Following Bliss (The Quest series) Page 6

  Shelby looked back at him in a state of shock. She was grateful he was being so honest with her, but she also didn’t know how to respond. She looked down at her hands, the hands he was holding. She loved the look of them, their fingers entwined, his strong hands holding on to hers so firmly yet gently. She wished she had a camera so she could take a photograph of their hands. It seemed like they belonged together.

  “Daniel, thank you for being so honest with me. And I’m sorry that our connection is also terrifying to you. I feel so drawn to you and I’ve been confused as to why it seems to send you in the other direction. What I do know is that we don’t have to make sense of it right now. Go on your trip and if when you get back, you feel less crazy-terrified and more crazy-attracted, then let’s go from there.”

  Tears welled up in Shelby’s eyes as she said this. She didn’t know if she would ever see him again after this trip. Who wouldn’t fall in love with Maui and a lucrative writing career? Her heart chakra was pulsating so strongly, she was having trouble catching her breath.

  “Well, I don’t leave for another week. Maybe we could spend a bit more time together until then,” Daniel heard himself say. He didn’t know why, but that sense of urgency was back. He had to spend more time with this girl.

  And Shelby, despite wanting to play it cool until he was back from Maui and the greedy arms of Kaley Hamilton, eagerly shook her head yes.

  Chapter 5

  It was while picnicking over Pinot Gris, goat cheese, rice crackers, olives and salami in the Rose Gardens that Daniel realized that part of him was falling in love with Shelby. Part of him was also already in Maui having the best career of his life. But, the part that was sitting in front of this gorgeous girl, just wanted more time with her—as much time as he could have.

  They were sharing childhood stories over wine, while enjoying the spectacular views of the city. Shelby felt more at ease than she ever had with a man and did everything she could to brush thoughts of Kaley Hamilton and Maui out of her mind. Two more days were left; she didn’t have to think about it yet.

  “So, what’s your favorite memory from childhood?” Shelby asked.

  “Oh, that’s easy—scrambled eggs.”

  “Scrambled eggs? I’m going to need more details on this.”

  “Well, every Sunday morning my mom would get up early and make us all a huge breakfast. It was one of our favorite things to look forward to on the weekends. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so it was the little things that mattered. Mom would make bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese, pancakes, biscuits—the works. We literally only had to eat one meal on Sundays. But her scrambled eggs were absolutely the best. She had this secret—she would fry up the bacon first in the skillet and then add the bacon grease to the eggs.”

  Shelby crinkled her nose.

  “And that was good?”

  “Yep, absolutely the best,” Daniel said, as he took a sip of wine looking out over the Rose Gardens. They were sitting in the amphitheater, giving them an outstanding view of the gardens and some of the city.

  Daniel put his arm around Shelby and sighed. Life was very good. The past three days with Shelby had flown by. They had gone on a hike in Forest Park, went to Working Class acupuncture for a community session and had enjoyed Portland’s well-known food cart scene on several occasions (giving Shelby the chance to finish up the piece she had been working on when she saw Daniel at the Portland Luggage store). Each day they did something different, and each day the connection felt stronger. Their kiss after lunch weeks ago had now progressed into some of the most passionate make-out sessions of his life. It took everything in his power to not rip all of Shelby’s clothes off.

  Shelby leaned over and kissed his neck. Small, light kisses, trickling up to his ear. And this is when Daniel got into trouble. She kissed around his ear, lightly licking and biting around the edges. Daniel held her more tightly, feeling his erection growing. Shelby must have felt it too, as she placed her hand discreetly on his hardness, rubbing him gently.

  “Shelby, you’re driving me crazy,” Daniel whispered.

  “That’s the point,” she whispered back.

  He chuckled. “Well, you certainly know what you’re doing.”

  Shelby smiled, moving her hand over to his thigh as another couple walked through the amphitheater.

  “What, you’re not an exhibitionist?” Daniel inquired.

