Jennifer woke to the smell of bacon and coffee, which was a marked improvement to the last time she woke up a few hours earlier. She rolled over to face her left and was awake enough to register that she was surprised to find it empty.
He must be up already, she found herself thinking, it was only after she sat up and saw Little John curled up on the foot of the bed that she realized that Little John wasn't the "he" she'd been thinking of.
A throb threatened behind her eyes but she didn't push on it; she was still too groggy from sleep and too decaffeinated to be trying to push for more memories right now. She climbed out of bed, grabbing her dad's sweater and her cellphone as she stood and stretched. She yawned as she snapped her fingers for Little John to follow after her, pulling the sweater on over her head. He stood on the bed, and gave his own stretch and yawn in response as Jennifer opened her bedroom door, leaving it open for him as she walked out to the main floor of the shop.
She glanced at her phone, a nervous habit to make sure she didn't miss any sort of emergency in the middle of the night—a nervous habit she'd gotten into since she first got a cell phone—and opened her text messages. She was sure Holly would be up—the few perks of being best friends with an insomniac—but she still felt nervous as she hazarded sending a text to her, asking if she was up and what her plan was for the day.
"Auntie Jen!" an excited voice squealed from the couch ahead of her as she pocketed the phone. Little John hopped onto the couch as Brielle bounced off of it, and placed his head on the armrest that would let him look into the kitchenette and survey most of the shop at the same time.
Jennifer barely had time to brace herself before Brielle had run up to her and wrapped her arms around waist. Jennifer let out an exaggerated "Oof!" as Brielle crashed into her, before leaning down and scooping Brielle up into her arms, "Oh, honey, that's too much excitement for your Auntie before she's had her coffee."
Brielle giggled at her as she wrapped her arms around Jennifer's neck, letting her purple teddy bear thump gently against Jennifer's back as she walked.
Brielle kissed her cheek, "G'mornin', Auntie Jen!"
Jennifer returned the kiss on Brielle's cheek, "Good morning, Brielle."
She set Brielle back on the floor, "Did you find what I got for you?"
Brielle's eyes got wide as she shook her head. Jennifer grinned at her as she crooked her finger for Brielle to follow her, feeling like a child herself for a moment, and led her behind the counter. From the shelf there, she grabbed the purple haired Troll doll that she'd pulled out of the box from the storage company that was still on the counter.
"Old family treasures?"
She let the throb come but didn't push it as she held the doll out to Brielle who stared at it in wonder. Twice in ten minutes, she noted; she must be knocking all sorts of things loose.
"What do you think?" Jennifer asked Brielle, pulling herself back to the matter at hand.
"It's beautiful." Brielle whispered, hugging the doll and her teddy bear to her. Jennifer could hardly contain her chuckle at Brielle's look of wonder at the doll. She hoped, briefly, that Brielle would never lose her love for the unusual. Brielle looked up at Jennifer, green eyes bright, and beamed at her, "Thank you, Auntie!"
Jennifer grinned back and leaned down to kiss Brielle's cheek again, "You're welcome, honey. Now, where is that mother of yours?"
"Making you a damn fine breakfast, that's where she is," came the reply from the kitchenette.
Jennifer rolled her eyes at Brielle, who giggled at her, before saying, "Remember, Brielle, we don't swear."
"Unless it's necessary." Adelaide and Brielle said in unison as Jennifer walked into the kitchenette. Adelaide was in front of the stove working with what looked like scrambled eggs. On the counter next to her was a rather impressive stack of chocolate chip waffles with peanut butter and maple syrup waiting on either side of the plate the stack rested on, a small plate with bacon piled onto it, as well as a mug waiting by the coffeepot.
How long was I out? Jennifer wondered briefly as she surveyed the spread.
Jennifer sighed exasperatedly as she held the beaded curtain open for Brielle, "No, we just don't swear. Full stop."
Adelaide smirked at her over her shoulder, "Maybe you don't."
Brielle giggled as she went to sit at the table, legs swinging over the edge of the seat, and set her teddy bear and new doll in her lap. Brielle was studying the doll intently on her lap, with the same awe and wonder that she'd had initially. Jennifer smiled at her and shook her head.
Adelaide furrowed her brow when she noticed the addition to her daughter's collection, "Where'd you get that doll, Brielle?"
Jennifer raised a guilty hand as she poured herself a cup of coffee, "That'd be from me. Well, from the storage company. I think they made a mistake because I don't recognize anything in that box on the counter, but I figured that by the time they realized their mistake and actually got around to getting it back to the right people, enough time would've passed that it'd end up as 'ours' anyway."
Adelaide smirked at her as she turned the stove down to low to keep the eggs warm, "You know, some people would consider that stealing."
"Well, then it's a good thing that possession is nine-tenths of the law." Jennifer replied, scrunching her nose at Adelaide. She laughed as she grabbed some plates from the cabinet and set them next to the breakfast food.
As Adelaide was reaching into a drawer to grab some silverware, Jennifer kissed her cheek, "Mornin' Cos. What's with the breakfast spread?"
Adelaide shrugged as she put the silverware on the counter and started making up plates for Brielle and herself, "Figured you could use a real breakfast."
Jennifer arched an eyebrow at her as she took a drink of her coffee, "And this wouldn't have anything to do with what happened last night?"
Adelaide just smiled at her as she grabbed some of the silverware and moved around the counter towards the table with the two plates sufficiently filled with breakfast food. Over her shoulder, Adelaide said, "So, I see the sweater, but I couldn't find the mug; any particular reason why?"
Jennifer fidgeted slightly in response, "I, uh, I had a nightmare last night."
Adelaide glanced at her as she stepped around her to grab a cup for Brielle from one of the cabinets.
Jennifer's phone buzzed in her pocket as she started assembling her own plate, pointedly trying to avoid Adelaide's gaze and the question that was there. When Jennifer didn't offer any further explanation, Adelaide let out a sigh but didn't push. If Jennifer didn't want to talk about it, she'd let it go, just like if she wanted to talk about it, she'd be there to talk about it. Adelaide grabbed the milk from the fridge and poured some into the green plastic cup she'd grabbed for Brielle as Jennifer opened her messages to see what Holly had said.
Adelaide glanced over to look at the phone's screen before she turned back to the fridge to put the milk away, "You thinking of spending the day with Holly?"
Jennifer shifted nervously, pocketing her phone without typing a reply, "Something like that. Why? Did you have something else in mind?"
Adelaide studied her again before grabbing the cup as well as the maple syrup and heading back to the table. Brielle grabbed the syrup from her mother as she set the cup next to her plate and dumped an unhealthy amount onto the waffles in front of her, enough so that even her eggs and bacon would have a distinctly maple flavor. Adelaide just chuckled at her as she cut into her own waffles. Jennifer made a disapproving noise in the back of her throat, making Brielle look at her. Rather than looking bashful about her overindulgence in the maple syrup, Brielle only grinned at her and licked at her fingers where extra syrup had flowed. Jennifer smiled even as she gave an all-suffering sigh and grabbed the peanut butter as she came to sit across from Adelaide, her plate filled with the last of the eggs, bacon, and the last waffle.
"I never asked how dinner with Holly went." Adelaide commented, pausing in her eating to take a drink of her coffee.
Jennifer shrugged, smearing peanut butter across her waffle and pouring some maple syrup over it—a decidedly more conservative amount than Brielle, though still enough to pool over the top of it, "It was good. Started weird, but…actually, you know, it kind of ended a little weird too?"
Adelaide looked at her expectantly. Jennifer made an exaggerated point of glancing at Brielle in response, which only made Adelaide roll her eyes, "Jennifer, I'm sure whatever you've got to tell me will not be that damaging. Besides, she's mature for her age."
