“Oh, look at me, missing the point of my story,” she said. “Dr. Williams said I needed to get this off my face. Fast. Like really fast. I’m talking emergency fast.”
“Jeez,” I said. “And it’s not-”
“Let me tell you about that,” she said. “Emergency? Fast? Me?” She shook her head. “I thought I was going to go.”
“Go where?”
“To my grave!” she announced loudly.
I stepped back. “Oh. Wow.”
“Just got the call though that it was nothing. So I guess I got a little plastic surgery, huh?”
Miss Laura laughed, and I kept inching back. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. I’m really sorry but I have to get inside.”
“Oh, right, of course you do. You have company.”
“Company?” I asked. “You mean Grace?”
“No. I know Grace. Oh, me and Grace go way back.”
“I know you do,” I said. “But I really have to go. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, dear,” Miss Laura said. “Let’s do tea soon.”
“Yes,” I blurted out. “We will do that. I hope you feel better.”
“Oh, I’m fine,” she said. “Dr. Williams said I was going to be fine. And to call him anytime I need him.”
“Great,” I said.
I had my hand on my doorknob and I twisted it.
Miss Laura turned her head for a split second, and I made my final escape.
I opened the apartment door and rushed inside.
I was home.
At peace.
Or so I thought.
But Miss Laura was right.
There was company waiting, for me.
Grace was quick to put a glass of wine into my hand.
“What is this?” I whispered to her.
Her hair was super long and smelled like lavender. She took pride in her calming appearance and demeanor, but after getting to know her the way I had, there wasn’t much about her that was really all that calming.
“Stay with me,” she whispered and turned.
“Anabel,” Grace said. “Meet Amelia.”
I watched as a tall woman wearing small framed glasses rose up from a chair at the dining room table. Her hair was black and pulled back in a tight, yet messy, bun with a pen stuck into it.
“The last of our kind,” she said.
“Excuse me?”
“True writers, huh?”
“Writers…”
I glanced at Grace and she smiled. “Let’s start at the beginning. Anabel has been close to me for, what, two years now?”
“Please, call me Bel,” Anabel said. “Casual talk.”
“Right,” Grace said. “Casual. Do you mind if I tell Amelia the story?”
“Of course not,” Bel said. “Actually, I’ll do it. It’s simple. I was smart. Lived fast. Got a great job. Made a lot of money. And I burned out fast. Ended up depressed and started to have some bad thoughts about myself. That’s when I knew I needed a change. So, I quit my job. I traveled. I decided to start my own site. A blog. Then I moved along with social media and all that fun stuff. But the point is, I wanted to capture writing the way I always wanted it to be.”
“Just like you, Amelia,” Grace said.
“I’m confused here,” I said. “What is this?”
“This is me helping you,” Grace said. “I guided Bel through the darkest of her days. I helped her find her voice. And I know what writing means to you.”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I looked at some of your stuff,” Bel said.
“What stuff?”
“Forgive me,” Grace whispered.
“What did you do?” I asked Grace.
“It’s okay,” Bel said. “I like your voice. I like the way you tell stories. There’s a realness to it. And I like that realness.”
“I’ve never… wait…”
“Just have a drink and breathe,” Grace said.
She touched my hand and I lifted the glass to my lips. I took a sip of the wine.
“I try to find stories that matter. Stories that are fun to tell. And you know what? I’m okay with fiction. I’m okay with talking life and putting your spin on it.”
“Bel wants you to write for her,” Grace said. “That’s why she’s here. I called her. We talked. She wanted to meet you.”
“I wish I knew about it,” I said. “I smell like a restaurant. I’m tired. I don’t want to talk about any of this.” I looked at Bel. “I’m sorry.”
I walked around Bel and put my wine glass on the table. When I spotted some of my notebooks on the table, I shook my head. I hurried to scoop them up and started thinking about where I was going to live because I couldn’t live with Grace anymore.
Bad enough I had to deal with pictures of cats everywhere. And a cat butter dish. And a little glass cat that