  “Not quite yet. Although, I suppose I could be convinced,” she said as she winked.

  “Damn people in the Rose Garden.”

  “I know, didn’t they get the memo that it was all ours?” Shelby joked.

  “Well, maybe it’s a sign to head out. We’ve pretty much devoured this entire log of goat cheese,” Daniel looked down at the few nibbles of goat cheese, crackers, and grapes that were left.

  They stood up and began wrapping up their food and wine. Daniel went to get his keys.

  “Oh shit. Do you have the keys, babe?”

  Daniel was surprised to hear those words come out of his mouth. He hadn’t called a woman babe in—well, never.

  “Uh, no. Don’t you?”

  “I can’t find them. Damn.”

  They both stared at each other. They had spent some time walking through the park, admiring the flowers. Daniel had even picked Shelby up and carried her through one section of roses. He wondered if he had dropped them then.

  “I need to retrace my steps to see if I can find them. You stay here and look around and see if they fell out of my pocket and into the grass somewhere. I’ll be right back.”

  Daniel looked stressed and Shelby wasn’t sure what she could do. The last time she saw him with the keys was when they had gotten out of the car and were walking into the Rose Garden. As she walked around where they had been sitting looking for his keys, Shelby noticed that darkness was descending upon them and the park was mostly empty.

  “Shit, shit, shit. Not a great way to end a perfectly romantic evening,” she muttered under her breath.

  Shelby had been contemplating whether to sleep with Daniel before he left for Maui. Their connection was so intense that it had been difficult to control herself. Just thinking about the possibility of having Daniel inside of her made her wet. Besides, they had really only spent the past week together—could she really sleep with him so soon? She also had to contend with her distrust of Kaley Hamilton. What if Kaley seduced Daniel and things fell apart? She wasn’t sure she could risk it.

  Focus, Shelby, focus. She had to remind herself.

  She crouched down on the grass in front of where they had been sitting, feeling with her hands and straining her eyes to see if the keys were hiding somewhere in the grass. It was a few inches longer than usual, she thought, making it more difficult to see. She leaned down further, as something sparkly caught her eye.

  It was then that she felt a breeze flow past her. She thought it odd, as it had been a quiet, still night, but she dismissed the thought and went to pick up the silver item in the grass. Unfortunately, it was only a bottle wrapper and not Daniel’s keys. She felt the breeze again, only this time, it felt like it was coming from the opposite direction. This time Shelby felt goosebumps rise up and down her arms.

  Shelby.

  She heard a soft woman’s voice say her name. She looked up quickly, hitting her head on the cement edged benches that were built into the amphitheater. Grabbing her head, Shelby jumped up.

  “Is someone there?” She hadn’t seen anyone in the garden since Daniel left.

  Shelby. It’s me. Over here, to your right.

  The goosebumps covered Shelby’s arms and up her neck. She looked to her right and saw a wispy outline of what appeared to be a woman.

  “Oh. My. God.” Shelby had never seen a ghost like this before and felt a strong impulse to run, screaming Daniel’s name. Instead she cupped her hands to her mouth.

  Don’t be afraid, my dear. The woman said as her wispy outline swayed softly. I’m here to help you. I’m here to hel
p Daniel too.

  “Are, are, oh my god, are you Daniel’s mother? The one who has been talking to me in my head??”

  The wispy woman chuckled gently. Well, I’m not actually in your head when that happens. Your auditory senses are merely translating my vibration into words in your mind. I’m usually standing right next to you. But technicalities, right?

  Shelby was officially freaked out. Receiving messages from and connecting with the other side was fine as long as she didn’t have to see anything. This was too much.

  I understand this is unusual dear, but tonight the lighting and situation were too perfect to pass up. It’s easier to appear when it’s in a setting you aren’t normally accustomed to. But, let’s not waste time with all of the semantics—it takes a lot of energy for me to appear to you like this, so I want to make it quick. You need to go to Maui with Daniel, dear. He needs you there.

