Chapter Eleven
Theo
“Make sure you pick up the mail every day,” Jennifer says.
“Okay,” I reply as I drag her luggage to the check-in counter at the airport. Matt follows behind us, lugging more bags.
“Oh, and Wednesdays are trash days.”
“Got it.”
We’ve gone over this a dozen times, she’s left me a detailed list on her refrigerator, and she’s sent it to me by email… twice. We’ve moved up in line a mere inch. This is going to take a while. I could find a cure for some rare diseases faster than this.
I eyeball Matt, Jennifer’s husband. Even ten years out of college, he still maintains his quarterback physique. I’ll never forget the way he couldn’t get enough of my sister at their wedding. He looked at her as though she were the only person in the church, his beginning and end.
Jennifer says it wasn’t his handsome face she was attracted to, even though he is a damn fine-looking dude if I say so myself. She said it was his eyes that got her. His pale-blue eyes would sparkle and make her feel as though she were the most important person in the world, no matter what she did or said. And she likes his hands. I don’t even know what that means. Maybe I don’t want to know. All I do know is that he adores my sister even when she mother-hens us, like she’s doing right now. Matt grins at me. He knows as well as I do that I know all these details already, but I let her ramble. She’s my big sister, and neither of us would trade her thoroughness for all the tea in China.
“Darlin’, everything will be fine,” Matt says.
She takes a deep breath. His warm Southern drawl is the only thing that can calm her down.
I scan the airport to distance myself from Jen’s chatter. One of the kids from her class is in another line, holding an ice cream cone. If I point her out to Jen, my sister will get out of line, and we’ll have to start this process all over again, so I keep it to myself. It’s the little girl that helped me check my blood sugar. She’s with a tall female that could be a dark-haired version of Mallory from what I can see. The fancy purse and watch the woman wears are probably worth enough to pay off my student loans. The lady flips her hair around as she chats on her phone.
The little girl sits on her Dora the Explorer suitcase and takes a long lick of her ice cream cone. She catches my eye and grins. I wave to her, and she gives me the cutest little finger wave back.
Matt bumps me to move forward. Yes! Progress. Finally, Jen and Matt are at the counter. My services of taxi and valet are complete. Matt and I knuckle-bump.
“Let me know if you need me to call in a prescription for promethazine. Nausea can be bad with those big waves.”
He chuckles. “I’m hoping we’ll be making our own waves.”
Jen pops him on the arm. “Matt. I can’t believe you said that.”
I give her a hug, enjoying the pink flush across her neck. “You got all weird on me the other day at your school, and you’ve ignored my texts every time I’ve brought it up. What’s up?” I wish she was going to be around this summer. I would love for it to be like it used to be before I went off to med school.
She searches her purse and her pockets and withdraws her plane ticket. She stares at her feet and crumples her ticket in her tightly fisted hand.
“They may need that in one piece.”
She flattens it out.
While Matt is checking his bags, I put my hands on her shoulders. “Talk to me.”
Her eyes are trained on the floor. “Did you ever wish you could unsee or unhear something?”
“Like the time I walked in on you and…”
She pushes me away. “Don’t go there.”
“Honey, they need your boarding pass and ID,” Matt says.
Jennifer’s gaze moves from me to Matt then back to me. She wraps me in a big hug. “I have to go. I love you so much.”
Matt shrugs.
“I know.” I pry myself away from her. “The freak-out happened right after I mentioned Darla.”
As soon as I utter Darla’s name, Jennifer gets that deer-in-the-headlights gaze again.
A few gears click into place, but my brain cells run dry. “You don’t… nah. Impossible.”
Matt places his hands on her shoulders and rotates Jennifer to face the check-in counter. “What’s possible is you’re going to make all those passengers behind us miss their planes.”
“Have a great trip,” I say to them.
She stares at me and opens her mouth to say something. Then she closes it and takes a deep breath. “We do need to talk, but I guess it will have to wait until I get back.”
She stares at me as if she wants me to read her mind. Usually, I can read her like yesterday’s news, but this expression is new. I wish I could steal her away for five minutes to download her thoughts, but if I do, I will impede the progress of getting them through security. So I smile and act as though I’m oblivious, which isn’t hard for me.
She sighs. “I’ll try to call or text you if I get cell service.”
“Have fun,” I say as I make my way toward the security gates.
My phone buzzes, and I unclip it from my waistband to read the text. I glance around to see if I’m being pranked before I read it again.
It’s no longer Juliet. The name is now known.
Wouldn’t you like to make her your own?
She has a big secret, not sure how to spill.
She doesn’t know how you’ll really feel.
Go back to the beginning is how this quest starts.
