Following Bliss (The Quest series) (8 page)

He came up to
where he and Shelby had been sitting to see Shelby crouched down, her head in
her hands.

“Shelby?”

She didn’t seem
to hear him. A knot formed in his stomach.

“Shelby?” He
walked closer.

He touched her
shoulder and she jumped up, startled.

“Okay, yeah,
well yes, bake those cookies for 20 minutes Kathryn and then yeah, they will be
done. Oh, and thanks for AAA’s number. Okay, love ya, yeah, bye!” Shelby said
quickly as she wrapped up her call with Kathryn.

“So sorry about
that Daniel. You startled me. I looked everywhere for the keys and when they
didn’t turn up, I thought I would call Kathryn to see if she or Scott had any
good ideas about what we could do. They said try AAA if you had another car key
at home and your landlord could let you into your place.”

Daniel hugged
her, tightly.

“Oh, I was so
worried something was wrong. I had the weirdest walk—things were feeling kind
of spooky. I felt terrible when I realized how long I left you out here alone.
And then when I saw you crouched down like that…”

His voice
trailed off, Shelby could hear emotion rising in his voice.

“I thought maybe
something had happened to you...”

He squeezed her
tighter, his hand holding the back of her hair, stroking it softly. Shelby
instantly relaxed in his arms. His touch, the way he held her—it was as if they
were a perfect fit.  

Shelby leaned
back, placing her hands on either side of Daniel’s face.

“Well, I’m fine
sweetie. Nothing to worry about at all. But thank you for caring so much.”

Shelby couldn’t
figure out why she just called him sweetie. It had been a week for crying out
loud. She admonished herself to slow down, and then smiled thinking back to
what Daniel’s mother had said about humans and timeframes.

“What’s the
smile about?”

“Oh, no—nothing.
I was merely reflecting on the situation we’re in, yet it all feels like it’s
totally fine standing here like this.”

Shelby was
grateful she had the ability to think on her feet.

Daniel smiled
back at her, his arms snugly wrapped around her waist.

“You know what
Shelby? You are absolutely right. I was thinking about that on my walk back
actually, how being with you feels easy and…right…”

They looked into
each other’s eyes, smiling but not saying a word. Daniel had half a mind to lay
Shelby down right there in the Rose Garden lawn and make love to her. If only
he had his keys. Oh yes, his keys. How could he forget? Although looking into
Shelby’s eyes had a way of making him forget quite a bit.

Daniel leaned
down and placed his lips tenderly on Shelby’s. Their mouths intertwined softly,
deliberately, as if each knew exactly what the other wanted and needed. He felt
her tongue stroke his and immediately he was aroused. They stood there like
that for several minutes, before the thought of the darkness, the closing of
the park, and the keys entered their reality yet again.

They pulled
back, looking at each other with longing and knowing. What was happening
between them was far bigger than either of them could have imagined.

# # #

As they walked
hand-in-hand back to the car, they looked for the keys one final time. On the
way they created a plan: if they didn’t find the keys by the time they got to the
car, they would contact Rose Garden security, Daniel’s landlord and Kathryn for
a ride to his place.

Daniel noticed
that he didn’t feel as tense about the whole situation as he had initially.
Being in Shelby’s presence and talking through solutions with her made
everything feel easier. When they got to the car, Daniel noticed something
shiny and silver on the rooftop of Daphne, his green Subaru wagon.

“What the hell—“

He walked over to
Daphne to find his keys sitting right on top of the roof. Daniel held them up
before Shelby, bewildered.

Shelby, on the
other hand, couldn’t contain herself. She burst out laughing. She was laughing
so hard she was leaning over gasping for air.

“What’s so funny
there missy?”

“The keys,”
Shelby gasped in between laughs, “were on top of,” she could barely get the
words out, “the car!”

“Yes, I see
that. And however do you think they got there?” Shelby’s laughter was so
hilarious that he was close to busting at the seams as well.

“Your mom.”
Shelby was doubled over. She couldn’t believe it. The whole key incident had
been orchestrated by his mother. She knew it.

“My mom?” Now
Daniel wasn’t laughing. And he was pretty sure Shelby was delusional. “My mom
is dead Shelby.” Suddenly he got very serious.

Shelby stopped
laughing. Shit. Her and her big mouth.

“I know Daniel.
But you know how people say that when our loved ones cross over they often come
back to give us messages or play with us?” She was really hoping he would
follow her lead on this one. She hadn’t been able to finish her conversation
with Kathryn, so she didn’t have a full plan in place. Kathryn told her not to
mention it until they could intuitively feel into the situation more and devise
a better plan. But already Daniel was beginning to feel like her best friend and
it was difficult to keep things from him.