  Shelby laughed. This woman was going to a lot of trouble to give her such preposterous messages.

  “Don’t you need to be saving a life or keeping our government or economy from imploding or something? Is this really what we do after we die, try to hook up our loved ones?”

  Shelby didn’t mean to be disrespectful, but this was becoming too much. She was having a hard enough time processing her feelings for Daniel, especially with him leaving so soon. Having to deal with a dead mother who wanted them together seemed a bit to over the top to her. It was also making her seriously question her own sanity.

  Oh, Shelby. The woman sighed, her wispy figure swaying slightly. There is so much you don’t know about the non-physical when you are in your physical body. We have the advantage of knowing so much more about the big picture of what’s happening in the world. It’s a vantage point that is quite challenging to hold objectively when in the body. I can assure you that this is about far more than Daniel and you hooking up, as you say. To keep things simple, my assignment is not to save the government or your silly economic system—don’t even get me started on all of that nonsense. What I can tell you now is, I am here to save a life, and part of that includes you going with Daniel to Maui.

  “I would love to go with Daniel to Maui, but there’s one little problem. He hasn’t invited me. And we’ve only been technically spending time together for a week. Oh, and perhaps you’ve noticed that he was invited there by Kaley Hamilton, an agent who is almost more well known for seducing her authors than she is for her professional work.”

  Ah, yes, length of time and seduction. I forgot how much humans worry about time and the rightness of things. So busy worrying and judging, you miss out on all of the fun.

  The woman started fading further away, it looked like she was drifting off. Shelby felt relieved and frightened at the same time. How was she supposed to bridge this subject with Daniel? He hadn’t exactly enjoyed her last messages from his mother. And whose life needed to be saved anyway? Daniel’s? Kaley Hamilton’s? Hers?

  “Wait! Daniel totally shuts down when I give him messages from you. How do I tell him this without scaring him half to death?”

  The wispy figure disappeared. All Shelby heard was a faint, Leave. That. To. Me.

  And then she was gone. Shelby looked around the amphitheater. It was completely empty, not a soul was in sight. She looked where the woman had been floating and now there was simply a small, motionless, bush. The breeze was completely gone. Shelby sat down on one of the benches, dumbfounded. She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to tell Daniel, but she needed to think things through before doing that. Maybe Kathryn could help her with this dilemma. At least she wouldn’t freak out on her. Kathryn loved stuff like this. She leaned over, placing her hands on her temples, rubbing them softly. Where was Daniel anyway?

  # # #

  Daniel kicked the gravel and cursed. He had been so immersed in Shelby that he hadn’t thought to pay attention to something important like his keys. What was wrong with him? In two days, he would be getting on a plane to Maui to meet with the highly successful Kaley Hamilton, as well as potential publishers—why wasn’t he more focused or nervous or something? When he was around Shelby, he felt peaceful and calm, his mind unencumbered by details and deadlines and…well, apparently his keys as well.

  He had retraced his steps, but to no avail. He even checked the spot where he had decided to impulsively scoop Shelby up into his arms and twirl her around the gardens. He was sure he would have heard them fall out of his sweatshirt, but maybe not. She was so beautiful and so…easy to be with. She felt like his best friend already and they barely knew one another.

  Daniel decided he would have to head back to where Shelby was and see about calling AAA or someone to help. Perhaps if they could get back to her car, she could take him to his place where his spare car keys were. But damn, that would require having his house key, which of course, was on his car key set. A rustling in the rose bush over on his right interrupted his strategic planning process. It was filled with beautiful purple roses, but it was also now swaying unnaturally. He wondered if a possum or raccoon had gotten stuck in some of the brush inside of it.

  Invite Shelby to go to Maui with you.