Brielle grinned at Jennifer around a mouthful of waffle. Jennifer considered it a true testament to Adelaide's statement that at least Brielle didn't try to speak with her mouth full.
Jennifer sighed, shaking her head, "Okay, but I've got a lot to tell you."
Adelaide just smiled, "Then it's a good thing I made a big breakfast."
Jennifer chuckled as she looked back down at her breakfast. She took another bite of waffle before saying, "Just. Just don't be mad."
Adelaide gave her a speculative look, "I'll try."
Jennifer nodded and told Adelaide about the memory flashes with the Voice and the throbs, about the strange encounter with Holly's "Grad school friend," about Holly telling her to push on the throbs, about what she'd remembered when Little John had been freaking out the night before, before finally telling her about remembering the Gray Gull. As she talked, she expected Adelaide to stop her, to express her annoyance at the fact that she hadn't said anything sooner, to express concern, to do something but instead, Adelaide continued to eat her breakfast, a contemplative, almost calculating, look on her face. Jennifer had never seen that look on Adelaide's face before, at least not when she was talking, and she wasn't sure what to think of it now. Brielle sat quietly next to her, brow furrowed in concentration as she ate her breakfast and listened intently to what Jennifer was saying. Jennifer hoped this wasn't scaring Brielle, or making her worry; she hardly understood what was happening, she didn't want to stress her little second cousin out about it too.
"It's weird." Jennifer said, collecting the plates from the table and standing, "I still have the name, I remember that as clearly as if I had read it—and I think I did? Like I can kind of remember seeing the sign for the Gray Gull?—but everything else from the initial hit that remembering the name caused is…is less?" She shook her head, unsure of whether or not she was even making sense, as she put the dishes in the sink and ran water over them, "It's like an after-image or something. The only thing that's stayed moderately clear is one of the voices I heard when it happened."
"The voice you heard before?" Adelaide asked as she stood, she crouched in front of Brielle's chair and she climbed onto her back.
Jennifer nodded as she loaded the dishwasher, "Yeah."
"The one who sounded like Aunt Holly's friend?" Brielle added, earning a surprised look from Jennifer.
Adelaide just grinned and jostled Brielle on her back, making her giggle, "Told you she was mature for her age."
Jennifer just chuckled at them as she slammed the dishwasher's door closed, starting it, "Yes, Brielle, the one who sounded like Aunt Holly's friend."
Adelaide's eyes took on a mischievous glint as she came to a realization; "You were going to ask Holly about him, weren't you? That's why you texted her! You want to ask her about him!"
Jennifer shot her a glare, "You're making more of this than is actually necessary."
Adelaide pulled out her phone from her own pants pockets, being careful not to drop Brielle from her back, "Oh, I'm gonna call her right now."
"Adelaide!" Jennifer yelled at her as she hit the speaker button and the dial tone filled the space of the kitchen.
"Jennifer!" Adelaide mimicked, exaggerating Jennifer's tone.
"Adelaide, hang up that phone." Jennifer said sternly, glaring at her.
"Jennifer, this guy could help you and if Holly knows him—,"
"Speak and be heard." Came the greeting from the phone.
"Holly!" Adelaide said a little too loudly and a little too cheerily.
"Adelaide!" Holly replied, "Color me surprised! To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Adelaide went to answer, only to be cut off by Brielle chiming in, "Hi Aunt Holly!"
"Is that my favorite honorary niece?" Holly chirped, her voice jumping a few octaves, "How're you doin', you little beam of sunlight?"
"I miss you, Aunt Holly! When am I gonna see you?" Brielle called back over Adelaide's shoulder towards the phone.
"Brielle, Momma's on the phone!" Adelaide scolded Brielle.
"You can hardly be mad at her; this conversation is anything but private!" Jennifer interjected.
Holly laughed over the phone, "Oh, I've missed this."
Adelaide put Brielle back on the floor, "Hang on a second, Holly."
She pressed the phone into her shirt as she crouched and looked at Brielle, "Sweetness, why don't you go up and shower? Afterwards, Auntie Jen will braid your hair, how does that sound?"
"She will?" Jennifer asked from behind her.
Adelaide glared at her over her shoulder, "She will."
Jennifer shrugged back, and Adelaide and Brielle both took that to be her conceding.
Brielle's face lit up, "Okay!"
Brielle ran off towards the stairs, Adelaide and Jennifer following after her. Jennifer glanced at Little John who, once again, seemed completely unmoved by the chaos in the kitchenette. Adelaide moved the phone from her shirt, "You still there, Hol?"
"Never left, Lady," Holly replied, using a nickname from their adolescence, as they started to climb the stairs, "So to what do I owe this rather chaotic wake up call?"
"Well, you see, Jennifer here has some questions for you," Adelaide answered as she held the phone over her shoulder towards Jennifer.
"What's goin' on, Jen?" Holly asked as Jennifer took the phone from Adelaide and as they made it into the loft. There was a light coming from the bathroom and the sound of running water. Adelaide stood next to the door and called to Brielle to make sure she was doing all right.
"Hey, Holly. Um, kind of a weird question for you, but, uh…do you remember your, uh, your 'Grad school friend' from last night? Duke?" Jennifer asked, perching on the back of the couch and facing towards the bathroom door while Adelaide, after receiving a satisfying answer from Brielle, went to her room to get dressed.
"Well, seeing as he's my friend, I'd say yes, I remember him." Holly chuckled.
Jennifer made a face at the phone even though she knew Holly couldn't see her, "Anyway, I was wondering if you knew what…what some of his, um, 'business' entailed?"
"You're gonna have to be slightly more specific than that, babe." Holly prompted, "I don't know much about his 'business' but what I do know needs some…classifying."
Jennifer sighed, "Has he ever…do you know if he owns a bar called 'The Gray Gull'?"
There was a pause. Adelaide came back out of her room, wearing a black romper with white polka dots and a pair of black leggings that had the design of the leg bones on them. The romper had halter straps, leaving her back and arms bear to show off her numerous tattoos that were on her shoulders, back, neck, and upper arms. She knocked on the bathroom door, and called for Brielle to tell her how she was doing just as the water shut off.
"You know," Holly said on the phone, sounding distracted, "I'm, uh, I'm not too sure about that one, Jen. But, uh, y'know, Duke is still in town. Why don't I just, you know, give him a call and set something up for the two of you today and you can ask him all the questions you want?"
"Oh, uh, I-I don't know about—," Jennifer started to say.
"That sounds like a great idea!" Adelaide interrupted enthusiastically as Brielle opened the bathroom door. She was wrapped up in a little blue bathrobe with tropical fish stitched into it and looked up at her mother as she continued, "Since her class is doing a unit on the ocean, I was thinking of taking Brielle to the Aquarium today—,"
"Really?" Brielle exclaimed excitedly.
"—and I was thinking, Holly, since it's been so long since we've seen each other and since Josh lives right next door, that you and Josh might like to go with us?" Adelaide continued as she grinned and nodded down at Brielle.
"I'm, uh, I'm not so sure—," Jennifer tried again, surprised by Adelaide's excitement, and confused by how quickly the rest of the conversation was going.
"That sounds great!" Holly interrupted, "I'll have Duke pick me up and then we can use Joshua's car to get there!"
"Oh, this'll be so fun!" Adelaide beamed, "We can get lunch at—,"
"Does anyone wanna hear what I think?" Jennifer yelled over her, causing a shocked silence to fall on them. Brielle flinched away from Jennifer and instinctively went to hide behind her mom's leg, making Jennifer feel like the scum of the earth for scaring her.
