sounds lovely...maybe just what the trip needed. Someone to keep you moving, jumping from one thing to the next so you don't linger too long. The fact she's trying to heal the loss of someone as well is massive....how is that part? The healing part?" Her voice cracked a bit as she asked.
"Uhm,...mm, she's definitely doing a better job at it than I am," I swallowed, laying back on the bed, "But, I'll get there. Lina helped me know where to start. I just need to actually address the starting point of the issue."
"Well....I'm glad she helped you figure it out and that you let her. I feel like that's a starting point, my sweet boy."
I took a deep breath, "Yeah, I think you're right."
"You think you'll fall in love?" I heard her say through her smile.
"Anne Twist, I'm hanging up now, I love you." I chuckled, listening to her say goodbye before hanging up.
I brought my phone to my chest staring up at the ceiling of the bedroom I would be sharing with Lina here in Ghent. Every time the thought crossed my mind, I felt my stomach curl into a knot. It wasn't that it was a negative thing, it just wasn't what I planned. I swallowed, closing my eyes, none of this what I had planned. When I had first found the rental posting, it specifically had stated that there would be two bedrooms. It turns out what they meant was, it slept two people in one bedroom. Lina, of course, made the best of the situation, bringing me down from my freak out.
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"Harry, there is a couch if you are extremely uncomfortable with sleeping with me. I promise though, I stay in one corner, I don't move....I do hog the covers though." She smiled, patting my chest softly as I hung up with the landlord.
"I'm not uncomfortable sleeping with you, Lina. I just want you to be comfortable, that's all." I said, sitting at the small dining table for two, leaning my elbows on my knees.
"Harry, I'm fine. I promise. I'll even create a pillow wall if it makes you feel better." She teased, my eyes rolling.
"Stop, I don't think you're the plague or something. I just felt frustrated with the miscommunication." I said, as she squatted down in front of me.
"I promise, it'll be fine. Just know if you snore, I'm plugging your nose until you wake up." She giggled, my eyes meeting hers as I joined in laughing.
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"Harry! Harry, guess what I did!" I heard Catalina calling out as the front door slammed behind her. I could hear the falling of her feet as she ran up the flight of stairs that led to the bedroom.
I pushed up on my elbows as she made it to the doorway, kicking off her shoes before running and jumping up on the bed, "Guess, guess!" She exclaimed, her cheeks pink from her excitement.
"You found the best salads in town?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"No! I mean, I did, but that's not it!" She said, lowering her body down, sitting with her legs crossed in front of her.
"Ummm, you painted something?" I said, tilting my head, knowing it probably wasn't the answer. She had gone out to get us food, but from my knowledge wasn't out long enough to sit and paint something.
"Close actually! I signed up for an art walk in two days. I'm going to sell some of the paintings I have in my book. So I can help pay for this lovely humble abode we have here." She smiled, so proud of herself, "I may have to paint a couple more tonight, but that's okay. It'll work out."
"Lina, you know you don't have to pay anything. I told you I don't mind fronting the costs for the places we stay." I said, turning on my side to face her.
"I know, Harry, I want to, that's the point. Just let me have this and say you'll come and support me." She smiled, clearly excited about her new found endeavor.
"Of course I'll come! I'll be your cashier, someone has to keep track of the money! Especially because you are going to sell that place out!" I exclaimed, reaching over and tapping her nose. She grabbed my finger before I could pull it away, biting it softly.
"I believe that's three vs one now." She smirked, letting go of my hand as we both chuckled, "But is it okay? That we stay here that long? I know there isn't a timeline..."
"Lina, we have so much to explore here, it's perfectly fine. You need to stop thinking about time. I want you to just take each day like it's your normal. We will know when it's time to get up and move. When the time is right, we will know, each time. Right now, what I want to know is where our salads are, I'm starving."