  The thought randomly popped into his mind. Daniel stopped walking and looked around. Where had that come from? It wasn’t like a voice from someone else, but it also wasn’t his own thought. Asking Shelby to go on what was essentially a business trip and quite possibly the big break of his life was out of the question. He had no idea what to expect and he certainly couldn’t ask her to come along when he himself didn’t know what was going to take place. Besides, he wanted to appear as though he were a professional to Kaley Hamilton, not some guy who brings a girl he’s only known one week to Maui for the signing of his book deal (in Daniel’s imagination, the entire deal would happen on this trip—he was visualizing his intended outcome daily).

  Daniel mentally sorted through the pros and cons of the thought. Shelby was a really spectacular girl. Going anywhere with her had been so much fun, he couldn’t imagine that Maui would be any different.

  But still, the trip was only two days away. Impossible. She wouldn’t be able to get the time off work or even have the money for a trip like that.

  You have enough money to pay for her. And she hates her job anyway.

  He tossed these “thoughts” aside and picked up his stride to make it back to where Shelby was. It was dark now and he realized he had left her alone for quite some time—that was the opposite of being a gentleman, lost keys or not.

  Take Shelby to Hawaii Daniel.

  Again! Where was that thought coming from? Hadn’t he decided that it was illogical to ask her at this point in the game with everything that was going on? And why were thoughts entering into his mind in the third person? He was stunned. Something unusual was definitely happening. He looked down at his arm, noticing goosebumps everywhere. Just then, he felt a slight breeze blow on the back of his neck.

  He came up to where he and Shelby had been sitting to see Shelby crouched down, her head in her hands.

  “Shelby?”

  She didn’t seem to hear him. A knot formed in his stomach.

  “Shelby?” He walked closer.

  He touched her shoulder and she jumped up, startled.

  “Okay, yeah, well yes, bake those cookies for 20 minutes Kathryn and then yeah, they will be done. Oh, and thanks for AAA’s number. Okay, love ya, yeah, bye!” Shelby said quickly as she wrapped up her call with Kathryn.

  “So sorry about that Daniel. You startled me. I looked everywhere for the keys and when they didn’t turn up, I thought I would call Kathryn to see if she or Scott had any good ideas about what we could do. They said try AAA if you had another car key at home and your landlord could let you into your place.”

  Daniel hugged her, tightly.

  “Oh, I was so worried something was wrong. I had the weirdest walk—things were feeling kind of spooky. I felt terrible when I realized how long I left you out here alone. And then when I saw you crouched down like that…”<
br />
  His voice trailed off, Shelby could hear emotion rising in his voice.

  “I thought maybe something had happened to you...”

  He squeezed her tighter, his hand holding the back of her hair, stroking it softly. Shelby instantly relaxed in his arms. His touch, the way he held her—it was as if they were a perfect fit.

  Shelby leaned back, placing her hands on either side of Daniel’s face.

  “Well, I’m fine sweetie. Nothing to worry about at all. But thank you for caring so much.”

  Shelby couldn’t figure out why she just called him sweetie. It had been a week for crying out loud. She admonished herself to slow down, and then smiled thinking back to what Daniel’s mother had said about humans and timeframes.

  “What’s the smile about?”

  “Oh, no—nothing. I was merely reflecting on the situation we’re in, yet it all feels like it’s totally fine standing here like this.”

  Shelby was grateful she had the ability to think on her feet.

  Daniel smiled back at her, his arms snugly wrapped around her waist.

  “You know what Shelby? You are absolutely right. I was thinking about that on my walk back actually, how being with you feels easy and…right…”

  They looked into each other’s eyes, smiling but not saying a word. Daniel had half a mind to lay Shelby down right there in the Rose Garden lawn and make love to her. If only he had his keys. Oh yes, his keys. How could he forget? Although looking into Shelby’s eyes had a way of making him forget quite a bit.

  Daniel leaned down and placed his lips tenderly on Shelby’s. Their mouths intertwined softly, deliberately, as if each knew exactly what the other wanted and needed. He felt her tongue stroke his and immediately he was aroused. They stood there like that for several minutes, before the thought of the darkness, the closing of the park, and the keys entered their reality yet again.