Adelaide only paused for a moment, regarding Jennifer briefly, before crouching down to Brielle's level, placing a hand on her shoulder, and quietly told her to go get dress. Brielle nodded, glancing nervously at Jennifer, and headed towards her room. The silence that had fallen on the four of them was enough to make Jennifer's entire being feel wrong. Jennifer wanted to move to reach out for Brielle, to try to show her that everything was okay, but she didn't want to risk scaring her more or seeing her flinch away from her, so she kept her hands to her side. Once Brielle closed her bedroom door, Adelaide turned to look back at Jennifer. She was expecting some sort of Momma Bear anger to be bubbling up on Adelaide's face like it usually did when someone scared or did anything to make Brielle uncomfortable, but she was calm. If anything, she looked a little regretful.
"You're right, Jen." Adelaide said apologetically, "We were so busy making our own plans that we forgot to ask you if you were okay."
"Sorry, Jen," Holly said quietly over the phone.
Jennifer sighed and rubbed her forehead, "It's just…I barely know this guy and he kind of freaked me out yesterday and seemed to know more about me than I knew or, hell, even know about him and now I'm starting to remember these…these things and he may or may not be a part of what I'm remembering which is weird enough as it is because what does the hell that even mean and you all seem shockingly calm about that and really willing to just leave me alone with this guy who could be a stalker for all we know."
She had started to speak rapidly like she did when she was nervous or scared and only really breathed again once she was done.
Holly spoke first, "Jen, I know you're freaked out, but…Duke might have answers for you. And I know that you're really scared that something might be wrong with your memories or you, I know that, but what I also know is that Duke would never do anything to hurt you. Ever."
Jennifer chuckled nervously, "You seem pretty convinced. This guy that good of a friend?"
"Something like that," Holly answered, her tone telling Jennifer that she was smiling.
Jennifer looked at Adelaide who was still watching her carefully, "What about you? Why are you so okay with this?"
Adelaide had always been protective of Jennifer. She remembered more than one instance in their childhood where Adelaide got into physical and verbal altercations with people over her. She remembered one time that Adelaide physically moved between her and a complete stranger because she thought that they were trying to talk to her. Yet despite this, Adelaide had not only encouraged her to seek out the guy who freaked her out the night before, but also seemed excited by the idea that she'd be spending the better part of a day with him.
Adelaide shrugged, "You were right yesterday. I've been coddling you too much since the accident, trying to keep you safe from the rest of the world. It's time you went back out there, and I think the best way to do that, is with a friend that we trust."
Jennifer quirked an eyebrow at her, "You haven't even met him."
Adelaide shrugged again, "No, I haven't. But Holly has, and Holly trusts him, and that's enough for me."
Since when? Jennifer wanted to ask, but she held back.
There was a pause as Jennifer and Adelaide regarded each other. Jennifer, looking for some sort of tell on Adelaide's part to let her know whether or not she was being truthful with her and Adelaide, looking at her like she had looked as Brielle boarded the school bus on her first day of Kindergarten: scared, but proud.
"So," Holly's voice on the phone chimed in tentatively, "is it okay if I call Duke? Get a date set up for you two?"
Jennifer rolled her eyes, "This is not a date."
"Right." Holly said lightly on the other end of the phone, "But is it okay if I call him?"
Jennifer sighed, "Yeah. It's okay."
"Great!" Holly said cheerfully, "I'll see you guys in a couple of hours! Bye!"
"Bye, Holly," Adelaide and Jennifer said together.
Jennifer hit the button and handed the phone back to Adelaide. She stood from the back of the couch, suddenly feeling excessively out of place and like she had a laundry list of things she'd been meaning to do and all of them needed to be done that moment, as Adelaide pocketed the phone. Jennifer gestured behind her towards the stairs, her sudden anxiety clear in the stammering of her voice and the uncertain way she moved her hands, "I should…I should go figure out what I'm going to wear."
Adelaide grinned at her, "Worried about your date?"
Jennifer made a face at her, her anxiety easing in favor of mock hostility directed towards her cousin, "It's not a date."
Adelaide just chuckled after her as she headed down the stairs. Little John looked at her as she reached the bottom, tail thumping gently against the couch, but made no move to follow after her.
She rolled her eyes at him as she walked to her room. Once there, she immediately shed her pajamas and changed into clean underwear and a tank top. She started rummaging through her tiny closet, pulling out her favorite outfits and placing them on the bed. She surveyed them, picking one up and then another, holding them in front of her as she stood before the mirror that hung from her closet door.
She bit her bottom lip nervously as she readjusted the most recent dress she'd grabbed.
Nothing looked right.
Everything looked fine, of course, but nothing looked right.
She sighed at her reflection, letting her arms fall in front of her, the dress folding in her arms as she did.
Why was she even putting this much thought into her outfit? What did she care what some stranger thought of her? A stranger, she reminded herself, who most likely had a criminal record, or, at the very least, whose business ventures were less than reputable. She sighed at her reflection again, bringing the dress back up and fidgeting with it as she held it against herself. That was just the thing, though. She did care. The small part of her from the night before, that had apparently grown a lot stronger with the recent revelations, seemed to care a lot about how she looked and about what he would think of her. In all honesty, it was actually a little obnoxious just how much it was trying to make sure that she knew how much it cared. It made her want him to look at her like he had last night; like she was the most beautiful, amazing, important thing that he'd ever seen.
She just wished it would tell her why.
Adelaide leaned against her doorframe, smirking at her as she tossed away the dress she'd been debating on and grabbed a different one from the bed. Adelaide had done the long part of her hair up into a black bandana with white skulls on it so that her hair curled before disappearing underneath the bandana, making her look like a pin-up model, and had grabbed a black leather jacket to wear over her romper. She adjusted her glasses at Jennifer, "Having trouble deciding on an outfit for your date?"
"It's not a date!" Jennifer nearly yelled exasperatedly, dramatically tossing the dress in her hands back onto the bed.
Adelaide arched an eyebrow at her, "Then you're not wearing your 'date night' push-up bra?"
Jennifer glared at her, even as she blushed and crossed her arms over her chest to hide herself from Adelaide, "Maybe."
Adelaide chuckled back, "Any particular reason why you're having trouble figuring out what to wear?"
Jennifer sighed, gesturing emphatically as she spoke, "Adelaide, you didn't see how he…how he looked at me. He just…he looked at me like I was…like I was something…and Jesus you should see this guy. He's like…god I don't think I've ever actually met someone this attractive in the real world, y'know? He's like—he's fit, right? But lean and he's so tall and—,"
Adelaide smiled knowingly at her, "And you want him to think that you're just as attractive as you think he is?"
"Yes. No! Maybe?" Jennifer stammered before she turned around and fell, dramatically, face-first onto her bed. She groaned into her mattress, "I don't know."
Jennifer felt ridiculous for feeling and acting like she was. It reminded her, vaguely, of how Holly had been in high school just before a date; all dramatic flailing and grand statements about nothing being right. Adelaide laughed at her as she walked into the room. She surveyed the clothes spread around on Jennifer's bed, "And none of your favorite clothes look right?"
Jennifer groaned again, not really using words but attempting to make it sound closer to the affirmative.
"Do you just want me to choose something for you?"
Another groan, also within the realm of the affirmative.
Adelaide chuckled at her as she looked back over the clothes around and under Jennifer. From the pile of clothes around her, Adelaide pulled a navy blue dress with orange and yellow flowers printed on it out from under Jennifer and placed it on top of her. She grabbed a pair of gray knee high socks, her taupe wedges, and a jean jacket with gray cotton sleeves and a hood, and stacked them all on top of the dress on Jennifer who seemed remarkably unmoved by the stack of clothing on her back.
"Here you go. One perfect, 'not-date' outfit, hand chosen by your infinitely wise cousin." Adelaide said, before smacking Jennifer on the ass, earning a disapproving yelp from her into the mattress, which only made Adelaide giggle.
