MPOV
We'd been on the road for what felt like forever and passed through several states. We decided that we'd stop once in every state to shop. We picked out the cutest summer clothes, not to mention, shoes. It was a personal obsession of ours. It was only a short time now until they arrived in Washington. I drove as Shawnie slept. We'd been taking turns and that was working out pretty well, but it also got a little lonely. I spent my time alone fantasizing about the beach. Michigan had a lot of beaches, being the "Great Lakes" state, but what is a lake compared to an ocean. I'd never seen an ocean before. As I imagined the tan I would get, I passed the sign officially welcoming us to Washington and informing us it was the "Evergreen state". I nudged Shawnie to wake her up in time to catch it. She yawned "How much farther?", she asked sleepily. I estimated the distance in my head and laughed. "Around 8 more hours." I said and laughed as a look of pain took over her face.
"Well, we're officially in Washington now, right? Can we stop and shop?" she asked. I couldn't deny her that. She'd been a good road trip buddy and if a stop at a mall would get her through the last leg of our trip, I was all too happy to oblige. Not to mention, I love to shop, too!
I drove around until I found the Spokane Vally Mall. It was decent sized and looked promising. I decided this time, I'd buy a thank you gift for my Aunt Linda instead of buying something else for myself as I was already well stocked for summer. I made a pit stop at Macy's and picked out a necklace for her. After stopping at a few stores with Shawnie, we headed back out on I-90.
After a few hours, I asked Shawnie to take over. She did so, graciously. My eyelids were getting super heavy as I snuggled in as best I could. Hopefully when I woke, we'd be in Forks.
I had a dream during my nap and I didn't understand it as it was happening. After waking up, all I could remember was being immensely sad. I don't think I'd felt that kind of sadness since my mom passed away. It dawned on me then, I must have been dreaming about her. At first, I'd dream of her every night. I would be exhausted during the day. Over time, years, the dreams lessened. Time does heal wounds. I wondered why I was dreaming about her now when I hadn't in almost a year. I let that thought slip out of my mind as I noticed we weren't moving anymore. "What's going on?" I said while I stretched. "We're here!", she squealed. I sat up and looked around. It was definitely my Aunt's place. She'd sent me pictures online, so I recognized it immediately. I looked to the side and saw the guest house, our future home for the next few months.
I grabbed the Macy's bag and Shawnie, and headed to the door where I knocked. Silence. I knocked again. Nothing. "Wait here." I said to Shawnie and stepped off the porch and headed to the back of the house. Empty. It was then I realized, there was no car here. I jogged around front and motioned to Shawnie. "She's not here.", I told her. I came to the conclusion aloud, she must be at her shop. "Let's go try to find this place and see if we can't find her." I said.
I hopped in the drivers side and backed out of her long driveway. After following the meager traffic, we made it downtown. It was a good thing we'd done shopping on the way out here because "downtown" was basically nothing. I thought it would be a bit more challenging to find my Aunt Judy's store, I was wrong. After parking on the street, I armed myself with the Macy's bag and Shawnie once more. As we entered the shop, a little bell sounded our arrival. "Aunt Judy?", I called. "Mandah?!", I heard her respond. She came around the corner pretty quickly, looking stressed and disheveled. "Oh, I was afraid you'd get here before I got home!", she said. "My girl called off today...again." She then looked to Shawnie and said "There's another opening in my shop this summer if your interested. Just don't call off everyday like Kristen. I don't know why I ever hired that girl." she laughed. Shawnie thanked my Aunt Judy and accepted the job.
"I was getting ready to leave to go see one of my contractors before heading home, you girls can follow along if you'd like. Might help you see how I do business!" she sounded excited. My Aunt Judy's business was antique and unique home furnishings and design. It was something I wasn't very interested in but Shawnie was actually getting pretty worked up about it. She was all about design. "It's a hard place to find, so follow close. Her name is Esme Cullen. She gives me tons of business as she's always got projects and customers knocking down her door. Lovely woman." she said.
We went out to my truck, I once again got behind the wheel. I realized I had forgotten to give the necklace to my Aunt. I decided maybe it would be best to wait til we got home anyway. I waited for my Aunt to pull out in front of me and then pulled out into what little traffic was left. She was right about it being hard to find. It felt like we were driving through the forrest. It started to make me nervous. It wasn't the only reason I was beginning to feel nervous but I didn't understand why that was. Just as the sun began setting, we pulled up in front of a huge glass house. A woman, I assumed Esme, was standing outside with a warm smile of greetings spread across her beautiful face. I gasped.
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