Eddie felt her presence the minute he past the 'Welcome to Portland' sign. It wasn't enough that she was on his mind against his will most days but being in the same city as her was more than he could handle.
He glanced out of his window and rolled the glass down. He'd been driving for twelve hours non-stop. It turned out that the owner Brick Firewick was leaving to live with his children in a couple of days so Eddie had to get himself to Portland to finalise the deal on that land Rachel told him about.
The sun was beating down on his forearms now and browned his tan arms further. His eyes fell on the gauge and he sighed. He was running low on gas since he last fuelled up at 5am. He spotted a gas station up ahead and merged into the outer lane with ease.
The gas station wasn't like the ones back at Knight's Ridge. It had an air conditioner as you entered the station and all the pumps were fully operational. He got to his truck to fuel up when a boy not older than 17 raced up to him.
"I can do that for you, sir," the boy offered taking the pump out of his hands.
Eddie was taken aback. The last time someone called him 'sir' was… never, he recalled. "You sure do things differently here in Portland. Do you wax and polish too?" he commented. He noticed the boy's name tag said 'Cole'.
The youth darted his eyes back to Eddie in surprise, caught the slight smile, and smiled back, "Aw, it's no big deal. 'Sides it makes it seem like I'm working so my Dad won't be out here bugging me about not doing anything."
Eddie thought the fuss was completely unnecessary but he let the boy pump his gas, check his oil and do whatever else he felt the need to do. He just waited and watched him work quickly and efficiently. Eddie's gaze wandered the court and fell on the hardware store next door. There was a beast of a motorcycle that glistened in the sunlight, Eddie shielded his eyes and admired its sleek curves and the fact that it was a lifelong dream to own one made him want to go there and introduce himself to the guy who owned it.
"You're not from here?" Cole tore into his thoughts.
"Huh?" Eddie looked back at the boy who was dragging a squeegee across the windscreen, "Oh. No just visiting, I guess," by the time he looked back at the motorcycle, the rider was already on it, pulling the helmet over their head. Was it just him or did that biker have too many curves for a dude? He squinted to be sure and realised with surprise that the biker was indeed a woman. The corner of his lips tipped up with surprise, "Well how about that?"
"What?" Cole asked, following his gaze, "Oh yeah, that's Black Beauty. None of us knows who she is, but she comes here once a week to the hardware store. My buddies just nicknamed her bike Black Beauty and the name stuck I guess. Man I'd give anything to ride that bike."
Eddie watched in fascination as the woman who was sheathed in black leather, took control of the beast with absolute ease as she revved the motor, circled the court in front of them and sped off in the opposite direction.
Janet wove in and out of traffic racking her brain to convince herself that the man she spotted out of the corner of her eye wasn't who she thought it was. How could it be? He lived in Massachusetts. How on earth would he wind up in her city?
You've had one too many caffeinated drinks. No more coffee Meadows, she scoffed as the absurdity. Right. Eddie in her hometown. The lumberjack, the hermit, the loner. Driving over a hundred miles to a big and scary city. She really needed to get some rest. Janet worked every day for the last two weeks. She finally had a day off to rest and instead it was doing double time in hallucination.
She drove past the restaurant she was working at without a side glance. For a job she'd dreamed of having her whole life, it sure lost its lustre quickly after only four months. As head chef she found herself planning menus, sampling what her sous-chef and kitchen hands cooked and schmoozed restaurant critics. She was a glorified logo on a prestigious restaurant downtown. Wasn't this everything she'd ever wanted? Why did living her dream feel so empty?
She pulled into her apartment complex and pulled off her helmet. She was grateful for one thing; the sudden robustness in her bank account allowed her to afford this beautiful bike she owned. She ran her fingers along the cool metal of the gas tank. Perfection. She'd wanted to own one ever since her friend in culinary school had taught her how to ride.
"You're a natural!" he'd said and she believed him.
Her mind wandered back to the man at the gas station as she let herself into her apartment but she shook her head. It wasn't him. The more she thought about it the more reasonable the conclusion sounded.
By late evening, when she climbed into her bathtub to soak her aches away, she was so convinced she'd been seeing things, the man at the gas station began to fade to the recesses of her subconscious. Still… it niggled at her.
The next morning, Janet woke up, pulled on her sweats and trainers, and was strapping her iPod to her arm getting ready for her run when the phone rang.
"Hello?" Janet asked into the phone.
"Jan? It's me, Rachel."
"Hey how's my favourite realtor doing?" Janet didn't have close relationships with a lot of people, but Rachel was one of the few that stuck with her over the years. She was there when Janet's parents were looking to buy a condo up town the year after Janet graduated and they hit it off. They'd stayed in touch ever since.
"Not too bad. You've been working so hard lately, I was wondering if I would catch you today before you headed out," the sound of a blender in the background muffled the end of Rachel's sentence.
"Day off, but I was just about to head out for a run. Want to come?"
"Uh… I'll pass thanks," Janet grinned at the sound of disgust in Rachel's voice.
"You know Rache, we can't all just wake up every morning looking like a Victoria Secret model. Some of us have to work at it."
"I sell property for a living. I get enough of a workout, thank you. And by today, I expect to have burned at least two pounds. I'm driving down to Massachusetts to show some guy a property. Remember the one I was telling you about?"
"I remember," Janet nodded, "So you finally found someone to bite the bait huh?" she teased.
"Why, Janet Meadows, I'm hurt…," she paused for dramatic effect, "But if all goes well he'll be in escrow by the end of our trip."
Janet grinned again. She liked Rachel. She was so honest and fun-loving it was hard not to. "So when are you heading down there?"
"We meet the owner at 2. I called to ask if you wanted to come with us. Road trip."
Janet hesitated. She didn't think of going to Massachusetts any time soon. But with the way she'd been working lately and the weather warming up, a road trip seemed like just the ticket. Besides, it wasn't as if she'd be going to Knight's Ridge. She told herself to grow up and answered, "Sure. Sounds like fun."
"Great! You want to grab lunch before we head out?"
"Sounds good. I'll meet you at Five Fifty Five at 1."