Jennifer rolled her head and glared at her, "Wise ass, more like."
Adelaide made a face at her, earning a similar face from Jennifer, before chuckling at her again as she stood up straight.
"You better wrap up this pity-panic-party soon, though," Adelaide said over her shoulder as she moved to walk back out to the main floor of the shop, "you've got a second cousin who is dying to have her hair braided by her favorite Auntie."
"Adelaide?" Jennifer called after her before she was out of earshot.
Adelaide paused and turned back to Jennifer, eyebrows raised, and her expression a question mark.
"What do I…I mean," Jennifer started, sitting up and starting to get dressed. Adelaide walked back towards her and leaned against her doorframe. Jennifer sighed as she stood and zipped up the dress, "What do I do if I start to get another throb? I mean, do I push on it? The last time I did it, I was sitting down but if I had been standing…"
She tried to smile at Adelaide, "I very well can't just pass out on him, you know?"
Adelaide smirked at her briefly before her expression turned serious, "No, you can't. Look, Jen, I want you to remember just as badly as you and Holly do—if not more so—but if you keep pushing like that, you're going to do more harm than good."
Jennifer smirked, "Oh, what, suddenly you're a neurologist?"
Adelaide made a face at Jennifer again, "Well, if you spent the better part of a year worrying that your cousin's head wound was going to suddenly take a turn for the worst, you'd start to familiarize yourself with the finer workings of the brain too. Or I at least hope you would."
Jennifer smiled sadly at her and at her attempt at a joke. Adelaide had been so hyper-protective of her since the accident, and especially since she moved in. Jennifer didn't blame her, though, even if it was a bit stifling at times; she knew that they were all the other had left of their family. Jennifer sat on the bed and pulled on her knee high socks, "So what do you think I should do?"
Adelaide sighed, "For now? Just try to note when the throbs happen, and then tell me about them. I'll…I'll help you through them."
Jennifer gave her a confused look as she pulled on the jacket, "How?"
Adelaide studied her for a moment before closing the distance between them and stood by the side of the bed. She then told Jennifer to lie down. Jennifer gave her a speculative look, but complied.
"Close your eyes."
Jennifer did, though she made a crack about not knowing her cousin was also a hypnotist. Adelaide, ignoring the joke, told her to relax, to slow her breathing, and to only listen to the sound of her voice. Just as Jennifer felt as if she was going to slip into sleep, Adelaide changed her instructions.
"I want you to picture, in your mind, a hallway of doors." Doors again, a quiet voice sighed in Jennifer's mind, as Adelaide continued, "Let it stretch out into infinity before you. Behind these doors are your memories. I want you to tell me what the first doors you see look like."
She told Adelaide that they looked like the front door of her childhood home, if not a little bit more worn—the baby blue color of it was almost white from constantly being washed in the sun, and the lining at the bottom was pulling away from the door so it hung awkwardly from the bottom.
"Okay, you're doing great, Jen. Now, I want you to open the first one you see, and tell me what's there."
In her mind, Jennifer opened one of the doors. Behind it was one of the first times her mother had told her about appreciating the little things. She saw the kitchen of her childhood home, washed in golden light from the late afternoon sun, she saw her mother at the kitchen sink, and her father sweeping through, leaving nothing but joy and laughter in his wake. It was a memory of such profound love and happiness that Jennifer wasn't sure she wanted to leave it; it felt so safe.
She told Adelaide all of these things.
"That's good," Adelaide replied, her voice sounding as if it were coming from far away, "That's really good, Jen. I know you don't want to, but let's close that door—just for now—and walk down the hallway a bit to some of the more recent doors, okay?"
"Okay," Jennifer said sleepily.
"What do the doors look like now, Jen?"
"Battered." She said, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion, "Some of them look…they look like the doors on a ship. Some have boards on them, like someone's trying to keep something from getting out."
"Or someone from getting in." Adelaide said quietly next to her.
"My head hurts when I look at them." Jennifer whimpered.
"Okay." Adelaide soothed, "Okay, let's look at some of the other doors. Do any of them not have boards on them?"
Jennifer paused as she surveyed the doors in her mind, "One of them. It looks like the entrance to The Globe. And it's…it's like someone only recently pulled the boards off."
"Can you try the handle?"
Jennifer did, only to be met with resistance. A throb had started behind her eyes, but it was weaker than any of the others she'd felt before. She told this to Adelaide.
"Okay, that's good, Jen, that's really good. Do you think you could pull the door open?"
Jennifer nodded, "I think so."
"Okay. If it starts to hurt too much, just tell me, and we'll stop, alright?"
Jennifer nodded again.
"Okay. Then go ahead and pull on it."
In her mind, Jennifer grabbed the handle of the door and pulled as hard as she could on it. The door fought her at first, but after another solid tug, it fell open.
She was at her desk at The Globe, when suddenly she heard the Voice call out for someone named "Audrey." She leapt to her feet to try to see what the problem was, but no one around her had heard what she had. The Voice kept yelling, calling for "Audrey," talking about how "The Barn" was collapsing. There were other voices now too, talking about the way to end something called "the Troubles," and someone named Agent Howard. The voices were loud and saying the same things over and over again, and she felt panicky and scared. She had gone to the hospital, and they had run test after test on her. She was in a hospital room and she was alone. Where was Adelaide? She felt terrifying alone as one of the doctors finally asked her about a history of mental illness in her family.
"I'm not crazy." She had said defiantly, but even as she had, her resolve wavered. Where's Adelaide? Her present self kept asking as she watched the memory. Where was Adelaide to fight the monsters? The doctor gave her a pitying look and told her that there were plenty of options for seeking psychiatric help, but a panic had set in on Jennifer and she just kept repeating, "I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy."
Someone touched her shoulder, and a different voice called out to her, "Jennifer! Jennifer, wake up! Jennifer, come back, it's okay! Jennifer!"
The memory fell away and Jennifer opened her eyes to see Adelaide standing over her and looking scared. Adelaide tried to smile at her, relief clear in her eyes, "Hey! Hey, there she is."
Jennifer sat up carefully, Adelaide hovering around her and whispering, "Easy, easy."
Jennifer looked at Adelaide, waving away her hovering hands, "What happened? Did I do anything?"
Adelaide stroked her hair, "You kept mumbling, 'I'm not crazy' over and over again, getting louder each time. What happened? How do you feel?"
Jennifer paused, taking an internal stock of herself before she shook her head, "I…I feel…well I mean, I feel a little shaken up, but I feel good. I think this is the best I've felt all year."
Adelaide's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Well, what did you remember?"
Jennifer told her about the voices and the hospital, looking at Adelaide in confusion, "You weren't there. I was in the hospital, alone, and you weren't there—I don't…I don't even think I thought of you—but that—that can't be right…Can it?"
Adelaide didn't say anything for a terrifying moment, long enough for Jennifer to wonder if maybe her memory was right, and kept her gaze on the floor just to side of Jennifer, before Adelaide finally said, "You're not alone now, Jen. I'm with you now."
Jennifer only felt slightly reassured by that.
But what about then? She wondered, a quiet uneasiness settling in her stomach as she and Adelaide studied each other for another moment. Adelaide eventually asked, "What else, Jen?"
Jennifer let out a shaking breath and refocused on the memory again, before realizing there'd been another inconsistency, "It…I think I remember it as the same day—hell even the same time—as when I had the sailing accident. How can…how can that be?"
Adelaide shook her head, "I dunno, Cos." She held Jennifer's face in her hands for a moment, "But we'll keep working on those doors, okay? We'll figure this out."
Jennifer placed her hand over Adelaide's, grounding herself. Adelaide was right; she was here now and that had to mean something, right? Jennifer smiled up at her, "Thank you."
Adelaide just grinned at her, tapping her thumbs against Jennifer's cheeks, "What's family for, if not helping you recover previously hidden away memories?"
Jennifer chuckled weakly at her as a voice from the front of the shop called, "Auntie Jen? Are you still gonna braid my hair?"
Adelaide turned back to the door, letting go of Jennifer's face, and called out, "She's comin', Sweetness, just give her a couple more minutes."
She looked back at Jennifer, "Go ahead and do your hair and makeup, or whatever else you need; I think I can keep her distracted long enough to give you that much."
Jennifer smiled appreciatively at her, "Thank you, Adelaide. For everything."
Adelaide just waved her off as she walked out to the main floor of the shop, mumbling, "Don't thank me yet, Jen; we still don't know what it is that you're going to remember."
Duke was up just before the sun rose. Sleep had fought him every step of the way, and when he had slept, every creak of the Rouge had him awake again, thinking that maybe it was Jennifer. When he would force that thought away, the thought of it being whoever it was that had taken her things—and possibly her—from the Rouge would pop up, setting him back into attack-mode and setting sleep even further off. When that would happen, he'd stalk around the stateroom, rechecking every spot that he'd previously checked for any sort of bug or wire. From there, he would clean. He knew it was ridiculous to think that Jennifer would come home so soon, but he couldn't help it; what if she did come home? And she saw the Rouge like that? He'd never hear the end of it.
"I've never known a Businessman to be so negligent of his place of business." He could almost hear her saying.
"Well you're the one always saying that I'm not like anyone else you've ever met; I'm just trying to keep the trend going."
"You realize that wasn't a challenge, right?"
He'd pushed those thoughts away, knowing that thinking about that wasn't going to help him, or her, and focused on whatever task he'd given himself. That was concrete. That he could see and feel.
When he'd reached a calmer state of mind, he'd try to go to sleep again, only to repeat the process all over again. After a few hours of that, Duke gave up and went on deck to do his yoga, trying a more reliable way to calm his mind.
Just as he'd finished, and was heading back below to shower, his phone rang. He was surprised to see that it was Holly; a slight panic hit him as he tried to think of what she could be calling about.
"Holly?" He answered.
"Duke!" She nearly yelled into his ear. She sounded excited which only made him more nervous, "What are you doing today?"
"Uh—," Duke started to answer, only to be immediately cut off by Holly.
"Well you're not doing that—Jennifer wants to see you."
Duke froze in the middle of the stateroom, the words echoing around him.
Jennifer wants to see you.
"She does?" he asked, disbelief heavy in his voice, "She…she wants to see me?"
"Yeah!" Holly chirped on the other side of the line, her excitement practically palpable through the phone.
"Sunshine, if this is you're idea of a joke…" Duke started, meaning to sound threatening, but he was already smiling. Holly's excitement was contagious and distracting, even through the phone. And she wondered why he'd started calling her "Sunshine."
"Sailor, I don't know what kind of girl you take me for, but I'm not so cruel as to joke about this—and certainly not with you." Holly said, also trying to sound serious, but the trill in her voice told him she was still smiling.
"Did…did she actually ask for me?" Duke asked, going to sit on his bed.
"Well, see, that's where I came in." Holly explained, her tone staying light even as it became cautious, "She—well, Adelaide—that's her cousin—or at least, who my memories say is her cousin; but you know all that—right—anyway—Adelaide called me and Jennifer asked about you and whether or not you owned a bar called 'The Gray Gull'—,"
"Ah, so she remembered my bar, not me." Duke chuckled humorlessly.
She remembers the bar, but not us.
"Pull in that self-loathing, son, we don't have time for it." Holly warned, still speaking rapidly, "Besides, I don't know what she does and doesn't remember. She must remember, though, that there's some sort of connection between the Gull and you, otherwise she wouldn't've asked about you."
Duke sighed, "It's the little things, right?"
Holly chuckled lightly over the phone, "That's right. So here's the plan; you're going to come and pick me up, and then we're going to the bookshop—you do know how to get to the shop from the Fairmount, right?"
Duke grinned at the phone, "I'm not sure I like what you're implying."
Holly laughed, "Oh don't even. How long was it after you left the bar before you were parked outside of the shop, 'just checking' on the place? Twenty minutes? Ten?"
Duke shifted on the bed, "You're terrifying."
Holly laughed again, "It's been said. Anyway, once we're at the shop, we'll meet up with Jen, Adelaide, and my little brother, Joshua—,"
"I didn't know you had a brother." Duke interjected, standing from his bed and pressing the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he started to rummage through what was left of his clean clothing; he really needed to find a Laundromat soon. He sniffed at a shirt before making a face at it and throwing it to the side as he continued, "Well, truth be told, I didn't know Jennifer had a cousin until this bullshit happened, but that's a whole other issue."
"Eh," Holly said dismissively, "we'll cross that bridge when we come more clearly to it—right now we can hardly hear the river that it's over. Besides, more often than not, Josh doesn't really come up. I mean, we don't have an awful relationship, but we've always just been kind of…independent of each other, you know?"
Duke sighed, "Yeah. Yeah I know."
"I don't know what he'll know or remember about the last year, though," Holly said nervously, "so just…just be careful what you disclose around him. He's a good kid, though. Quiet. Too snarky for his own good."
"No. Where could he have gotten that from?" Duke gasped, playing up his disbelief.
"Ha. Ha ha." Holly laughed sarcastically on the other side of the line; "Anyway. Adelaide invited Joshua and me to go to the Aquarium with her and her daughter, Brielle. We'll probably be gone most of the day, so that'll give you and Jennifer a chance to talk. That is, of course, unless you wanted to go to the Aquarium with us? Maybe revisit your friends in the seal tank?"
Duke sighed, "You're going to make me regret telling you about that, aren't you?"
"Me? Make you regret telling me something? I'm offended." She said indignantly on the other side of the line.
Duke rolled his eyes and chuckled despite himself, "Right. Well I'm gonna have to pass on that; I don't know if I want to risk testing whether or not my life long ban from there is still intact."
Holly laughed at him, "Ah, well I guess you and Jennifer will just have to spend the whole day together, talking."
Duke nodded as he threw clean clothes on his mattress and then sighed, "Right. Talking."
Holly sighed back on the other side of the line, picking up on the underpinnings of his tone, "Listen, Duke, I know it's not much and it's not what you want but—,"
"Oh and you know what I want?" Duke snapped, all the agitation he'd wanted to use against the people who had broken onto his boat finally coming through. It wasn't fair, and even before Holly responded, he regretted his lack of control over his anger.
"Don't you dare get snappish with me, Crocker." Holly snapped back, meeting his venom with her own, "I know you're frustrated and I know that all you want is Jennifer back, but getting pissy with me will not get her back to you any faster, do you hear me."
Duke let out a slow breath, trying to rein back in his anger. Once again, Holly was right. She had an annoying habit of doing that lately. Duke told her as such, earning a slight chuckle out of her. There was a pause before Duke said, "Someone…someone came onto the Rouge last night—while I was out with you."
Holly stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue.
"They…they took her things." Duke said carefully, rubbing his face with his free hand, "I had put them all in her room, and I had locked the door, just to…ah hell, I don't know, keep them safe? And I came back last night and it…it was all just gone."
"Shit." Holly mumbled over the line.
Duke coughed on a laugh, "Yeah. There weren't any signs of the lock being picked, either, but the door was locked by the time I got there; exactly how I left it. So, assuming whoever took Jennifer's things last night are the same people who took her, they clearly know that I'm here, and I don't think they're all that afraid of me."
"Well they should be." Holly said simply on the other side of the line.