"Downstairs, and I have to say, I created the perfect salad. It has spring mix, extra arugula, the most giant cherry tomatoes, bean sprouts, tofu, onion, crunchy croutons, shaved carrots, sunflower seeds, some black beans...it's just literally loaded; and that's not even the best part.." she said leaning her face close to mine, "I brought back three different types of dressings."
I pretended to be completely astounded, leaning in a bit closer, our noses almost touching, "Three?" I whispered.
"Three." She smiled, her eyes moving quickly between both of mine and I couldn't help as mine dropped down to her lips briefly.
I licked my lips, "Those are the sweetest words anyone had ever spoken to me."
She giggled, pushing me back softly on the bed, "Come on, get up, let's go eat."
I watched Harry eating his salad, thinking about his nose and how close it was to mine upstairs. How his green eyes were like giant flying saucers coming at me. I bit my lip looking down at my salad, moving around the cherry tomatoes.
"Did the cherry tomato do something bad?" Harry asked, and I peeked up chuckling softly.
"Yes actually, it called the crouton a square. I find that rather rude as the crouton didn't really have a choice of what shape it was baked into." I shrugged, pressing my lips together.
He covered his mouth, laughing past his chewing, "Need to teach the tomato some manners." He said pointing his fork at the tomato.
"I think so," I nodded, picking up the tomato with my fork and popping it in my mouth.
His eyes widened, "You heathen! A good talking to would have taught it a lesson!"
"I have my own form of cruel and unusual punishment." I said, reaching for the spicy cilantro dressing and adding more to my salad.
"Clearly." He chuckled, finishing up his, "So I found the perfect way to view the city today. You are going to love it."
"Hmm, and what's the perfect way?" I said, placing my salad down, genuinely intrigued.
"Sherlock Holmes. Murder mystery." He said, rolling his lip in his mouth, waiting for my reaction. I couldn't help the bubble of joy that formed in my stomach waiting to burst. There was something about the way he knew what tiny things would make me happy. The little things that I would enjoy. I felt the bubble burst, spilling throughout my entire body.
I smiled big, dancing in my seat. I leaned forward on the table, "Puzzles?"
"And riddles." He said, eyebrows raised, relaxing back in his chair.
"We need outfits." I said, clapping my hands together.
"Outfits?" He smiled, a confused look on his face as he rubbed his chin.
"Yes, outfits. Everyone knows you can't solve a crime without the perfect detective outfit. And if we are matching, it'll up our chances of figuring it out even more."
"And this is a well known fact?" He said, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"You're obviously a first time detective. Which is fine, I'll guide you, just gotta trust me." I said, wiggling my eyebrows at him.
"Trusting you sounds slightly terrifying." He chuckled and I nodded agreeing with him.
"It is, but it's a lot of fun. So come on, we gotta go shopping so we can solve crime!" I said, pushing up to my feet and running up the stairs to get my shoes, "Come on Harry, I don't hear you moving!" I called down, hearing him laugh.
"Yes master, I am moving!" He called back, making me chuckle. I pulled on my shoes, moving into the wardrobe and pulling out my brown leather bag. I reached deep into the bottom, pulling out my silver for emergency only credit card. This felt like an emergency....a not so critical bottom of the triage type emergency; but still an emergency.
I stood up, grabbing my purse and slipping the card inside before grabbing Harry's shoes and heading back down the stairs.
"I got your red ruby slippers, let's get a move on!" I said, hopping over the bottom step and handing him his shoes. He rolled his eyes playfully, tying up the bag with our leftover trash, placing it by the door before walking over and sitting down, slipping his shoes on.
"Okay, okay let's go." He chuckled as he stood up and we headed out the door.
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We ended up in a small clothing store nearby the rental incase we wanted to take things back before starting the murder mystery. We had tried on jean jackets, combat boots, graphic tees and more. Finding things in pairs was proving to be harder than I originally thought. I leaned on a rack of jackets, looking Harry up and down, when suddenly something turned on the wheels in my mind. I walked back over to the women's section, grabbing a white knit sweater; holding it up towards Harry, tilting my head.
