Chapter 3: The London Café

Evy got up and was about ready to get out of her night gown when the phone rang. She wasn't awake enough to register it but then picked the phone up, "Hello."

"Hi. I need to speak with Jonathan, Evy." Evy knew the voice, it was Sheila.

"I don't know if he's awake yet, Sheila. You'll have to call back later." Evy started to get angry at the fact that this woman was cheating, or so Evy liked to think, on her brother and still had the nerve to call the house.

"Well wake his ass up so I can talk to him. He's treating me like I'm a tramp." Evy heard a little sob come from the phone.

"What your not a tramp? That's news to me. I had you figured as a person that slept with anyone that she thought had money." Evy actually did think that she was a tramp, of course though, Evy didn't really like having her in the house or around her brother.

"Stop being a bitch and put Jonathan on the phone!" Sheila was at the point of yelling now.

Evy took the phone away from her ear and looked at it with shock and discussed. As you can guess though she didn't stay on the phone, she hung up the phone and got dressed. She didn't bother to wake Jonathan and tell him about Sheila's comments. She got to her car and drove away from the house to get to work. When she parked she noticed Jenny sitting in her car looking at the cover of the book on Egypt. Evy thought she would be sneaky and walked to the car staying out of sight. She tapped on the window and scared Jenny so much that she pulled mace out of her purse and pointed it at the window.

"It's ok, Jen. It's me. I know that was mean but I couldn't resist the urge to scare you. You were just sitting in your car minding your own business." Evy laughed some till she saw Jenny's stern face.

"That wasn't funny. Had the window been open, I would have sprayed you in the face with this and it's not very fun to be sprayed with, trust me. A friend accidentally did it to me." Jenny still wasn't looking very happy.

"Sorry. Come on we can go inside and find a book for you." Evy walked with Jenny to the door and unlocked it. "In we go."

Evy and Jenny walked into the library, Evy behind the desk and Jenny in front of it. Evy put the book that Jenny had returned on the cart and was getting ready to check out two new books to her when Rick walked in. He was clean shaven and no longer looked grufy. In Evy's eyes, Rick looked quiet handsome. Jenny walked out of the room and to the reading room to leave Evy and Rick alone.

"Hello Evy. Are we still on for today?" Rick smelled like Old Spice. Evy truly thought that he had applied to much cologne.

"I guess, if your plans haven't changed. I'm pretty sure that mine are still the same. I do have to talk to Jenny before I leave." Evy looked at the clock and noticed that she had 30 minutes to talk to Jenny. "So, is there a certain reason that you came or did you just have to see me before lunch."

"I wanted to be a gentleman and pick you up. Isn't that what the guy is suppose to do on a date?" Rick gave a smile.

"I never said it was a date, but it was nice that you came to pick me up. I'll be ready in a minute. Let me go talk to Jenny real quick and I'll meet you at your car." With that Evy walked back to the reading room. Jenny was sitting on the couch reading her books but stopped to look up and see who walked in the room, "Jenny can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure. What do you want to talk about?" Jenny put her books down and sat up a bit.

"Would you be interested in a day to get to know my brother? I assure you, he's not that bad once you get to know him. He just broke up with a girl that I didn't like and I figured since you're both single that you could get together, chat, and maybe even start dating. You could have a day like Rick and I are going to have today."

"Sure, I would have to see what day I could do it but I would love to meet your brother. What's his name?"

"Jonathan. Don't allow him to have a drink containing alcohol or he'll keep drinking and never stop. He's not really an alcoholic but he does drink if he has a chance."

"I'll try to keep him away from it but I can't promise anything." Jenny smiled and went back to her reading as Evy walked out of the room and back to Rick.

"Ready for our date?" Evy grabbed her purse and walked toward the door.

"I thought you said it wasn't a date." Rick gave her a smile and walked with her to the car.

They arrived at the café at about 11:30 and sat at one of the tables outside. They didn't start any conversation until the waitress left and they had there drinks.

"So, I take it you are originally from Britain. Have you ever left this island?" Rick took a sip of his coffee.

"Yes, actually, I've been to Egypt. I worked there awhile before coming back to London and starting my own business. You're from America so, besides England have you been anywhere else?"

"Yes I have. I went to France once and almost got my self in some trouble with the French Police. They almost signed me up for the Foreign Leagin . I got out of it by coming here. Little did I know that I would sign up for a job that has me traveling to other countries. You said you have been to Egypt, would you like to go with me? I can bring someone with me if they know the land and can help with my job."

"I don't know. We still don't know each other that well. How old were you when you moved here? I was 27 when I moved back and I've been here ever since."

"I was 28 when I moved here. My turn, what are your parents like? I was an orphan so I don't know what it's like with parents."

"Both of my parents are dead. My dad was an explorer and my mom was and Egyptian. I guess that's why I'm into Egypt so much. The only person I have left in my family is my brother Jonathan. He doesn't do anything but sit at home and watch TV or go out with friends. He's currently not employed so I have to make the money to pay the bills." Evy took a drink of her tea then looked up at Rick.

"What is your last name? I never figured that one out." Rick drank the rest of his coffee.

"Carnahan…wait that brings up a question, how did you know my first name?" Evy looked suspicious.

"I over heard your friend say your name the night that I retuned the maps." Rick gave a smile and thanked the waitress for filling up his empty cup.

"Oh. I thought you might have been stalking me or something. At the time I thought nothing of it because I was to wrapped up in the conversation with Jenny and wanting to come to the café with you." Evy finished her cup of tea.

They talked on and on about past history and future dreams. Before they knew it, 2 o'clock was rounding on them. Evy had to get back to work so they went to Rick's car and went back to the library. Rick dropped her off and asked her again about going with him to Egypt, "I think I would like to go with you. You seem like an adventurous person." She leaned in the window and kissed him good-bye.

"Wow. You actually kissed me." Rick was extremely shocked.

"Yeah well, it's the last bit of our date and usually you would walk me to the door but I figured you have to get to work so I gave you a good-bye kiss without you getting out of the car." She walked toward the door, turned and waved good-bye. She had the feeling that the relationship between him and her was going to work out real well. She just got inside the door when Jenny greeted her.

"How was your date, or is that what you would classify it as?" Jenny smiled.

"Yes it was a date and it went extremely well. I agreed to go to Egypt with him for his job." Evy walked to her desk and sat behind her computer.

"You're not suppose to take the next date out of country. You're suppose to bring him home to meet the family and then tell him to go home before you sleep with him." Jenny gave Evy an opened mouth look. She couldn't believe that she was going to leave the country with a man that she just started to go out with.

"I work differently. Besides I want to see Egypt again. The pyramids and the sphinx, all very beautiful structures and the museums and artifacts that are there." She gave a small sigh and closed her eyes.

"I guess I'll leave you alone in your dream land. I need to get back to reading anyway. Besides it's not my business." Jenny walked off to the reading room to finish reading. She didn't come back till 10 and they both left talking about what Evy would pack and wear.

When Evy got home, she told Jonathan about the date that she had almost set up and how Jenny would have to check her schedule to make sure she could do it. They both went to bed thinking about their new dates. Evy fell asleep thinking about Rick and smiled.