Tabitha tapped her pen against her lips as she thought about what she was going to say to Damon Miller when she arrived at his home. She already knew that it was quite likely she would arrive after her posted arrival time, since they had arrived almost forty minutes late in Chicago. Thankfully, her layover time had been enough where she hadn't had to worry about making her connection, but that made her all the more glad that she had booked a room at the Westin, thinking that she might be exhausted when that part of her journey came to an end. And based on how she felt at the start of this second leg of the trip, she knew that she would be heading directly to bed the moment she'd checked in.
Smiling a little, she stretched out on the seat in her room, resting her diary on her stomach as she thought about how long it had taken her to get to Chicago. A part of her wished that she had had time to explore the city a little more, but she also knew that she could come back to see more. Tabitha closed her pen in her diary before setting it on the small table ledge and turned onto her side, closing her eyes and drifting off into a light nap.
When she woke up, her stomach growled, and she shook her head as she shoved her phone and tablet into her purse and made her way down to the dining car. Thankfully, she was in time for lunch still, and she took a seat at a table, placing her order and then staring out the window. As a few sights caught her eye, she opened her phone's camera and took a few pictures, sending them on to the family chat before digging into the food that was dropped off a few minutes later. Once fed, Tabitha made her way to the observation car and took an open seat by a window, staring out at the scenery as she thought about her destination.
"Did you ever take this route to meet Alex's family, Mum? Did you see what I'm taking in? I can't help but feel a little closer to you on this train, and I hope that that feeling grows once I reach Mister Miller's home," she whispered as she continued to take pictures before opening up the current game she was playing on her tablet. The hours passed by all too swiftly, and an hour before they were due to arrive in Kansas City, she went back down to her room and packed up what little she'd taken out of her bag before settling back on her bed and finishing her diary entry for the day and then placing the book in her purse before grabbing her book and reading until they pulled into Union Station.
Replacing the bookmark, Tabitha closed the book and shoved it in her bag before disembarking from the train, shouldering her bag as she followed the stream of people into the train station. The first thing she did was use the restroom, and after drying her hands, she went back to all the benches and found an empty one. Taking a seat, she plugged in the address of her hotel and got walking directions there. It was only a ten minute journey, but she felt a little uneasy about walking alone that late at night. Suddenly thankful for the cash her dad had given her last week, she made her way to the taxi ranks and got in line for one.
Since it was so late, the driver wasn't very talkative, which suited her just fine, and soon enough, she was being dropped off in front of her hotel. Giving the driver a large tip, she exited the vehicle and headed inside. A young woman looked up from her computer screen and gave her a tired smile as she approached. "Are you checking in?"
"Yes. The reservation is under Tabitha Strauss?"
The women nodded and tapped away at her keyboard before taking her ID and debit card. After paying for the room, she accepted the key card and headed over to the elevators, riding up to the eleventh floor and then looking at the numbers to see where her room was. To her surprise, she was right by the elevators, and she wondered if that had been on purpose. It did make her feel more secure, and as soon as she was inside her room, Tabitha flopped onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "I just want to sleep," she whined at her stomach as it growled loudly, reminding her that she hadn't eaten in six hours. Letting out a groan, she turned onto her side and pulled her phone out of her purse and quickly looked up a still open pizza store, ordering herself a large extra cheese and Canadian bacon, along with a salad and a bottle of soda, knowing that she still had a few cookies left over from her time in Boston for dessert.
Knowing that she had to keep herself awake for the forty minutes her food would take to arrive, Tabitha hurriedly stripped off her travel clothes and went into the bathroom to take a long shower. When she felt clean and refreshed, she dried off with the provided towels and braided her still wet hair. Traipsing back into the main part of her room, she rummaged around in her bag for pyjamas, tugging them on before once more sitting on her bed and scrolling through all the notifications she had received for the day.
Tabitha had just finished up when she received a call from the front desk. Stepping into her shoes, Tabitha wrapped herself up in the provided bathrobe and slipped her keycard into a pocket before heading down to the front desk. "This smells so good," the clerk said, and she grinned in response.
"After spending so long on the train, anything food smells good!" she said as she took the food from the woman's hands and made her way back up to her room. Once there, she shrugged out of the robe and dropped onto the bed, sitting cross-legged as she reached for the remote and turned the tv on, scrolling through the channels until she found reruns of The Golden Girls. It had been one of her mother's favourite shows, and it made her feel closer to her as she ate and watched.
She was just swallowing her last bite of salad when her phone rang, and she looked at the display to see that it was Karen. Muting the television, she answered the call, putting it on speaker as she opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice.
"Hey, Tabby-cat. Are you safely in your room for the night?"
She chuckled as she ate a bite of the pizza. "Yeah, how did you guess?"
"You started replying to comments on your pictures. What does your hotel room look like?"
She smacked her head lightly before taking a sip of the soda she'd ordered. "I totally forgot to take pics before I got settled in. I'll take some of the view tomorrow morning, once I've woken up. I'm not going to set my alarm, though, since I have the need to catch up on what I've missed. Train travel is nice, but I did not sleep well at all!"
Karen chuckled, and Tabitha could almost imagine her shaking her head like their mother would have done. "I would imagine not! I like trains, but we don't have anything comfortable like in the UK. God, I miss Edinburgh."
"You should look at studying there for a semester, then! You know that Mum would have encouraged you."
Her sister sighed a little, and she found herself returning the sound, feeling sadness tinge her thoughts. "I know. I just want to make her proud. Do you really think I'd do well overseas? I'd be away from you all for four months!"
"And if you go for the fall semester, we could spend Christmas in Scotland! How magical would that be?"
"I suppose that you have a point there. All right, I'll look and see if my program would support that. Now, answer me this, since Dad was sort of vague about this new leg of your journey – why are you in Missouri?"
"Alex's dad lives here. James thought that she might have come home after leaving him, so he gave me Mister Miller's address and phone number. I suppose that I should call tomorrow, before I head out, but a part of me feels that if I did that, it might clue Alex in on my arrival, and she might leave without a trace. I really just want to ask her a few questions about what Mum was like when they were together, you know?"
"I do, yeah. Oh, I hope that everything works out for you, and that you come home with stories to share with us! Please, make sure you're making good choices. I don't want to lose you, too."
"Okay. Love you, Kare Bear."
"Love you, too, Tabby-cat. Bye."
"Bye," she whispered as they ended the call, and she smiled down at her pizza before turning the volume back on and finishing up her meal as she tried not to dwell on what could happen in the morning.
