The first thing that shocked Eddie was that he was back inside his
old apartment. Then he began to notice the not so little things, like how
it had a different air to it, and the mountains of brown boxes that were
scattered and piled upon one another all through out the loft. There was a
sound of ruffling coming from within the cavernous boxes and Eddie followed
the sound. What he didn't expect to see was a woman with tight ringlets of
pale marigold framing her determined face fighting with tape from on of the
boxes. A chuckle escaped Eddie's mouth before he could prevent it and the
woman looked up sharply.
"Who are you?" She demanded, trying to feel for the box cutter for protection, but since it was by Eddie's feet; he simply bent down and pocketed it in his jeans to put it in a place the woman probably wouldn't go right away. "Eddie Alden" He said easily and shifted his stance so that the cutter wasn't digging into his thigh. Her Cupid's bow mouth which was already driving Eddie crazy pulled into a little pout. "Did my brother send you here to scare me?" She asked and sat on her heels to look up at Eddie. A little confused, Eddie shook his head. "No darlin'," He said in a slow drawl. "I don't know you're brother" Fear began to creep into her eyes. "So then Ty didn't send you?" She asked again. "As I said, I don't know your brother"
She was up like a shot and darting past him. Before he could think of what else to do, he started after her then winced when the box cutter gouged at his leg, he stopped it yank it out of his pocket which gave the woman an advantage, not that she needed it, she could run like a rabbit. When he found her, she was in what used to be his bedroom, picking up the cord telephone and rapidly dialing a barrage of numbers. She froze when Eddie came in the room and he slowly took the receiver from her hand and placed it back in the cradle.
"Please don't kill me" She pleaded as she lowered herself to the bed. Eddie was confused until he remembered that he still had the box cutter in his hand. On the brink of amused and disgusted, he tossed it across the room. "I'm not going to kill you. Why would I?" She seemed confused. "I don't know, do you people need a motive these days?" He smiled and gave her a very obvious once-over and he noticed that she deliberately crossed her legs. He rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to rape you either so you can relax. What's your name?" She nervously began to play with an end of one of her curls. "Caitlyn, Caitlyn Murphy"
Eddie smiled and it made Caitlyn's heart flutter a little. "Well Caitlyn Murphy, I'm not going to kill, rape or even hurt you. See this used to be my apartment." He took the time to thoroughly examine her now. Flawless skin that was the color of pale Italian gold, big glittering eyes that he supposed got him the most, the sleek feline green, he supposed this was so because although he had known a million women with green eyes before, he had never met one with the pure green, they had always had flecks of blue or gold or gray, but her eyes were only the catty green. A long lean body that he decided would feel good underneath him. He shook his head and decided that that was an annoyance for another day. Added to it round soft looking breasts and long tapered artist fingers that were tipped with neatly manicured nails. She made quiet the package.
"Well this is my apartment now," Caitlyn said tilting her head to the side so she looked like royalty dismissing a peasant. "So I am asking you nicely to leave" Eddie smiled and Caitlyn began to feel a bit helpless. She switched and toyed with the end of her baby pink tank top that she slept in and was cut low to reveal hints of her creamy gold cleavage not that Eddie minded much, just because he was dead didn't mean that he didn't have the same urges that he did when he was alive. A small frown crossed his mouth. It was those damn urges that got him in all this trouble in the first place. "I wish I could leave Duchess," Eddie said slowly and picked up a shiny red apple from a bowl "But I have orders that I can't leave the apartment" It was a lie but Caitlyn would never know. "Who do you have orders from?" Eddie's smile became thin. "Gretchen Morris" He said and pointed upwards. "I think you must have hit your head on something on the way over here" Eddie smiled. He remembered thinking that himself. "Maybe," He said, getting an idea in his head, clutching his head, he stumbled and lurched slightly. Being a naïve, Caitlyn rushed to help him keep his balance. "You should come lie down" She cooed to him and Eddie grinned to himself. She eased him, or tried to since he was about a foot taller and 50 pounds heavier then she, into a plush pale blue couch that smelled faintly like gingerbread. "Thank you," Eddie murmured into one of the pillows and decided now was as good a time as any to get some sleep.