Duke chuckled, "You don't know the half of it, Sunshine."
There was a brief pause, though it was long enough to make Duke wonder if Holly actually did have some sort of inkling towards what his comment implied, before Holly said, "Okay. You go get ready. I'll see you in about an hour. And try to look like a human being."
Duke shook his head, "You know, you keep telling me to do that. I mean, last night I understand; I looked like hell. But don't you think I would've tried to keep it up into the next day?"
"People in mourning don't usually pay that much attention to their appearance." Holly said matter-of-factly, "Sometimes they need reminding."
"But Holly, I'm not in—,"
"Don't." Holly warned, "I am not the person to lie to about this. I've seen enough mourning to know what it looks like."
Duke stayed quiet before Holly sighed, "But that is a conversation for another time. I'll see you soon. Bye, Duke."
"Bye, Holly." He mumbled back, not sure if she heard him before the call ended. He headed for his shower, as he tried to process what Holly had told him.
A day.
He was going to spend a whole day with Jennifer. He almost felt foolish for being as excited as he was at the prospect. But he was. He felt like a teenager getting ready for his first date. A whole day of her being near him, talking to him, laughing at him, and a whole day of hearing her voice and laugh again, and a whole day just existing near her. A year ago, he would've given anything he had just to see her again, let alone spend the better part of a day with her, and here he was, about to do just that.
And she wanted to see him. She wanted to spend that much time with him, even if she didn't know him.
It wasn't the same as wanting him, but it was one hell of a start.
Once out of the shower, he got dress, putting on the pale blue, almost white, denim button down that he'd worn when he'd first met Jennifer and a pair of gray jeans. It was also the shirt she'd put on to greet him in the stateroom after their first time together.
"I'm an idiot."
"Mm."
He didn't know if seeing the shirt would spark any memories in Jennifer, but he also figured that it couldn't hurt. He rummaged through one of his drawers, and pulled out a small bottle of cologne. Jennifer had given it to him, and she had told him that she loved how it smelled. He had worn it all the time, joking about how he thought it was part of the reason she couldn't keep her hands off him. He remembered that scent was supposed to be a powerful memory inducer. If the shirt didn't do anything, maybe the cologne would.
He looked himself over in the mirror, pushing his hair back. He still had dark circles under his eyes, but at least he didn't look as deranged as he had last night.
He shrugged at himself, "Closer to human."
And that's about all Holly could ask for.
He grabbed a To Go cup for what was left of his coffee, before heading back on deck, locking the doors to the stateroom behind him. Even though locks clearly didn't stop whoever it was that took her things from his boat, it didn't mean he had to go and make it easier for them.
The drive to the Fairmount was short, and Holly was already waiting for him by the front doors, large sunglasses obscuring her eyes. She was wearing her jean jacket from the night before, over a brown blouse with mint and pink flowers printed on it, over a pair of light blue skinny jeans that matched her jacket. Her headscarf for the day was a similar mint to some of the flowers on her shirt, with light brown and pink patterns printed on it. Even her lips were a mint color.
He rolled his window down and grinned at her, "You headed my way, Sunshine?"
She grinned at him as she leaned through the window, pushing her sunglasses up onto her forehead a little, "Is there any other way to go, Sailor?"
He rolled his eyes at her and hitched his head back slightly to prompt her to climb into the car, "Hop in."
She walked around to the other side of the truck and climbed in. As Duke drove towards the bookshop, Holly looked around the truck, noting how the driver's seat was on the right, rather than left side of the car.
"A foreign truck? Don't you do anything normally?" Holly asked, leaning back into the passenger seat.
Duke shrugged, "Makes it easier to drive my own truck when I travel elsewhere."
Holly smirked at him, "Oh, what, no snappy comeback about nothing about you being 'normal'?"
He smiled at her as he parked the truck outside the shop, "I guess my mind's elsewhere."
Duke looked into the shop and saw Jennifer immediately. Part of him expected to lose her among the books, but even after a year he was still able to zero in on wherever she was. Maybe that should've worried him, but for now, he just watched her. She was sitting on an old couch that was opposite the front counter. She was wearing a jacket that had a denim body and gray cotton sleeves. She had two tendrils of hair hanging on either side of her face that curled towards her chin, while the top layer was twist braided and pinned on the back of her head; he saw orange flowers there, probably fabric, and attached to whatever she was using to pin her hair back. Her hair was longer than he remembered it being, though last night he hadn't really been paying attention to hair length. Her mouth was moving, more obviously singing this time, and she was looking down in front of her while her hands were working on something that he couldn't see.
She was still there.
There was something revolutionary in that thought. She hadn't disappeared in the time between he'd last seen her and this moment.
"Everyday I wake up and I think: This is the day I'm going to lose her."
Something caught her attention and she looked up towards the counter. Whatever it was, it made her grin and laugh, and Duke couldn't help but smile with her. God, it'd been a year and nothing made him feel as…as calm as seeing her smile.
Holly patted his arm, pulling his gaze back to her, "Everything's gonna be fine, Duke. Just be your usual, charming, incredibly annoying, and obnoxious self. You know, the man that Jennifer fell for."
Duke chuckled at her, "You think I'm charming?"
Holly rolled her eyes, "No, I think you're an obnoxious pain in the ass. Jennifer thinks your charming."
She hopped out of the truck and headed across the street. Duke followed suit, chuckling after her, just as he heard Holly squeal excitedly, "Joshua!"
As Duke rounded the front of the truck and headed across the street, he saw Holly breaking an embrace with a young man that he assumed was her younger brother. She held onto his forearms as she beamed at him and spoke excitedly. The man had a buzzed head, and was wearing a black pea coat over a red flannel shirt. He was a bit taller than Holly, but Duke couldn't tell if that was from his shoes or from the fact that Holly was wearing flats for once. He looked pleased to see Holly, but he also looked dazed by how quickly she was talking to him, a feeling that Duke was fairly familiar with at this point.
"Slow down, Holly, the kid looks like he's barely keeping up," Duke chuckled as he came to stand next to Holly.
Holly glanced at Duke and made a face at him, "Oh, hush, he's my brother, he's used to it."
"True." Joshua yawned back, shaking himself, "But I haven't been up as long as you have, Sis."
Holly rolled her eyes, "Staying up late playing those damn video games, I bet."
Joshua made a face, half sneering and sticking his tongue out slightly, at Holly who made a similar face back at him. It was the face that Duke had frequently been on the receiving end of when Jennifer was with him. Joshua directed his gaze to Duke and smiled, "Hi, I'm Joshua, Holly's brother."
"Oh man, where're my manners?" Holly exclaimed, turning to Duke who held out his hand to Joshua, "Sorry! Duke, this is Josh, my brother, obviously. Josh, this is Duke. He's, uh—,"
"The, uh, the transporter, right? From Grad school?" Joshua asked, finishing for Holly as he accepted Duke's offered hand and gave it a solid shake.
Duke's eyebrow twitched in surprise, but he was better at hiding it than Holly was, as she stammered out, "Uh, yeah. Yeah, that's right."
Joshua smiled at him, "Good to finally meet you, Duke."
Duke nodded, pulling his hand back and putting it in his pocket, and looked Joshua up and down. He was just a kid, and a tired looking one at that; but how close to home could the other side be playing? Joshua watched him back, still smiling at him, and seeming to be either completely unaware of his slip, truly excited to meet Duke and see his sister again, or be a better player than Duke was giving him credit for. For now, Duke just placed Joshua in his "To Watch" list.
Joshua looked at his sister, "Well, shall we go in? I know of a very impatient six year old, who's ready to see her Aunt Holly."
Holly beamed back at him, "After you."