Head straight to the ruins where it all fell apart.
Shhhh.
“What the heck?” I check the phone number. It’s not one I recognize. I dial the number, and it goes straight to an anonymous voice mail.
I replace the phone on my waistband clip, when someone yells, “Watch it!”
My attention is so fixed on my phone that I’m not paying attention to my surroundings. Before I know it, I plow right over the little girl from Jennifer’s class, knocking her onto her bottom. She still holds her cone, but the ice cream lies in a blob next to her suitcase. The little girl’s bottom lip quivers.
“Ugh,” the lady says, rolling her eyes.
Yep, she’s a Mallory clone. I offer my hand to help the little girl to her feet, but her mother swats my hand away.
“Why don’t you watch where you’re going? You almost ran over her.”
The little girl wipes some ice cream off her dress.
“I’m so sorry I messed up your ice cream.” Man, I would rather get my foot run over by a car than make this cute thing sad.
She holds out her empty cone to me. “That’s okay, Dr. Theo.”
She remembered my name? Aw. Adorable.
“You know him?” the lady asks her.
“Uh-huh,” the little girl replies.
She rolls her eyes. “It figures in this town. I hate Nashville.”
“He has diabetes.”
“Very good,” I reply. “You’re… Stella, right?”
Her eyes light up when she realizes I remember her, and she bounces. Yes, I remember the eyes and the bounce.
I open my wallet and hand her a ten-dollar bill. “How about as soon as you get through security, you buy yourself another ice cream? Eat one for me too.”
She takes the money, and her eyes flick up to her mother.
The woman snatches it out of Stella’s hand and shoves it back into mine. “Nope. Please get out of the way. I’ll buy her one later.”
“I’ll be sure to check my sugar before I eat it,” Stella says.
I whistle in frustration at the little girl’s mom. “You do that.”
Her mother gives her watch a once-over before her attention lands back on Stella.
“Sorry, ma’am, for any inconvenience,” I say.
She takes Stella by the hand and scampers down the concourse. Before they’re out of sight, Stella takes one more look at me over her shoulder. We exchange waves before the Mallory clone whisks her away.
I clear my throat and sneak away, hoping I don’t get chewed out by anyone else today.
All afternoon, I stay busy seeing patients in the clinic, but every thirty minutes, I get a reminder text to go back to the beginning, the frat house where Darla and I met. I’m not going to fall for a prank. I will not fall for a prank. Nope, I’m not going to where the frat house used to be. Not going to do it.
Okay, maybe a peek. Whoever sent this to me knows I can’t resist a game. I don’t care if Mallory thought they were childish. They’re fun, and I love the challenge. Besides, this game has to do with Darla, my favorite game partner.
When I’m done in the clinic, I saunter through the university campus, which is right next to the medical center. I head toward fraternity row, my old stomping ground. I mean, it is on the way to the parking lot… sort of. I walk down the street and see the empty lot where my fraternity house used to stand. Nothing has been built there since the fire. I saunter across the street, surveying the neighborhood behind me, in front of me, to my left, and to my right. I will not be pranked. I swear, if someone is playing a joke on me, I’m going to be pissed. The texts have to be from Darla. I can’t think of anyone else who knows where we met and how I can’t resist a game. She doesn’t have to go to all this trouble to tell me a secret, but I do love a good puzzle.
I stop in my tracks when I notice an envelope nailed to a tree in the middle of the yard. Checking out the surroundings, I creep over to the tree and see the name Romeo typed on the envelope. I snatch up the envelope, open it, and peer over my shoulder one more time before reading the contents.
I knew you couldn’t sit this one out.
Your interest is piqued, there’s no doubt.
You’ll get a text in an hour or so.
With details on how this fun game will go.
I chuckle as I stash the note in my pocket and walk to my car, where I should have gone in the first place. “That’s real cute, Darla.”
The pitiful rhyme sticks in my brain the entire drive home, and as soon as I enter my apartment complex, my phone buzzes. I retrieve it from my pocket and read the text.
Rumor has it, you like to play games.
Especially when it’s one special dame.
So brush off your skills, if you think you can.
Let’s play a fun game of Hangman.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Choose your first letter.
The message is signed, I’m not a stalker. I switch off the car and focus on the sentence. I’m good at this. I crack my knuckles and tap my fingers on the steering wheel.
“Hmm.” I type the letter A and hit send. Before I take two steps away from my car, I receive another message.
Good first choice. More chances to play coming soon after this message from our sponsor.
– – – – A – – A – – – – – – – –
“Oh, I’m good. Bahaha!”
No cheating. If you tell anyone about this game, you’ll lose the grand prize.
Damn, she’s serious.