Caitlyn took the time to take a step back and evaluate the man who had suddenly appeared in her apartment and was now sleeping contently on her couch. She wasn't going to pretend that he wasn't an interesting prospect because he was. He had the tall dark and handsome thing going on that she could definitely appreciate and the knock at the door brought Caitlyn back before she realized that she was already getting a crush on the mysterious and a bit touched man. She turned to unbolt the door and pulled it open to see Ty Murphy's insultingly handsome face.
"How's my baby sister doing?" He asked with his cocky and somehow arrogant smile that he never lost from childhood. "I'm great," She squealed as she jumped into his arms. "Why didn't you tell me that New York was such an amazing place?" Ty laughed a rich rolling sound that Caitlyn loved to listen to and set her safely back onto the floor of the apartment. "Not so much like Georgia now is it?" He asked and she blushed slightly. "Even the people are different, a strange man showed up in my apartment about half an hour ago out of no where. He said it was his old apartment" Ty seemed to freeze. "Well Caitlyn did you call the police?" He demanded and when Caitlyn just gave him a bland look he shook her quickly. "This isn't Savannah anymore sweetheart; it isn't just a safe place"
He pulled out his cell phone to dial 911 but Caitlyn put a gentle hand on his wrist. "I know that Ty, but don't you think that he were going to rape or kill me he would have done it by now? Besides he's sleeping on the couch" Ty rolled his eyes that were a shade of smoky money green compared to Caitlyn's and for some reason that she would never be able to understand, girls loved his eyes. Not that the rest of his was bad, he had a tall lean frame and was surprisingly strong for someone who sat behind a desk all day. He dyed his sunny blonde hair to a dark brown because he claimed blonde was 'juvenile' yet he always kept it neatly cut and his fingers always seemed to be manicured His skin was a darker gold then hers and when he got angry, as he was now, his Italian accent deepened and always made heads turn. He gave Caitlyn the illusion of an Italian prince who had just stepped out of a story book and into an Armani suit. "He's still here?" He shook his head "Honestly Catie do you want to be murdered on the second day here?" Caitlyn pouted prettily and Ty hissed out a breath. "You never did have any common sense. Has he tried to do anything?" "No," Caitlyn said and gently fingered that apple that Eddie had left on the counter.
Ty stormed from out of the kitchen to the living room and saw Eddie's sleeping frame curled in the couch. He was a good 4 inches taller then Ty, but lean and more sleek looking, almost feral. Like the Devil's son. Ty smiled to himself. The Devil's Son was a the first thing that Caitlyn had painted, the painting of the man with burning dark eyes and black as night hair as flames swirled around him was the first one accepted by Gulliver's to be hung on the walls of the prestigious art house, however not the last. It seemed like a million years ago that Caitlyn was a 15 year-old girl covered in head to toe with paint or god knows what else while she giggled with her best friend Lara Wilkes, who Ty ended up marrying. A pretty thing with a cap of starry black hair and a brilliant smile, Ty was absolutely in love with her. He had come to tell Caitlyn that Lara was pregnant, but he had other things on his mind due to Abby's trusting nature.
Eddie stirred in his deep sleep and murmured something that Ty couldn't hear, but brought his attention back to Eddie from his daydreamy travel back in time. He was a handsome bugger, he had to give him that, but Ty still didn't plan to trust him. He loved his sister, but Caitlyn had always had her head up in the clouds. When their mother died and their father had gone into a recluse, it had been Ty's job to pay the bills and auditors while Caitlyn brought home every stray puppy and wounded bird she could find. When he left for New York to pursue a career as lawyer, he supposed that the house would be full of animals and Abby would be living without hot water or electricity, seeing as how she would never pay the bills on time.
It was too early for Ty to be terribly annoyed by Eddie, so he simply turned on his heels and walked back into the kitchen where Caitlyn was sipping a glass s of white wine. No matter what the situation, from either changing a car tire in the middle of Nowhere Nevada or sitting at the opera, Caitlyn could always be classy. "Do whatever you want with him" Ty said temperamentally, but if he puts a toe out of line, send him over to me" He bent and scribbled his address on a napkin and handed it to Caitlyn. "Alright but you'd have to come here," She said a she tucked the napkin in the pocket of her jeans. "Why?" Caitlyn sighed as if the answer were obvious. "Just because," Caitlyn began to make something up quickly so that he wouldn't think she was totally insane. "He really hit his head, and traveling downtown might be bad for him" Ty rolled his eyes in exasperation and left.
Slightly irritated by the visit of her brother, she rummaged through the kitchen and pulled out a pan to make some breakfast. Eddie woke to the intoxicating smell of eggs and bacon sizzling in a frying pan. He uncurled himself from the surprisingly comfortable couch and followed the sound of Caitlyn singing softly to herself. He didn't know the song but he liked the sound of her voice as she sang it. Soft and almost heartbreakingly sad, but it had a silky texture that the ear couldn't deny. He found her standing over a skillet with a spatula in hand, expertly flipping sunny side eggs. He smiled at the glass of wine that was half empty and beaded with perspiration from the coolness of the air.
"A little early to start drinking don't you think?" He asked with a smirk. She glanced up at him, sleep agreed with him, the hollows in his cheeks were gone as well as the bags from under his eyes. "In New York, I didn't know anyone stopped" Eddie laughed and Caitlyn had to smile as it was a friendly sound. "So," He said as he leaned against the counter that the cool gray marble had replaced the black wood. "Are you going to make me some breakfast or make me beg?" Caitlyn grinned and flipped the eggs and bacon onto the plates to accompany the toast.
"Well I would make you beg if I were mean, but I'm feeling charitable today. Would you like coffee, or maybe some wine to drink?" "Coffee's fine," He said and settled himself into watching Caitlyn move about the kitchen. She poured the coffee into a plum color mug with a small chip on the handle and passed it to him. Taking a sip, he decided that Abby was the only one he ever wanted to make his coffee again. When she set two plates onto the counter, he grinned and knew that the eggs were just out of the pan and steaming hot, but the fragrance they gave out made him want to risk a scalded tongue.
"Did you just move to New York?" Eddie asked as he dashed salt onto the eggs which had more to do with habit then with the flavor of the eggs, which was exceptional. "Yeah, from Savannah Georgia," She said as she took a sip of her wine. "My brother Tyler, or Ty is what we call him, he came up about two years before me, he's a lawyer now over at Jarred and Kaminski" Eddie had no idea who Jarred or Kaminski was and didn't care was, but he nodded as if he did. "Kind of a difference in areas don't you think?" He asked as he watched Caitlyn over the rim of his cup.
"Well yes," She said as she seemed to examine the question. "The pace is Georgia was slower, even if you visited Atlanta it wasn't as busy as Manhattan. At first I wanted to move to California, Redlands, maybe Los Angeles, to kind of ease my way into the rush of it all, y'know to kind of get my feet wet, but from what Ty had been telling me of New York City, I just had to jump right in. What about you? Did you always live in New York? I know that some people live in Brooklyn or Long Island and they don't really consider it New York because well..."
Eddie grinned from ear to ear. God she was cute. Sophisticated when she wanted to be and just innocent enough to be insanely sexy and irresistibly cute at the same time. "No, I've never lived in New York at all actually till I was 17, when I was little, only about 8 or 9 years old, my Dad moved us from smack in the middle of Clinton Missouri where at most there are 3,500 to Manhattan where there are 204,000 and it seems like all of them are out on the streets at the same time, but it was great and I guess I adjusted right away because when the family moved back when I was 17, I stayed here and it's here I've been ever since" He didn't consider the fact that he was dead and in Heaven for 100 years before he got back to New York to be a lie.
