Page 9 of The Shadows We Keep

In three, I’ll turn it over and read whatever he left me. In three… two… one.

Did you miss me?

I read it over and over in my head, mouthing the words slowly as I process. Of course, I missed him. He was gone out of my sights longer than any other time since he moved to New York. The note he scratched out is messy with slanted handwriting. I want to know his game. Why leave the note and not just come up to me at the table?

The speakers announces my spot as the same thing flashes on the reader board lining the roof. I stand, gripping the pole to my right, the metal cools my palm, the note card stuck in between.

* * *

“Please tellme we can go out this week?” That’s the first thing out of Stace’s mouth before I can even put my stuff away.

“Damn girl, no hi, hello, how are you?”

She slaps my shoulder. “Oh, shut up and answer me.”

I give her a quizzical look, kind of an oxymoron there, but she doesn’t catch it. I love Stacey. She’s the only person in this damn city I’d choose to spend my free time with. She’s my complete opposite. Tall, blonde, bubbly, and extremely extroverted. The girl could make friends with an on-duty Queen’s Guard. But somehow, we mesh. In hindsight, it’s probably our mutual love for sarcasm, strong drinks, and shit talking.

“What’d you have in mind?” I ask.

“You know the new bar that just opened down the street from your place?” Stace says excitedly.

“No? How do you know about something in my neighborhood? You don’t even come down there, except to hang out with me.”

“You are so clueless, I swear. They just had a huge opening. It’s all over. Apparently, it’s pretty risqué.” Her eyes light up like a kid on Christmas morning.

She eyes me up and down. “Oh, and there’s a strict dress code.”

I roll my eyes at her clear judgement of my typical fashion choice. Stace shrugs and turns to move over to her desk. I’m sure I’ve got something hidden in my closet. If not, I guess I’ll be borrowing something. Fingers crossed, it’ll fit. We might be the same size, but we are so not the same height.

The flow of travelers is steady tonight. The redeye flyers are usually single people or people with young children hoping that the late hour will help them sleep through the entire flight. There’s a certain quiet that comes with working at the airport at night. It’s calm, giving me plenty of time to obsess over the note burning a hole in my pocket.

Why now? Does he know?

FIVE

HARKIN

Rammstein - Rosenrot

She left the pizza shop and hasn’t come back. I watched that slime ball from the counter slink his way over to her table. He lingered a little too long for my liking as his fingers brushed against hers, handing over my little, white note.

My worn leather chair squeaks as I readjust to face the street. I count the flickers of the neon Luigi’s sign across the way. It might be just after five in the morning, but this time of year, it’s still an inky black outside. By the time I reach an even hundred, a slight frame dressed in head-to-toe black types in the passcode for the apartment entrance next to Luigi’s.

I’d bet my unused trust fund that it’s her. I inspect the building window by window, as if it’ll tell me more, but she’s vanished into the dark like a shadow. That is, until the smallest sliver of light peeks through the bottom of dark curtains in the apartment right across from mine. It can’t be.

My eyes don’t leave the narrow seam, my only possible connection to her. And then in a blink of an eye it’s gone.

What am I doing?

I’m crossing a line, violating her privacy even more than digging through her online footprint. But I can’t seem to scrape up a single fuck to give. When I glance at my computer screen, her small profile picture is a beacon in my dark apartment.

I tell myself to get up, that I should get some sleep. At this rate, it’ll only be a couple hours before I have to start on a new job I took last week. Instead of heading into the bedroom and taking an extended nap, I make my way to the kitchen.

Pulling out the coffee, I line the upper chamber and fill it to the rim with dark roast grounds. When I flip the switch, it hums as the water heats and drips to the pot. The aromatic brew fills my nose. Here’s to hoping a caffeine boost is all I need to get through the next twelve hours.

I haven’t pulled an all-nighter in months. But as I watched her stuff my note into her bag and take off at breakneck speed, my brain wouldn’t shut off. I wanted to know if she’d seen me, or if she knew who the note was from. I craved her answer to the question, though I wasn’t all too sure why I’d asked it in the first place. Hour after hour passed as I sat waiting for her to return.

It would have been easier to set up new cameras, besides the ones that already littered my apartment. But I didn’t want to watch her second hand on the screen. Instead, I made myself comfortable. Well, as comfortable as you could get when sitting in the same chair in the same position for over eight hours.

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