“No. I don’t
know too much about that kind of thing. But if my mom did do this, she must
have had some reason beyond just giving me shit.”

Shelby breathed
a sigh of relief, he wasn’t going to lose it and shut down on her.

“Well, it was a
thought. How do you think they ended up there?”

“I haven’t the
slightest idea,” Daniel said. The mention of his mother made him think about the
rustling in the rose bush, the eerie feeling in the air and how taking Shelby
to Maui had popped into his mind—seemingly out of nowhere. Maybe Shelby was on
to something. Maybe his mom
was
trying to get his attention. Although
honestly, he thought, she was going to have to be a lot more direct if she
wanted to get any sort of message through to him.

Chapter 6

“Okay, so one more
time Shelby,” Kathryn said the next day as she stood in tree pose, sipping a
steaming cup of green tea in her living room the following morning. “You saw
her as a wispy outline of a woman and she told you that 1) it was taking her a
lot of energy to present herself to you in that way—a topic we do need to
explore at another time, and 2) that you needed to go to Maui with Daniel. And
he leaves the day after tomorrow on this trip? And when do you see him next?”

“Yes, ma’am,
that is it,” Shelby replied. She knew it sounded outrageous, but at the same
time wickedly interesting. She had never before in her life had such a mystical
experience and she had absolutely zero idea how to handle it. “And I see him
tonight, then tomorrow for lunch and after that it’s all completely out of my
hands.”

She had brought
Laney along as well, figuring the more intuitive beings she had helping her
through this conundrum, the better. Laney was curled up on Kathryn’s cream
sofa, her dirty blonde locks swept up on top of her head, and two knitting
needles in her hand. Laney had recently taken up knitting, promising that she
would be making scarves for all four sisters for the upcoming holidays.

“I don’t
understand why Shelby is getting to have all of the cool non-physical
experiences. I thought I was the woo-woo one in our family,” Laney jokingly
whined.

“Oh stop, you,”
Shelby faux-swatted at her. “I need real help here. Focus.”

“Scott, you’ve
got to come in here,” Kathryn called into the other room. “Shelby communicated
with a dead person last night.” The sound of the words “dead person” brought
Scott immediately into the living room, placing his hand on the small of
Kathryn’s back as she stood in tree pose, kissing her on the lips. “You are so
beautiful. Isn’t she beautiful?” Scott asked Shelby and Laney.

“The most
beautiful.” They giggled in unison. Laney rolled her eyes, pretending to be
uninterested in Scott’s love for Kathryn. The truth was, although Laney said
she wasn’t ready for a serious relationship, seeing Kathryn and Scott made her
(and everyone else who saw them) feel otherwise.

Scott smiled and
planted another kiss on Kathryn. “I couldn’t agree more. But back to this dead
person you’re talking to. What is this all about? Did she say what she wanted?”

Kathryn jumped
in, “Yes, we’ve got all of those details honey. But now we need to come up with
a plan. Daniel’s mother has been giving Shelby messages for the past four weeks.
And when Shelby gave Daniel the first message, he freaked out. Now the mother
is saying Shelby needs to go to Maui with him tomorrow and Shelby has no idea
what to do.”

Scott stood,
arms crossed, head down, legs at a wide stance, contemplating the situation. He
and Kathryn were both extremely fascinated by mystical experiences and believed
strongly in the afterlife. But neither of them had ever encountered a situation
like this before.

“Have you tried
connecting with her again to see if she can give you more specifics about how
she wants you to do this?”

“Great
question,” Shelby said. “Right as she was leaving, I asked how I was supposed
to bring this up to Daniel, since he totally shut down and didn’t contact me
for two-and-a-half weeks the last time I delivered one of her messages. She
said she would, and I quote, ‘take care of it.’ But who knows what that even
means. If she appeared to Daniel, he would probably lose his mind, which is most
likely why she is coming to me instead.”

“Well, I think
you should be totally honest with him and tell him what happened,” Kathryn said.
“That’s how Scott and I handle everything. We are completely honest and work
through things with complete transparency.”

Scott chuckled.
“Oh, like when you were going ga-ga over that waiter at Andina after the huge
fight we had—you know, when we were trying to figure out our future and when we
would go to Hungary?”