"I've been here two days," She said as she paused to take a sip of coffee. "And I love it, it's amazing" Eddie smiled at her and Caitlyn had to fight to keep her hands still. Eddie examined her face and nodded. "So far concrete and steel agree with you. I used to go to the New York Public Library for hours-" He stopped when he remembered that 100 years had passed by, and the Library had probably been closed or run down for years. But Caitlyn just keep looking at him and smiling patiently, like she knew what he was talking about. "And read whatever I could get my hands on. Sometimes I wouldn't even check out a book, it would just sit in one of those big very comfortable chairs by the window and just read"
Caitlyn nodded. "It was something like that in Georgia, only instead of staring into another building, we saw grass and trees and this lovely little stream that snaked by" Eddie watched her as she talked, she rarely gesticulated with her hands, which he found that New York women did, but Caitlyn sat very proper, head level and her beautiful hair framing her face that some would call angelic, but Eddie had an idea that when she was passionate about something, there wasn't anything angelic about it. "Well," Eddie said and shifted his position. "I found that if you sit in the right spot on the top floor, you can see this patch of woods and a little river or whatever"
Caitlyn smiled, making her amazing eyes seemingly glow. "Tell me about your family" Eddie said abruptly. Caitlyn seemed a little taken back, but once she regained her composure, she grinned quickly and gave Eddie an idea of a pixie about to play a prank. "Well I'm Italian right?" She asked and Eddie didn't know what else to do but nod. "Well, Italian women are supposed to marry young and pop out babies. My aunt is the best cook in the family, so for Christmas which is a huge deal for us by the way, and all the men do is eat and eat and degrade women, and the women sit around and sip coffee and talk about how gross men are. It's wonderful"
Eddie grinned. "How many brothers or sisters do you have?" Caitlyn sighed through a grin. "Well let's see now," She spread out her fingers of her right hand and began. "There is Jonathan, at 35 which makes him the oldest and the owner of the restaurant in Atlanta, then there are the triplets, Oliver, Danny and Christina, they're 30, then there's Ty who's 28, then there is Isadora and Julia, 10 months apart, they're both 25 from each other if you can believe it, and there's me, then there are the twins Lindsey and Tim. So not including me, I have seven brothers and sisters" Eddie seemed a little shocked. "Wow, I was thinking maybe two or three" Caitlyn laughed and shook her head which made her curls dance.
"Haha, you'd like that wouldn't you? Oh! And they're all married. So let's count all of them as well. Jonathan married Quinn, Oliver married Evita, Danny married Iris, Christina married Jim Donovan, Ty married my best friend Lara, Isadora married Geoffrey Winters, and Julie married Lucas Carpenter, Tim whose 19 married his high school girlfriend Penelope, but we all call her Penny, and Lindsey is getting married this fall to this really great guy she met named Adam Franconi. I am the only one in my family who isn't married. All of them are scattered over the country now except for Jonathan who still lives in Georgia. But we all get together at someone's house for Christmas, this year we're supposed to go to Oliver and Evita's house and ranch in North Carolina, so everyone is going to cram there and bring however many children they might have"
Eddie smiled at the sweet flush that was riding on Caitlyn's cheeks when she finished. "You adore your family though" He said after a while and took a sip of the cooling coffee. "Of course I do. Tell me about your family, brothers and sisters" Eddie paused for a moment and smiled. "I only have two younger siblings, my brother Jamie who's 25 and my sister Rose who just turned 23. Jamie got married three years ago to a pretty French girl named Annabelle, and had kids, two girls named Sarah and Amelie And Rose isn't married because she is in fact a lesbian, but she does have a girlfriend, Nicole" Caitlyn stifled a laugh but when Eddie smiled she decided that he wouldn't be offended if she laughed. Not that she found that sort of thing funny, but the way that he said it made her want to smile.
Caitlyn laughed and Eddie tried to convince himself not to notice how all the features that were already perfect about Caitlyn became even more obvious. Her pixie-nose wrinkled and her pretty mouth curved, even her hands looked more delicate looking when she laughed. He quickly shook himself from his dreaming about her and tried to compose himself. "I want to take you somewhere," Caitlyn said suddenly and grabbed Eddie's hand. She nearly hauled him to his feet as she was stronger then she looked and took him to the door. As she examined his clothes, she determined that the loose black slacks and the gray shirt looked alright on him, but it would never do for where they were going to be. "Scratch that, make it two places," Caitlyn murmured and pulled Eddie out the door.