"You think you're a woman's medium or large?" I said, closing one eye and sticking my tongue into my cheek.
"Have you seen this waist? Clearly a medium." He said, hands pointing to his waist and I straightened up, my expression dropping to showcase my lack of amusement with him.
He laughed walking over and slipping off his jumper, throwing it at me as he grabbed the knit sweater from me. He slipped it on, giving me a spin making me laugh.
"So what do we think?" He smiled at me and I turned to the rack, grabbing a knit sweater for myself. I shrugged off my long coat, slipping on the sweater.
"I think we look like we are ready to solve a murder." I giggled. He looked around, grabbing a tan bomber jacket, slipping it on.
"And now I match your coat." He smiled. I tilted my head, looking down at my jeans, then at his. I looked over at the sales woman, hurrying over to her. I whispered to her, and she nodded, handing me a pair of scissors. I smiled, reaching in my purse and handing her the credit card before walking back over to Harry. I bent down in front of him, folding a part of his pant leg, quickly snipping a hole to match the one on my pair.
"Hey! I really liked these!" He pouted and I glanced up at him.
"I gave them character. And now they match mine! See..." I said moving to stand next to him realizing I had cut the hole on the wrong side, "damn it!"
He burst into laughter, bending down and rolling up my jeans to match his, revealing my striped color socks. We both had black combat boots, and everything, even with the wrongfully cut hole, felt perfect. He stood up straight, helping me slip on my coat
"You know, you were right, now I think we truly are ready to solve a murder." He smiled at me and I blushed a bit, giggling.
"Told you. Let me just get my card and then we will go," I smiled, pushing his hair back softly before turning back to the sales woman. I quickly signed, thanking her and grabbing my card back before we headed out.
We had already solved four of the clues and I was happy I grabbed my camera after dropping off our things at the rental. I had taken so many pictures of Ghent, of each clue and riddle we solved along the way. We were only one clue away from solving the murder and Lina had managed to throw her hair up in a bun and put it back down five times in a row. She truly took this so seriously, starting a whole notes app in her phone to make sure we weren't missing anything.
She had solved most riddles, leading us on a tour to Sherlock Holmes house, the different police stations and churches. We managed to take pictures in front of everything, Lina snapping some of me on her phone with my camera. I couldn't help but enjoy how happy she was doing this, and it warmed every bone in my body knowing I made the right choice.
"Wait! Harry! I got it! It was the cop! The cop, the one with the...with the, oh! My! Gosh! I did it, I figured it out!" She jumped up and down, turning the phone towards me, "Do the honors! Do it! It was the cop!
I chuckled, "Okay, okay. The cop!" I took the phone from her, entering the final clue, the game ending congratulating us for solving the mystery. The game moved on to a prompt, asking for us to take a picture for the daily news. I grabbed her from her waist, pulling her close, "Come on, smile, we might even make it on the telly."
We both laughed, posing for the picture, her body pressing into mine as she did. Both our hair was unruly, curls everywhere, the biggest smile plastered on her face. I snapped the photo, moving on to the next step and smiling big at the result. My cheeks hurt from how much I was smiling, but I liked how we both looked.
Happy
I turned and looked at Catalina as she took the phone from me, she seemed to take the photo in, in the same manner I had. Her fingers moved on the screen, saving it before looking back up at me, her cheeks a perfect shade of pink that the universe seemed to generate just for her. Big doe eyes looked at me, a twinkle in them that seemed to depict perfectly how happy she was.
"You think you'll fall in love?"
I heard my mum's voice echo in my mind.
I could. I wouldn't.
But I could.
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It's in the shorter end, but I felt like we needed a light hearted moment.
𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚟𝚘𝚝𝚎, 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 & 𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚎.
- 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚢 💋
@𝚑𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚏𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚜