Eileen Ann Brennan Waltz Me Through Time (pdf)

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burrowed back into her pillow. Who would have thought she d have a time-traveling
husband? She may be a few crayons short of a box but she believed him. As bizarre as it
seemed she believed with her whole heart that he was a time traveler. His clothes, his
unexplained appearances and disappearances not to mention her own express trip from
the restaurant all convinced her he was the genuine article.
Of course, that whole dancing thing was pretty weird but his explanation what
little of it she understood seemed logical enough.
She rolled over and buried her face in his pillow. None of it mattered. Being with
Stanley just seemed right. She wished he d come back to bed. Was he still in 1902? Was
he in the shop exploring the trunk? The shop! Wherever he was, she needed to get her
butt in gear and open the shop.
According to Stanley she belonged in 1902, and the thought of relatives and a past
thrilled her to her very bones but until she returned to the past she had a business to
run. She jumped out of bed and opened the staircase door.
Stanley? she called. No answer. Probably not back yet.
Putting on a pot of coffee, she showered, dressed and was taking her first sip from a
steaming mug within fifteen minutes. Hmm, it looked to be another beautiful day.
What should she put out on the stoop to attract customers?
Skipping down the stairs, she stopped. A feeling that something wasn t quite right
struck her. Then she saw it. The front door stood ajar. The alarm was disarmed. She
distinctly remembered shutting the door after testing it last night. She tried to picture
the moment. No recollection of locking it or turning on the alarm came to her.
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Waltz Me Through Time
Stanley? Her gaze darted around the shop. There, half hidden by the glass
display counter, lay a heap of papers and clothes tossed in a haphazard pile. The trunk
was gone. Had he dumped it out and hauled it outside to search it in better light? He
hadn t exactly been gentle with the contents last night. Stanley?
She opened the front door wider. No Stanley.
She shut the door and explored all the rooms in the shop. No Stanley.
Her gaze passed over the checkout counter, a thick business envelope lay in the
center. They d been all over that counter last night. Her body heated remembering how
Stanley had laid her down, spread her legs and lapped her pussy until she screamed for
mercy. Everything but the register had been knocked off. They d straightened it a little
before going up to bed but she was sure there had been no business envelope.
She picked it up and slid open the flap. Huh?
A hundred dollar bill showed in the opening. No, it was a stack of hundred dollar
bills. She pulled the bills from the envelope and fanned her thumb across their edges. A
sticky note was attached to the last bill. Everything has a price.
Everything has a price? What the& ? Ohmigod, no! The guy who d tried to buy the trunk!
Thin Lips!
She did a quick count of the bills. Twenty-five. Twenty-five hundred dollars. The
amount Thin Lips had offered. The amount she d wanted to accept until Stanley
informed her that the trunk was his only means of finding her through time.
She ran to the door and threw it open again, searching up and down the street. The
usual early Sunday morning quiet. No sign of any life outside. She slammed the door.
How dare that bastard come into her shop and steal her trunk! It didn t matter if he
paid for it. The trunk was not for sale!
Wait. She had his card. She could call the police. The sudden image of Stanley
snatching the card from her fingers and shoving it into his trouser pocket shot across
her mind. Stanley had the card! Stanley! Where are you?
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Eileen Ann Brennan
The shop echoed with the empty question. She sank to the floor next to the
checkout counter. No! No! Tears welled in her eyes and a thick sob escaped her throat.
Stanley was in 1902. The trunk was gone and undoubtedly closed! He couldn t come
back. He d never find her again.
Silent sobs racked her body. She huddled in a fetal position next to the counter,
giving herself over to the hopeless reality that she d never again see the man she loved.
She d never know what it would be like to have a family. She d never know what they
looked like, what kind of headlines they made, nothing.
Somewhere in her mind she had the vague recollection of feeling like this before. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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