"Who are you?" She demanded, trying to feel for the box cutter for protection, but since it was by Eddie's feet; he simply bent down and pocketed it in his jeans to put it in a place the woman probably wouldn't go right away. "Eddie Alden" He said easily and shifted his stance so that the cutter wasn't digging into his thigh. Her Cupid's bow mouth which was already driving Eddie crazy pulled into a little pout. "Did my brother send you here to scare me?" She asked and sat on her heels to look up at Eddie. A little confused, Eddie shook his head. "No darlin'," He said in a slow drawl. "I don't know you're brother" Fear began to creep into her eyes. "So then Ty didn't send you?" She asked again. "As I said, I don't know your brother"
She was up like a shot and darting past him. Before he could think of what else to do, he started after her then winced when the box cutter gouged at his leg, he stopped it yank it out of his pocket which gave the woman an advantage, not that she needed it, she could run like a rabbit. When he found her, she was in what used to be his bedroom, picking up the cord telephone and rapidly dialing a barrage of numbers. She froze when Eddie came in the room and he slowly took the receiver from her hand and placed it back in the cradle.
"Please don't kill me" She pleaded as she lowered herself to the bed. Eddie was confused until he remembered that he still had the box cutter in his hand. On the brink of amused and disgusted, he tossed it across the room. "I'm not going to kill you. Why would I?" She seemed confused. "I don't know, do you people need a motive these days?" He smiled and gave her a very obvious once-over and he noticed that she deliberately crossed her legs. He rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to rape you either so you can relax. What's your name?" She nervously began to play with an end of one of her curls. "Caitlyn, Caitlyn Murphy"
Eddie smiled and it made Caitlyn's heart flutter a little. "Well Caitlyn Murphy, I'm not going to kill, rape or even hurt you. See this used to be my apartment." He took the time to thoroughly examine her now. Flawless skin that was the color of pale Italian gold, big glittering eyes that he supposed got him the most, the sleek feline green, he supposed this was so because although he had known a million women with green eyes before, he had never met one with the pure green, they had always had flecks of blue or gold or gray, but her eyes were only the catty green. A long lean body that he decided would feel good underneath him. He shook his head and decided that that was an annoyance for another day. Added to it round soft looking breasts and long tapered artist fingers that were tipped with neatly manicured nails. She made quiet the package.
"Well this is my apartment now," Caitlyn said tilting her head to the side so she looked like royalty dismissing a peasant. "So I am asking you nicely to leave" Eddie smiled and Caitlyn began to feel a bit helpless. She switched and toyed with the end of her baby pink tank top that she slept in and was cut low to reveal hints of her creamy gold cleavage not that Eddie minded much, just because he was dead didn't mean that he didn't have the same urges that he did when he was alive. A small frown crossed his mouth. It was those damn urges that got him in all this trouble in the first place. "I wish I could leave Duchess," Eddie said slowly and picked up a shiny red apple from a bowl "But I have orders that I can't leave the apartment" It was a lie but Caitlyn would never know. "Who do you have orders from?" Eddie's smile became thin. "Gretchen Morris" He said and pointed upwards. "I think you must have hit your head on something on the way over here" Eddie smiled. He remembered thinking that himself. "Maybe," He said, getting an idea in his head, clutching his head, he stumbled and lurched slightly. Being a naïve, Caitlyn rushed to help him keep his balance. "You should come lie down" She cooed to him and Eddie grinned to himself. She eased him, or tried to since he was about a foot taller and 50 pounds heavier then she, into a plush pale blue couch that smelled faintly like gingerbread. "Thank you," Eddie murmured into one of the pillows and decided now was as good a time as any to get some sleep.