"When did Holly say she was going to get here?" Jennifer called to Adelaide in the kitchenette as she worked on braiding Brielle's hair, wrapping a hair tie around the left braid. Brielle was sitting on the floor in front of the couch between Jennifer's legs and was reading a small chapter book about seals. Little John twitched in his sleep on the rest of the couch, whimpering quietly. She glanced at him briefly and placed a hand on his stomach; he calmed almost instantly and shifted slightly next to her.
"She should be here soon," Adelaide said from the kitchenette, "Getting nervous about your date?"
Jennifer rolled her eyes as Adelaide stepped back out to the main floor of the shop. She started on the right side of Brielle's head for the second braid, "For the last time, it is not—,"
"Save it; I was kidding." Adelaide cut her off, moving to behind the counter. She seemed to consider something before commenting, "You know, Momma Caverna's café down the street has the best food on the block; why don't you two go there for lunch? And if you see her and drop my name, I'm sure she'll give you a discount."
Jennifer smiled nervously, "I guess that'd be okay. Maybe we could walk around the Paul Revere Mall afterwards."
Adelaide gave her a knowing smile before disappearing as she crouched down to look for something on the shelves.
"What am I smelling? Is it that 'sensual amber' perfume from that body shop? I didn't think you liked that stuff." Adelaide's voice called from behind the counter.
Jennifer shrugged, "It's not my favorite but it…I dunno, it just felt like the right perfume for today, y'know?"
Soon, an up-tempo song began to play through the speakers around the shop. Brielle looked up and let out an excited sound, distracting from any response Adelaide could've given.
"I love this song!" She said before turning her head slightly to look at Jennifer, "Will you sing with it?"
Jennifer beamed back at her as Adelaide popped back up from behind the counter, "I will, but you've got to keep looking forward, okay? French braided pigtails take time."
"Yeah, Brielle, didn't I ever tell you that Auntie Jen was the best hair braider in grade school? This is serious business." Adelaide quipped, leaning against the counter.
Brielle grinned at Jennifer, who was making the face she'd learned from Holly at Adelaide, before looking back at her book. Jennifer went back to working on her second braid and sang quietly, "We go hide away in day light…"
Adelaide picked through some of the stuff in the box on the counter as Jennifer continued to sing. Jennifer noticed a pale truck pull up across the street; was that the same pale truck from last night? She couldn't be sure, but it definitely seemed familiar.
After a moment Adelaide got a sly smile on her face and leaned over the box, obscuring her face. Jennifer glanced at her, still singing, when Adelaide stood back up straight, wearing a ridiculous mask from the box.
Jennifer laughed as the song died out, "Oh good god, what is in that box?"
The doors to the truck across the street opened and Holly hopped out of it, slamming the door behind her. Little John's head popped up at the sound of the doors slamming closed. He placed his head on the armrest and looked towards the street, his tail thumping gently against the cushion next to her as he surveyed the passengers of the truck climbing out of it.
Adelaide shook her head as she pulled the mask away and tossed it back into the box, "I have no idea. But it's certainly a strange collection of things. Did you see this book?" Adelaide held up Unstake My Heart for Jennifer to see, "I haven't seen a copy of this in years; especially not in this condition. What about you?"
Jennifer shrugged, "Never really paid much attention to vampire romance,"
Adelaide looked at the book, "So you don't see anything on this book?"
Jennifer gave her a confused look, "Am I supposed to?"
Adelaide shrugged, tossing the book back onto the counter, as Jennifer finished Brielle's second and final braid and jiggled them like they were the reins for a horse. Brielle looked back at Jennifer who grinned at her, "Congratulations, Brielle, you are now the proud owner of two Jennifer Mason Original braids!"
Brielle leapt to her feet as she spun around and wrapped her arms around Jennifer's neck, "Thank you, Auntie Jen!"
Jennifer hugged her back and glanced towards the street as Holly and Joshua hugged. Duke stood just to the side, smiling at both of them. He looked more assembled than he had last night, but still not well rested. He reminded her of how her mom had looked during one of the first times Jennifer had convinced her to go out after Dad had died; exhausted, and a disheveled that only came from the kind of disconnect felt after a great loss, but still willing to try.
He still had dark circles under his eyes, but there'd been some sort of peace granted to him in the last twenty-four hours that made him more relaxed. He looked calmer and Jennifer couldn't help feeling calmer by extension.
As Brielle broke the hug and ran to Adelaide to show her the braids, Little John climbed off the couch and stretched. He kept his gaze towards the street, his tail wagging more quickly than it had before as he watched the group outside. Jennifer stood and stretched as well, as another song started to play, earning a grin from Jennifer.
"Oh I love this song!" Jennifer exclaimed, "We're a thousand miles from comfort, we have traveled land and sea."
Jennifer started to dance slightly as she sang, and the door jingled open as she sang the second lyric, "But as long as you are with me, there's no place I'd rather be."
"Aunt Holly!" Brielle exclaimed, running to the door and into Holly's arms.
Holly scooped up Brielle, exclaiming, "Oh, there's my sweet little Brielle!"
Duke stepped to the side, allowing Joshua through. Unfortunately, this opened him up for Little John, who jumped enthusiastically on to Duke, knocking him to the ground.
"Oh, Jesus!" Duke exclaimed breathlessly as he fell under the weight of the giant dog. Little John started enthusiastically licking his face and Duke let out a surprised laugh despite himself.
"Oh my god! Little John!" Jennifer yelled, running over and wrapping her arms around his middle and pulling him off, "No! Bad dog, Little John! Off!"
Little John backed off, whining quietly, as Jennifer pulled him off and snapped her fingers to point him back towards her room, saying sternly, "Get."
Little John trotted off, tail between his legs, as Jennifer turned back to Duke offering her hand, "I am so sorry. He has never done that before."
Duke tried to smile at her as he took her hand, "Don't worry about it, I always was a dog person."
"Oh, I am so ready to make a joke about Little John recognizing his own kind," Holly said from behind the counter, Brielle still on her hip.
Duke mockingly sneered back at her from the floor, making Holly chuckle at him, as Jennifer smiled back at him and she pulled him up. Duke tried not to stare at her as he straightened himself out and made sure not to hold her hand any longer than would be considered normal. But, gods, he'd forgotten what her hands felt like in his; small and delicate but with a strength in them, just like her. She was wearing knee-high socks; something that, when they'd been together, usually drove him crazy with want for her. And, oh Christ, he could smell her perfume. It was his favorite perfume she owned, it smelled like vanilla and…well, warmth was the only other word he could think of that could truly describe it.
Warm and sweet.
Just like her.
Was she sure she didn't remember him?
"Here, let me get you something to wipe your face; I'm no stranger to Little John's affection." Jennifer was saying to him, gesturing towards the kitchenette. He was looking at her like he couldn't really believe she was real, making her feel unsure of herself. She could already smell his cologne; it was the same that she'd smelled on her dad's sweater last night.
What did that mean?
And it still made her feel what she had last night; warmth, safety, trust, and that promise again: "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
Goddammit, what did that mean?
Once they were in the kitchenette, she grabbed a washcloth from a drawer and ran water over it, saying over her shoulder, "I'm really sorry about him. He's been acting strange, lately; must be something in the water."
"It's, uh, it's really not that big of a deal. I've, uh, I've had dates that've gone about the same way," Duke tried to joke.
She let out a chuckle as she turned and handed him the washcloth. Duke smiled at her as he took the cloth—careful not to let his fingers brush hers—and wiped his face as he looked around the small kitchenette. The sink was directly opposite the door to shop, with a small amount of counter space in between it and the stove, which was next to the fridge. The counter wrapped around slightly, with cabinets coming from the ceiling, creating a divide between the kitchen space and the small dining area that'd been set up. There was a microwave and a coffee machine against the far wall on the counter, just next to the sink, and there was a wire-shelving unit packed with food against the wall next to the fridge. On the other side of the counter was a medium sized table, something that would easily fit more than just the three residents of the shop, with an odd assemblage of mismatched chairs from different decades to accompany it.
