Chapter Nine
Lily was back in the room she shared with Jordy, after TraceyAnn insisted that she take a dinner break. This was the first moment she had to herself since earlier this morning, and she relished the quiet. She sat on the edge of her bed, and reached for the comforting form of Mr. Calabash, hugging it tight, before returning it to its perch on her nightstand.
The drawer to the nightstand was slightly ajar, which struck her as odd. She had remembered firmly closing it shut when she had first locked away her photos and the two driver’s licenses. Maybe it was a quirk of the furniture, which had seen a lot of wear and tear. Just to appease herself, she pulled it open, and saw that the Gideon Bible was slightly askew, unlike how she had lined it up so it was parallel with the papers underneath.
Again, a simple explanation. The movement of the drawer had knocked it out of alignment. Nothing sinister, just your ordinary, every day paranoia – which was to be expected when you were on the run from a violent, drug-dealing ex.
See, all her photos and the two licenses were exactly where she had left them. Why would Jordy go through her stuff? It was absurd — Lily had nothing of value, and besides, it wasn’t like there would be any other suspects if Jordy did take something of hers.
She got up to splash water on her face in the restroom and caught the lingering trace of bleach. There was a spot of the floor near Jordy’s bed that had obviously been scrubbed recently. See? Her roommate was conscientious enough to clean up after a spill of some kind. Lily felt a stab of guilt. Now she was assigning nefarious motives to people who had done nothing but welcome her into their living space.
Maybe TraceyAnn’s dislike of Jordy was rubbing off on her. Although TraceyAnn wasn’t always an ogre; she had probably been right in insisting that Lily go get some food, before continuing her third shift in a row at the Staff Childcare Center.
She checked to make sure her staff ID, which allowed her free meals at the Staff Caff, was still slung around her neck, on the the day-glo yellow lanyard that further repeated that she was a member of the staff. Still wearing her mulberry linen overdress which was voluminous enough to keep from wrinkling, she walked into the familiar din of the Staff Caff. Although many of the employees there were dressed in medieval garb, the Staff Caff itself looked more like a large, institutional cafeteria with beverage dispensers, stainless steel steam tables and food service workers in regulation unis and hairnets. Stations were set up for hot entrees, deli food or salad bar. There were bountiful choices of snacks and desserts in the afternoon and evenings, replacing the granola bars or boxed cereals in the morning. Throughout the day there was also medieval inspired fare, in keeping with the overall Faire theme.
Once staff members filled up their trays, they went through Staff Caff personnel who scanned their food and staff cards, entering the information into a database. It was as much to make sure that people didn’t abuse the system as it was to ensure that the cafeteria was always stocked with the most popular items employees chose.
The Faire owner had really thought through everything and set up systems that reflected it.
“Hey, Katie!” Rosa waved at her. Lily smiled to see the twins’ mom behind one of the food service stations. She had already learned that if she ordered anything from Rosa’s station, the woman was sure to give her an extra-large portion, despite her protests.
“Hey, Rosa!” She waved back and headed towards the salads. After two Rosa-sized meals already, she’d have to start watching her weight.
Once she checked out, she scanned the packed room for an empty spot. She only knew Jordy and Rosa, who were working, and of course it was next to impossible that two people from the Staff Childcare Center could ever take a break at the same time. She’d be eating alone, which was fine. Preferable, actually. Surrounded as she was all day with kids demanding her attention, TraceyAnn complaining about Luna or speculating on what was going on elsewhere at the Faire, Lily could use some time to herself.
Just her luck, she could see two people towards the back of the hall who were getting up with their trays, ready to get back to whatever work they did at the Faire. She rushed over to nab one of the spots, politely sliding in as soon as it was fully vacated.
As she settled into her seat, she heard raucous laughter from a table nearby. The empty seat in front of her gave her a clear sightline to the cause, and with a start she recognized them. The owner of the Faire, and the hot hunky guys from the night before.
Minus the one that she found herself looking for. The one whose eyes had peered into her soul.
They were getting increasingly loud, drawing attention, although either because of their size or because Simon was sitting with them, none of the other diners said a word to reprimand them. She couldn’t tear her eyes away, not only because of their attractiveness—they were stunning, especially the one that could give Brad Pitt in his heyday a run for his money — but because three of them were acting like cave-men.
With a sick fascination, she watched the huge, muscle-bound men eating with their hands, grabbing plates or even food items away from each other, and…did they justgrowlat each other?
All the employees at the other tables hunched their shoulders and ignored what was happening. It was as if this were one of the Faire entertainments outside, brought indoors as another employee perk, another offering that they could choose or not to indulge in. Only she could see from her seat the red-faced owner of the Faire, looking like he was actively praying for the earth to open up and swallow him whole and nervously tapping at his sternum. Beside him was Brad Pitt’s hotter, hunkier brother, calmly eating a large hunk of meat with his bare hands.
They were like overgrown five year old kids, she thought, like the preschoolers only in larger than life action figure bodies. Poor Simon was the smaller kid who was terrified, who never got the attention that went automatically to the louder, misbehaving kids. The smaller kid that she always gravitated towards because they needed her more.
At that moment, Simon looked up, right at her, a silent plea for help. And before she realized what was happening, she was up on her feet, already moving over towards them.
* * *
Omigodthishotgirlisactuallycomingover.Simon’s thoughts, already in a turmoil, reached critical mass in his internal spin cycle. He wanted to look anywhere but at the melee that was happening in front of him. Why had he thought bringing them here was a good idea?
Oh yeah. Food that was already prepared, including fare that would be more familiar to them. All they had to do was point to what they wanted, and carry their overflowing trays over to where they could have a meal together.
That was the plan.
Great idea in theory, but in practice it was an absolute disaster. And now this hot girl who had obviously been horrified by them was making a beeline to him, probably to complain about what absolute animals they were being.
She would be half right.
He was already feeling his throat closing in on itself, the way it always did when around a girl he found attractive. Was it possible to die of embarrassment? He was about to find out.
She stopped next to Barric, who still hadn’t noticed her because he was too busy playing tug of war with Merek’s thick sirloin steak. With his teeth.
Simon had to admire her guts. Any one of those guys could knock her down accidentally in the middle of their roughing around, and not even notice.