Caitlyn took the time to take a step back and evaluate the man who had suddenly appeared in her apartment and was now sleeping contently on her couch. She wasn't going to pretend that he wasn't an interesting prospect because he was. He had the tall dark and handsome thing going on that she could definitely appreciate and the knock at the door brought Caitlyn back before she realized that she was already getting a crush on the mysterious and a bit touched man. She turned to unbolt the door and pulled it open to see Ty Murphy's insultingly handsome face.
"How's my baby sister doing?" He asked with his cocky and somehow arrogant smile that he never lost from childhood. "I'm great," She squealed as she jumped into his arms. "Why didn't you tell me that New York was such an amazing place?" Ty laughed a rich rolling sound that Caitlyn loved to listen to and set her safely back onto the floor of the apartment. "Not so much like Georgia now is it?" He asked and she blushed slightly. "Even the people are different, a strange man showed up in my apartment about half an hour ago out of no where. He said it was his old apartment" Ty seemed to freeze. "Well Caitlyn did you call the police?" He demanded and when Caitlyn just gave him a bland look he shook her quickly. "This isn't Savannah anymore sweetheart; it isn't just a safe place"
He pulled out his cell phone to dial 911 but Caitlyn put a gentle hand on his wrist. "I know that Ty, but don't you think that he were going to rape or kill me he would have done it by now? Besides he's sleeping on the couch" Ty rolled his eyes that were a shade of smoky money green compared to Caitlyn's and for some reason that she would never be able to understand, girls loved his eyes. Not that the rest of his was bad, he had a tall lean frame and was surprisingly strong for someone who sat behind a desk all day. He dyed his sunny blonde hair to a dark brown because he claimed blonde was 'juvenile' yet he always kept it neatly cut and his fingers always seemed to be manicured His skin was a darker gold then hers and when he got angry, as he was now, his Italian accent deepened and always made heads turn. He gave Caitlyn the illusion of an Italian prince who had just stepped out of a story book and into an Armani suit. "He's still here?" He shook his head "Honestly Catie do you want to be murdered on the second day here?" Caitlyn pouted prettily and Ty hissed out a breath. "You never did have any common sense. Has he tried to do anything?" "No," Caitlyn said and gently fingered that apple that Eddie had left on the counter.
Ty stormed from out of the kitchen to the living room and saw Eddie's sleeping frame curled in the couch. He was a good 4 inches taller then Ty, but lean and more sleek looking, almost feral. Like the Devil's son. Ty smiled to himself. The Devil's Son was a the first thing that Caitlyn had painted, the painting of the man with burning dark eyes and black as night hair as flames swirled around him was the first one accepted by Gulliver's to be hung on the walls of the prestigious art house, however not the last. It seemed like a million years ago that Caitlyn was a 15 year-old girl covered in head to toe with paint or god knows what else while she giggled with her best friend Lara Wilkes, who Ty ended up marrying. A pretty thing with a cap of starry black hair and a brilliant smile, Ty was absolutely in love with her. He had come to tell Caitlyn that Lara was pregnant, but he had other things on his mind due to Abby's trusting nature.
Eddie stirred in his deep sleep and murmured something that Ty couldn't hear, but brought his attention back to Eddie from his daydreamy travel back in time. He was a handsome bugger, he had to give him that, but Ty still didn't plan to trust him. He loved his sister, but Caitlyn had always had her head up in the clouds. When their mother died and their father had gone into a recluse, it had been Ty's job to pay the bills and auditors while Caitlyn brought home every stray puppy and wounded bird she could find. When he left for New York to pursue a career as lawyer, he supposed that the house would be full of animals and Abby would be living without hot water or electricity, seeing as how she would never pay the bills on time.
It was too early for Ty to be terribly annoyed by Eddie, so he simply turned on his heels and walked back into the kitchen where Caitlyn was sipping a glass s of white wine. No matter what the situation, from either changing a car tire in the middle of Nowhere Nevada or sitting at the opera, Caitlyn could always be classy. "Do whatever you want with him" Ty said temperamentally, but if he puts a toe out of line, send him over to me" He bent and scribbled his address on a napkin and handed it to Caitlyn. "Alright but you'd have to come here," She said a she tucked the napkin in the pocket of her jeans. "Why?" Caitlyn sighed as if the answer were obvious. "Just because," Caitlyn began to make something up quickly so that he wouldn't think she was totally insane. "He really hit his head, and traveling downtown might be bad for him" Ty rolled his eyes in exasperation and left.