It was small but homey.
Exactly the kind of place Jennifer would love.
"So. A Great Dane, huh?" Duke asked, as Jennifer leaned back against the counter.
She let out a breathy laugh, "Yeah, I know. I'll tell you one thing, though, no one messes with the five-one woman walking with that behemoth on a leash."
Duke laughed, "I'll bet. Now, 'Little John'; did you just think that naming him 'little' was hilarious or…?"
She blushed and giggled, "Well, that was part of it."
He'd forgotten that. How her cheeks and the tips of her ears would turn pink when she'd blush, and that it would make her smile that much brighter, that much warmer.
God and her laugh.
"My, uh, my parents' first date was to see the Disney version of Robin Hood. That movie was kind of my whole childhood, so I guess I named him Little John just to pay homage to that." Jennifer said, cross her arms and rubbing her upper arms nervously, making Duke smile at her, trying to be reassuring.
His eyes were so much kinder when he smiled.
"How long have you had him?" Duke asked.
Jennifer tilted her head, doing mental math to try to remember how long she'd had Little John, "Oh, um…hm. It's got to be a little over five years? Maybe six?"
Duke nodded.
"You know, getting a dog had actually been Adelaide's idea." Jennifer said, feeling as if she needed to keep talking to fight off an awkward silence where it was just them looking at each other. Or, rather, him looking at her, "She was worried about me after my mom died—cancer, before you ask—so she convinced me to go with her to a friend of hers who breeds Great Danes—'just to look' she'd said—and the second that little six week old puppy came bounding up to me on paws too big for him…well it was love at first sight."
Duke smiled at her as she paused, still smiling at the memory. She always talked over herself when she told personal stories, always injecting more details into them as she talked. He'd missed that.
She shifted against the counter and held her hand out to take the washcloth from him, sighing on the first word of her sentence, "Unfortunately, all that love comes with slobbery kisses, and dog hair on all of my outfits."
He handed the washcloth back to her, their fingers brushing each other lightly. Jennifer straightened slightly, a blush flashing across her face and she looked up at him. God, he was tall. He gave her a nervous, though attempting to be reassuring, smile.
She knew that smile.
She remembered that smile
They were at the Gray Gull, and she was going for a job interview somewhere but she wanted his advice.
"I'm really glad you're doing this."
"Earning rent money?"
"Staying in—,"
There wasn't a throb this time; it was just a memory that played through her mind, with all the emotions she'd felt at the time. It felt real and it felt natural, even if it still felt as if someone had gone through and cut out parts of what'd been said. She bit her lip anxiously, and tried to return his smile, as her stomach and heart leapt and twisted together. She turned back around and rinsed the washcloth in the sink, trying to calm the knot her stomach and heart had created down and get the respective parts of it back to their respective places.
"You, uh," He was saying behind her, sounding nervous, "You look fantastic."
She straightened her back, smiling down at her hands as she let washcloth hang from the edge of the sink.
"You always say that." She said without thinking.
"What?" Duke said behind her, sounding surprised but hopeful.
She froze as she realized what she'd said, and turned to look at him. They stared at each other before Adelaide called out, "What're you two doing in there? I thought Little John only got his face!"
Jennifer blushed harder and rushed passed Duke, avoiding his gaze, back onto the main floor of the shop. Duke moved to grab her arm, to slow her down, but thought better of it at the last second. He pulled his arm back and tried to play it off as something else; he knew this song and dance with her, it had just been so long since he'd done it. He sighed at himself before following after her to the main floor of the shop.
Joshua and the little girl who'd hugged Holly earlier—Brielle, if he'd heard right—were sitting on the couch as she showed him her book, while Holly leaned on her elbows across the counter to smile knowingly at him as he came through the curtain. The woman in the leather jacket, who he assumed was Adelaide, was giving the same smile to Jennifer as she stood opposite Holly at the counter. Jennifer glared at the both of them as she leaned down to rummaged under the counter in front of Adelaide to pull out her purse.
"You two heading out?" Adelaide asked, still looking supremely pleased with herself, "And before I've even been properly introduced to this young man?"
Holly laughed as Jennifer stood holding her purse, still blushing deeply, and introduced Adelaide and Duke, "Lady, this is Duke, my Grad school friend. Duke, this is Adelaide, Jennifer's cousin."
Adelaide held her hand out to him, grinning broadly, "Pleasure to meet you, Duke the Grad school friend."
Duke smiled slightly and nodded, as he shook her offered hand, "Likewise, Adelaide, Jennifer's cousin."
He studied Adelaide for a moment, meeting her own studious gaze. He noted the tattoos that went up her neck and across her upper chest, and the fact there was a name incorporated into most of them; "Desmond." He noticed that she had a ring on her left hand, but Holly hadn't mentioned a husband; so, if Duke had a guess, Desmond was a dead husband. He wasn't sure what to make of a woman who wore her wounds so blatantly. He wondered what she was seeing as she looked back at him. Whatever it was that she saw, though, she seemed pleased by it, if her growing smile was any indication.
Holly tilted her head behind her towards the couch, bringing Duke's attention back to her, "And the little cutie with the braids back there is Brielle, Adelaide's daughter."
Duke glanced over to the couch to see Brielle already smiling at him, "Hi!"
Duke smiled back at her, "Hi there, little lady. I like your braids."
Brielle beamed at him, "Thanks! My Auntie did them!"
Jennifer smiled nervously back at Brielle, "Yes, I did."
She turned back to Holly and Adelaide, "Are we good to go?"
Adelaide tsked at her, looking at her over her glasses, "Aren't we in a rush,"
"Adelaide," Jennifer warned.
"Jennifer," Adelaide mimicked, earning an annoyed glare from Jennifer. Duke didn't know what to think of the closeness between Jennifer and this woman who was meant to be a cousin that previously didn't exist.
Adelaide smirked as she waved her off, "Ease up, Jen, I'm just teasing. If you look, I put your phone and your keys in your purse for you; you're all set."
Jennifer smiled at her, relieved, and kissed her cheek, "Adelaide, you're magic."
Adelaide just chuckled as Holly stiffened slightly; if anyone other than Duke noticed, they didn't make it obvious, "You don't know the half of it, Cos."
Duke's eyebrow twitched upwards slightly at the phrase Adelaide used as Jennifer giggled. She turned back to Duke, "Have you eaten? I figured we could, um…well there's this café down the street and Adelaide's known the owner since she was a kid and they have really good food, so—,"
"That sounds great." Duke smiled at her. Though she could've said that she wanted to go run across hot coals and he'd agree, so long as she wanted him there.
Jennifer smiled back, before heading towards the front doors of the shop, "Right! Well. You guys have fun! Oh! Should we meet up for dinner somewhere?"
Holly beamed at her, "I'll text you guys if we think of something."
Jennifer grinned, "Sounds good!" She paused and looked at Duke, "Um, unless, uh, you have something going on tonight? Something better to do?"
Was she kidding? This was the only thing he wanted to do.
Duke gave her a baffled look, "No. No, this is—I'm all yours for the day."
Jennifer blushed at that and smiled at him, "Well. Alright then."
Adelaide and Holly exchanged looks behind Duke, not unnoticed by Jennifer, as she fumbled with the door, "Okay! Well, uh, bye everyone! See you later."
"Bye, Jen," Adelaide and Holly said together, both saying "bye" in a sing-song voice, before looking at each other and laughing at some shared, private amusement.