She awoke to the sun streaming brightly
through the large ocean-front windows. Her eyes blinked in the
morning light as she slowly rose to a sitting position. The silk
bathrobe was discarded on the floor, she was naked under the sheets.
She pushed the sheets off of her, picking the bathrobe off the floor
and tying it out about her.
“Coffee,” was her one thought.
“Must get coffee.”
She caught a glimpse of herself in the
full length mirror in the corner of the bedroom. Her red hair stuck
out at odd angles from falling asleep with it still damp, matted in
places was it, and her eyes were puffy from crying. The meeting of
Jay the night before had spiraled her backwards into a haunting
memory, of allowing herself to get close in order to be left wounded.
Fear had gripped her and the tears fell in reckless abandon. She
turned away from the mirror and made her way to the kitchen
downstairs.
The coffee pot was gurgling away as
she rummaged through the kitchen for some kind of breakfast. She
found eggs, enough for a scramble, and a banana that was quickly on
its way to brown and had to be eaten right then and there.
She turned on the stove, cracked the
eggs into the pan, and watched as the yokes sizzled in the heat, a
feeling she was all too aware of. She pushed it from her eye. The
coffee pot rung its alarm, signifying its finishing its job. She
moved over towards the pot hurriedly, found a mug in the dishwasher,
and poured herself a cup. She took it black, as from so many travels
she had been accustomed to, taking whatever she could find. This was
the first time she'd ever had such a luxurious surroundings and
opportunity.
She sipped the coffee and turned back
to her eggs. With a fork, she scrambled them, adding butter and milk
she had found in the fridge. Once they were scrambled to her liking,
she ate them hungrily, straight from the pan. Then, devoured the
overly sweet browning banana and tossed it into the garbage beneath
the sink.
She walked into the TV room and sat
slowly, dejectedly upon the sofa. She did not turn the TV on,
resisted that impulse to numb herself with that distraction. She had
to think and think fast. No doubt, Jay had already told his parents
about his meeting her and they would soon want to investigate it
further. That means, she must start the preparations to leave before
she was caught, the cops called, or whatever might happen. A few
cities back that had actually happened. She was squatting, or doing
her usual uninvited house-sitting as she called it, at a small
cottage when she had been discovered and was informed by a neighbor
the cops were on their way. She'd left hurriedly, with barely any
time to pack, leaving something she could never replace, something of
intrinsic value behind. Her heart still ached over that loss,
another among many.
A gentle rap at the front door broke
her revelry. She looked down and wished herself clothed more than
she was. The rap came again, it wasn't an angry knock but a simple
greeting, a reaching out to her. She cautiously made her way down
the front entrance way hallway to the front door. Slowly she turned
the knob and poked just her head out the door. A woman, in her mid
thirties perhaps, stood on the front porch, smiling at her.
“Becca?” the woman said. “Good
morning. I'm Jay's mom, Judy.”
“Oh, um, hi, I was...,” came
Rachel's faltering reply.
“Just waking up, sorry to wake you,”
Judy smiled at her and Rachel felt confused at this warmth. “I just
wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood and see who the Jones' had
hired. Do you house-sit much?”
“Oh, I, yeah,” was all Rachel
could reply.
“Oh, then we should get to know each
other,” Judy continued not noticing Rachel's awkwardness. “I'm
always looking for reliable sitters, how much do you charge?”
“Um,” Rachel searched her mind for
some amount but came up with a blank. Hurriedly, she spat out
nervously, “Its negotiable.”
“Oh, nice,” Judy smiled at her
again. “Well, we are having a little community get together at our
house, its just right across the way, you are welcome to come.”
She pointed at the two story yellow
house directly below and in front of the Jones' house.
“Maybe we'll see you there?” Judy
was asking and Rachel's mind was spinning from this invitation.
“What?” Rachel wondered aloud,
biting her lip to hide its tremor.
“Maybe you can come to our
get-together, 6:00 pm?” Judy repeated herself.
“Um, yeah, great, that'd be fun,
thanks,” and Judy smiled at her, said a warm “see you then,”
and departed back down the steps. Rachel watched her go, then closed
the door behind her, and leaned up against it with a heavy sigh. She
couldn't believe what had transpired and she knew that she shouldn't
stay any longer in this place, but something deep within felt as if
she should stay, had to stay longer.
'Oh well,' she thought. 'Maybe this
will be the greatest adventure of yet. Like an actress, I could slip
even further into the life of Becca Jacobs.'
She moved herself up to the master
bedroom and into the bathroom. Washing her face, she started
planning the sound-proof backstory that would suffice for the life of
Becca Jones.
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