Kathryn’s face
crinkled. “Well, I told you…eventually.” Leaning over to Shelby, she whispered,
loud enough for Laney to hear, “But, I waited like nine months until I felt
like he wouldn’t be absolutely appalled by my ridiculous behavior. So, that’s
actually a good point. He’ll think you’re nuts. Don’t say a word. Ask a lot
about the trip, tell him you’ve always wanted to go, see if he invites you.
When do you see him next?”

“I see him tonight
for some wine at his place and then tomorrow afternoon for lunch. And I think
you’re right. If momma wants me to ask him about going, she is going to have to
pull out some type of divine intervention Daniel can witness as well. I can’t
do this all on my own. It’s been a week of an amazing-awesome love fest.
Inviting myself on this trip would be relationship suicide.” Shelby paused.
“But you know, she did say that us humans get too wrapped up in timeframes.
That keeps sticking with me for some reason.”

“Well, she’s
absolutely right,” Scott chimed in. “Time is merely a man-made construct to
provide us with the feeling of stability and control. Both of which are, of
course, an illusion. But it’s an illusion we need to operate in the reality
we’ve created for ourselves here. I knew Kathryn was the woman for me as soon as
I saw her. My mind said that was impossible, not to mention insane. And then I
began to have all of these dreams about her and got really strong messages that
she was The One. Turns out, I was right. You don’t need a timeframe when it
comes to love. You just need love.”

Scott’s words were
still ringing in Shelby’s ears as she drove to meet Daniel for lunch the next
day at Bread & Ink Café on Southeast Hawthorne. “You just need love.”

But, was what
she was feeling really love? Were the synchronicities and messages from the other
side (not to mention visits) truly a sign that they were meant to be together?
Shelby didn’t have a clear answer. But, she did know that if she could
surrender and trust the flow of the Universe, the answers would be revealed.

Daniel was
sitting at a table outside the café when she walked up. It was a lovely October
afternoon, with clear skies and near-perfect temps for a Portland Indian
summer. He stood to greet her as she walked up, wrapping his arms around her
tightly.

“I’m so glad to
see you,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve been thinking about you all day,
especially after our night together. I don’t know how I’m going to go two weeks
without you.”

She ran her
fingers through his dark brown hair and sighed. “I know, right? I miss you
already.”

“I know. Me
too,” he whispered back.

They sat down at
the table and stared back at each other.

“I can’t believe,
at the same time I meet you, all of this is happening, and I’m leaving for two weeks
to go to Maui for a break I’ve been waiting for, for the past year—or my whole
life, really.”

“It’s wild,
right? I’m so excited for you, albeit a little jealous. I’ve always wanted to
go to Maui.” Shelby figured it was as good a time as any to try out Kathryn’s
idea.

“Oh really? Have
you traveled much?”

“A bit here and
there—Mexico, the U.K., Spain, Brazil, Kauai even—but I feel like there’s still
a bazillion places I would love to see. Maui is definitely on the list. Will
you get to do any sightseeing while you’re there?”

“You know, to be
honest with you, I’m not sure. Kaley hasn’t said much except that she, another
agent and some publishers are staying at these villas and she wants to spend
time reviewing my novel, talking about possibilities with them and see where it
takes us. I’m going with it. I haven’t had this much interest shown in anything
I’ve written.”

Shelby did her
best to keep a smile on her face despite the growing pain in her stomach. There
was no way Kaley Hamilton wasn’t going to be all over Daniel. He was amazing,
and good-looking. And according to the word on the street, the woman practically
dry humped any good-looking male author in a 10-mile radius of her.

Instead, she
replied, “Wow, sounds like an adventure.” She took a big drink of water. “A
work adventure, that is. Should we order?” Shelby looked down at her menu as
though it were the most interesting thing in the world.

“You okay,
Shelby? You seem a little, I don’t know…I’ve just never heard your voice get so
high-pitched.”

“Oh, was it?”
Shelby realized it was. “I’m sorry, Daniel. I’m so excited you are having such
an awesome break in your career, but I’m a little bummed that you’ll be gone
for two weeks when I was really starting to get used to you.”

“I know,” he
reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “I am having mixed feelings
about going too. In fact, I had the weirdest thing happen when we were at the
gardens the other night. I randomly had this thought pop into my head that
said, “take Shelby with you.” Daniel laughed, more loudly than usual. “I mean,
isn’t that silly? We just met, like what—a month ago? And we just started
spending all our time together this week.” He sighed, taking a big drink of
water. “Yeah, we should probably order.”

Shelby couldn’t
believe it—he
had
thought about them going to Maui together, as well.
Maybe his mom was orchestrating some divine intervention.

