Chapter 6
Over the next few weeks Deja and Mort spent lots of time together. They had gone out on a few more dates and had developed serious feelings for one another. Deja actually thought that Mort may be 'the one.' She didn't want to jump the gun, but could feel herself falling in love with him. She only hoped that he felt the same way. She knew that he was moving to Tashmore Lake soon and she hoped that wouldn't put a strain on their relationship. Even though his summer house was only 2 hours away, Deja knew their time together would be cut back dramatically.
It was the day before Mort was to leave to go clean his Tashmore getaway. Deja had decided to take the weekend off to accompany him. Because Mort needed to pack some things for their trip, he wasn't able to come to the diner that night.
About an hour before closing time, Deja walked over to the order of a customer who had just walked in. His back was to her, so she couldn't prepare herself for the shock she was about to get. As soon as she faced him, she noticed the familiar hazel eyes that she used to get lost in. It was Darrell. This put a damper on her entire day. She hadn't seen him since their break up and she wasn't prepared to face him today.
She sighed loudly. "What can I get you?" she said in an annoyed tone.
"Is that any way to talk to your customers?" he smirked. He knew how to get to her.
"Darrell, I have other clients here. Can you please just order."
"Let me get a water with an order of fries," he replied.
Deja came back to his table in a 5 minutes with his water and fries. As she placed his plate on the table and turned to leave, he grabbed her wrist.
"What!" she growled, a little too loudly. Other customers began to look in their direction.
"Can we talk for a minute?" he asked.
"I'm working," Deja retorted.
"I promise as soon as I say what I came here for, I'll leave you alone," he begged.
Although she didn't want to talk to him, she knew how persistent he could be. She figured it was easier to listen to him now and get it over with than to have him harass her over the next few weeks.
"Fine, let me ask Mike if I can take a 10 minute break," she said making her way to the back to talk to Mike. He had no problem with it seeing as how things were slowing down and Fran, the other waitress was still here.
Deja made her way back to Darrell's booth and sat across from him. She had to admit to herself that he was still very attractive. Thankfully, she had moved on and had no desire to ever go back to him and his cheating ways.
"I know this is coming out of nowhere," he started, "seeing as how we haven't had contact for a very long time. But I wanted to come and apologize for everything I've put you through. I know what I did to you was horrible, but I just want your forgiveness."
Deja was completely stunned. She didn't know what to say. This was definitely not the Darrell she knew. He was always too proud to admit his mistakes. Now he was coming to her asking her to forgive him? He must have wanted something.
"What are you after?" she asked suspiciously.
"Nothing. I just came to make things between you and I okay. I've come to a point in my life where I'm trying to right some of my wrongs," he explained.
This caught Deja completely off guard. She didn't know what to think. He seemed sincere enough, but she didn't want to get pulled into his little game, if that's in fact what this was.
He continued, "I know I really hurt you and I pray that one day you can forgive me. I hate that I messed up what we had and I know we'll never get that back, but I want you to know that I'm truly sorry for everything."
Deja paused for a moment. "Wow...I'm not sure of what to say. You caught me completely off guard..."
"I know this must be a shock for you, but I was hoping that after you've had a chance to digest all of this that maybe you and I could continue on with a friendship," he went on. "As much as I'd love for things to go back to how they used to be, I know that won't happen."
"Well, I'm definitely not interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with you anymore," Deja said quickly.
"I'm not asking for that," he pleaded. "I just want to know if you can forgive me and possibly continue on with a friendship?"
"You've put me through a lot, Darrell," she explained, "but I forgave you a long time ago. I can forgive, but can't forget."
"Just so you know, I am truly sorry and I hope you can find it in your heart to be my friend again," he said as he got up out of the booth and walked out the door.
Deja was left sitting in the booth unsure of what to think. Darrell seemed like he had really changed. She wasn't sure what brought this change about, but she was hoping he meant every word he said. For the rest of her shift, she wondered if she could indeed have a friendship with Darrell.
It was 9 am the next day, and Deja was seated next to Mort in his small Ford. He had picked her up about 15 minutes earlier and they were on their way to Tashmore Lake. Deja was very excited to finally be going to his summer home. She'd heard such wonderful things about it, like how relaxing it was, and how beautiful the lake was. She couldn't wait to take a boat ride on the placid waters.
Deja had told Mort all about her past with Darrell, but she debated whether or not she should tell him about her latest encounter with him. She decided she'd wait before going into all of that. Mort hadn't told her too much about his past. Only that he was divorced and that his ex, Amy, had gone missing along with her boyfriend. Mort told her that their divorce was due to Amy's unfaithfulness. Deja could definitely relate.
Breaking the silence she said, "So, how long do you think it'll take us clean up?"
"Mmmm, a few hours, I'd imagine. Since no one's been there, it can't be too messed up. Mainly dusty, I'd think."
"Well, what are we going to do to occupy our time after that?" she asked wondering what Mort had in mind.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe we can go for a boat ride on the lake?"
"I'm definitely up for that!" Deja replied excitedly.
A few hours later, they arrived at Mort's house in Tashmore Lake. And they were engrossed in their chores. Deja found that his home had a certain charm about it. She immediately felt at home there. She imagined all of the wonderful summer vacations she and Mort could have there. That thought alone, made her smile. While Mort was busy vacuuming the upstairs area, Deja was focused on cleaning up the kitchen. She didn't realize how much sweat she'd produced. They were really putting in some elbow grease. The lake looked so inviting. She thought about how refreshing it would be to just take a nice dip once all the cleaning was done. From what she could tell there wasn't really much left to do. Relaxation was right around the corner.