Slightly irritated by the visit of her brother, she rummaged through the kitchen and pulled out a pan to make some breakfast. Eddie woke to the intoxicating smell of eggs and bacon sizzling in a frying pan. He uncurled himself from the surprisingly comfortable couch and followed the sound of Caitlyn singing softly to herself. He didn't know the song but he liked the sound of her voice as she sang it. Soft and almost heartbreakingly sad, but it had a silky texture that the ear couldn't deny. He found her standing over a skillet with a spatula in hand, expertly flipping sunny side eggs. He smiled at the glass of wine that was half empty and beaded with perspiration from the coolness of the air.
"A little early to start drinking don't you think?" He asked with a smirk. She glanced up at him, sleep agreed with him, the hollows in his cheeks were gone as well as the bags from under his eyes. "In New York, I didn't know anyone stopped" Eddie laughed and Caitlyn had to smile as it was a friendly sound. "So," He said as he leaned against the counter that the cool gray marble had replaced the black wood. "Are you going to make me some breakfast or make me beg?" Caitlyn grinned and flipped the eggs and bacon onto the plates to accompany the toast.
"Well I would make you beg if I were mean, but I'm feeling charitable today. Would you like coffee, or maybe some wine to drink?" "Coffee's fine," He said and settled himself into watching Caitlyn move about the kitchen. She poured the coffee into a plum color mug with a small chip on the handle and passed it to him. Taking a sip, he decided that Abby was the only one he ever wanted to make his coffee again. When she set two plates onto the counter, he grinned and knew that the eggs were just out of the pan and steaming hot, but the fragrance they gave out made him want to risk a scalded tongue.
"Did you just move to New York?" Eddie asked as he dashed salt onto the eggs which had more to do with habit then with the flavor of the eggs, which was exceptional. "Yeah, from Savannah Georgia," She said as she took a sip of her wine. "My brother Tyler, or Ty is what we call him, he came up about two years before me, he's a lawyer now over at Jarred and Kaminski" Eddie had no idea who Jarred or Kaminski was and didn't care was, but he nodded as if he did. "Kind of a difference in areas don't you think?" He asked as he watched Caitlyn over the rim of his cup.
"Well yes," She said as she seemed to examine the question. "The pace is Georgia was slower, even if you visited Atlanta it wasn't as busy as Manhattan. At first I wanted to move to California, Redlands, maybe Los Angeles, to kind of ease my way into the rush of it all, y'know to kind of get my feet wet, but from what Ty had been telling me of New York City, I just had to jump right in. What about you? Did you always live in New York? I know that some people live in Brooklyn or Long Island and they don't really consider it New York because well..."
Eddie grinned from ear to ear. God she was cute. Sophisticated when she wanted to be and just innocent enough to be insanely sexy and irresistibly cute at the same time. "No, I've never lived in New York at all actually till I was 17, when I was little, only about 8 or 9 years old, my Dad moved us from smack in the middle of Clinton Missouri where at most there are 3,500 to Manhattan where there are 204,000 and it seems like all of them are out on the streets at the same time, but it was great and I guess I adjusted right away because when the family moved back when I was 17, I stayed here and it's here I've been ever since" He didn't consider the fact that he was dead and in Heaven for 100 years before he got back to New York to be a lie.