The waitress
came over to take their order and, out of sheer discomfort with the whole
situation, Shelby decided to dive right in and order. I’ll take the pepper bleu
burger, no bun and please add fries.” She caught Daniel looking at her smiling.
“I’m starving.”

In truth, her
stomach was doing a flip-flopping dance inside of her. Was he going to ask her?
Wasn’t he? Was Kaley Hamilton going to attack him? Is that why his mom wanted
her to go with him? Was the life she needed to save Daniel’s? Instead of
addressing any of those things, she overcompensated by over-ordering in the
hopes of acting as though everything was a-okay.

“You know, I’m
not that hungry. I’ll take your cup of soup and salad.”

Apparently
Daniel didn’t over-order when he wasn’t feeling well.

“Oh, well now I feel
like a cow. Literally.” Shelby grinned.

“No, don’t. My
head is going in so many directions right now, it’s tough to think about food.”
He squeezed her hand and gave her a faux smile. Shelby realized then that he
was doing his best to put on a good face, too.

Their meal
passed without incident, as they talked about his book, his trip and Shelby’s long-held
desire to start her own jewelry business. She had thought about getting a booth
at Last Thursday—a street fair on Northeast Alberta—to see how her jewelry did
for the upcoming summer, but there never seemed to be any time to research the
idea or see about booths at the winter markets. Since meeting Daniel, the
inspiration to expand her jewelry’s reach was hitting her hard. Lately, she had
spent time at work trolling Etsy.com to see how her jewelry might do with an
online store. Daniel was incredibly encouraging, telling her to go for it and
sharing his experience with quitting his job in radio to focus full-time on his
novel. It was inspiring. Shelby almost felt like she could do it. And with
Daniel gone for the next two weeks with the seductress-slash-agent Kaley
Hamilton, she anticipated that she was going to be making
a lot
of
jewelry.

After lunch,
they walked down Hawthorne, stopping at Swirl for some fro-yo. Over a cup of
tart and pistachio frozen yogurt, Daniel shyly asked, “So…is it okay if I call
you while I’m in Maui? I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a
briefly long-distance love affair and get exorbitant charges on my cell bill.
We could try it out.”

Shelby giggled,
only slightly wondering if a “love affair” was a long-term or short-term
commitment in Daniel’s mind. “Well, I would love to be part of your
ridiculously high cell charges. But seriously, that could cost you an arm and
possibly a leg.”

“I know, I’m not
quite sure how you’ll reimburse me. But really, I would love to stay in touch
with you while I’m away. We could Skype even. Although that’s kind of lame, but
a possibility. Since I met you everything in my life has changed, and even
though it’s only been a week of spending time together, it’s been incredible. I
guess I’m kind of worried that things might change while I’m gone,” Daniel
looked down, seemingly interested in the tiles on the floor.

“I’m a bit
worried, too. I just…I don’t…I’m not sure…I, well, I don’t trust Kaley
Hamilton,” Shelby blurted out. She hadn’t meant to say it, but she couldn’t
help it. Why wasn’t Daniel tuned in to Kaley’s true motives? Why was this trip
happening right as they were falling in love? Daniel looked surprised.

“What do you
mean you don’t trust her? She’s a literary agent for crying out loud.” Daniel’s
voice had an edge of exasperation to it.

“I’ve heard a
few things here and there about her, which has led me to believe that she isn’t
exactly the most trustworthy woman.”

Shelby let her
voice trail off, afraid to look directly at Daniel, unsure of how he would
respond. She continued, realizing she needed to give him more details, so she
didn’t sound like a total jealous not-girlfriend, girlfriend. He simply stared
back at her blankly, his eyes as big as saucers.

“I mean, I don’t
for sure know details about anything, but I’ve heard that she has had romantic
liaisons with several of her authors. Her offer to have you come down to Maui
is thrilling, but with how good-looking, charming and amazing you are,” Shelby
was hoping some stroking of Daniel’s ego might soften the impact of her
message. “I can’t help but wonder if she has other motives.”

Shelby was
back-peddling now, but doing the best she could. She silently cursed her big
mouth. Why couldn’t she have kept quiet about all of this? He was angry, she
could see it in on his face now. The mood had gone from one of connection and
love to ego and anger. Shelby felt like she had to back-up her comments, which
after saying she didn’t trust a woman she didn’t know, was necessary. And
Daniel’s ego wasn’t about to let anyone hint that his big-break trip was
anything other than his big break.