“Luke just called in,” he said to the black lady but his eyes never left me and all thoughts of a fun place to work flew from my head because all thoughts flew from my head. “He’ll be here in five.”
I had a silent freak out and wondered why, now that I needed advice, Good Ava and Bad Ava disappeared. I noticed too late that Hot-Green-Eyed-Guy was standing between the exit and me.
Crap.
“Hi, um...?” I looked at him.
“Mace,” he said and I blinked.
Yikes.
What kind of name was Mace? He certainly looked like he had some non-Caucasian ethnicity to him, maybe Polynesian, and who was I to say what Polynesians named their kids but Mace?
“Well, Mace, I need to go,” I told him.
He shook his head.
I stared at him, thinking maybe he didn’t hear me right. “I need to go,” I repeated.
“Luke’ll be here in five,” was all he said.
He stood with his arms crossed on his chest and I got the (correct) impression that for some reason he wasn’t going to allow me to leave. I found this somewhat alarming. I gave up on him because he was big guy and he didn’t look like he was easily swayed and turned back to the receptionist.
“Um, really, I’ve got to go. I just remembered a dentist appointment. They get kind of touchy when you miss your appointments.”
This made her laugh.
“No, really. Sometimes they charge you,” I went on.
“Girl, so I can watch whatever’s gonna happen next, I’ll pay if they charge you,” the lady said.
Okay, it was safe to say I’d left the real, sane world and entered a loony bin.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“First, I’m Shirleen,” she told me.
“Um… hi?” I asked, still not following and wondering why it was clear I couldn’t leave and everyone in the room (but me) was okay with that.
“Hey there,” Shirleen said. “Second, to understand what’s going on you gotta know all that’s gone on before you. Since Luke’ll be here in five –”
“Three,” Mace interrupted from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at him, beginning to feel out and out panic and then turned back to Shirleen.
“In three,” Shirleen went on. “There ain’t enough time. Just trust me, girl, go with the flow.”
She was making no sense at all. “What flow?” I asked then shook my head because I didn’t have time for information about the flow. I had to go. I turned and started toward Mace. They couldn’t actually keep me there; I was pretty certain that was against the law.
“I’m leaving,” I said to him.
His hard body went alert. I not only saw it, I felt it.
“Luke wants you here,” he told me.
I took two steps toward him, which meant I was a foot away from him and about ten away from the door. I tipped my head back and looked at him, surprised at what he said, “He doesn’t know I’m here.”
“He knows.”
“He doesn’t.”