"I've been here two days," She said as she paused to take a sip of coffee. "And I love it, it's amazing" Eddie smiled at her and Caitlyn had to fight to keep her hands still. Eddie examined her face and nodded. "So far concrete and steel agree with you. I used to go to the New York Public Library for hours-" He stopped when he remembered that 100 years had passed by, and the Library had probably been closed or run down for years. But Caitlyn just keep looking at him and smiling patiently, like she knew what he was talking about. "And read whatever I could get my hands on. Sometimes I wouldn't even check out a book, it would just sit in one of those big very comfortable chairs by the window and just read"
Caitlyn nodded. "It was something like that in Georgia, only instead of staring into another building, we saw grass and trees and this lovely little stream that snaked by" Eddie watched her as she talked, she rarely gesticulated with her hands, which he found that New York women did, but Caitlyn sat very proper, head level and her beautiful hair framing her face that some would call angelic, but Eddie had an idea that when she was passionate about something, there wasn't anything angelic about it. "Well," Eddie said and shifted his position. "I found that if you sit in the right spot on the top floor, you can see this patch of woods and a little river or whatever"
Caitlyn smiled, making her amazing eyes seemingly glow. "Tell me about your family" Eddie said abruptly. Caitlyn seemed a little taken back, but once she regained her composure, she grinned quickly and gave Eddie an idea of a pixie about to play a prank. "Well I'm Italian right?" She asked and Eddie didn't know what else to do but nod. "Well, Italian women are supposed to marry young and pop out babies. My aunt is the best cook in the family, so for Christmas which is a huge deal for us by the way, and all the men do is eat and eat and degrade women, and the women sit around and sip coffee and talk about how gross men are. It's wonderful"
Eddie grinned. "How many brothers or sisters do you have?" Caitlyn sighed through a grin. "Well let's see now," She spread out her fingers of her right hand and began. "There is Jonathan, at 35 which makes him the oldest and the owner of the restaurant in Atlanta, then there are the triplets, Oliver, Danny and Christina, they're 30, then there's Ty who's 28, then there is Isadora and Julia, 10 months apart, they're both 25 from each other if you can believe it, and there's me, then there are the twins Lindsey and Tim. So not including me, I have seven brothers and sisters" Eddie seemed a little shocked. "Wow, I was thinking maybe two or three" Caitlyn laughed and shook her head which made her curls dance.
"Haha, you'd like that wouldn't you? Oh! And they're all married. So let's count all of them as well. Jonathan married Quinn, Oliver married Evita, Danny married Iris, Christina married Jim Donovan, Ty married my best friend Lara, Isadora married Geoffrey Winters, and Julie married Lucas Carpenter, Tim whose 19 married his high school girlfriend Penelope, but we all call her Penny, and Lindsey is getting married this fall to this really great guy she met named Adam Franconi. I am the only one in my family who isn't married. All of them are scattered over the country now except for Jonathan who still lives in Georgia. But we all get together at someone's house for Christmas, this year we're supposed to go to Oliver and Evita's house and ranch in North Carolina, so everyone is going to cram there and bring however many children they might have"
Eddie smiled at the sweet flush that was riding on Caitlyn's cheeks when she finished. "You adore your family though" He said after a while and took a sip of the cooling coffee. "Of course I do. Tell me about your family, brothers and sisters" Eddie paused for a moment and smiled. "I only have two younger siblings, my brother Jamie who's 25 and my sister Rose who just turned 23. Jamie got married three years ago to a pretty French girl named Annabelle, and had kids, two girls named Sarah and Amelie And Rose isn't married because she is in fact a lesbian, but she does have a girlfriend, Nicole" Caitlyn stifled a laugh but when Eddie smiled she decided that he wouldn't be offended if she laughed. Not that she found that sort of thing funny, but the way that he said it made her want to smile.
Caitlyn laughed and Eddie tried to convince himself not to notice how all the features that were already perfect about Caitlyn became even more obvious. Her pixie-nose wrinkled and her pretty mouth curved, even her hands looked more delicate looking when she laughed. He quickly shook himself from his dreaming about her and tried to compose himself. "I want to take you somewhere," Caitlyn said suddenly and grabbed Eddie's hand. She nearly hauled him to his feet as she was stronger then she looked and took him to the door. As she examined his clothes, she determined that the loose black slacks and the gray shirt looked alright on him, but it would never do for where they were going to be. "Scratch that, make it two places," Caitlyn murmured and pulled Eddie out the door.