Together they pounded down the stairs. She plucked out a knife and a plate, and he used his football skills to toss her the stuff she needed from the cabinet across the room. She snatched bread and then peanut butter out of the air. He grabbed water bottles and plastic bags and stood next to her. As soon as she had the sandwiches made, he bagged them up. She went to the fridge and took out the two remaining apples, handing him the nicer one for his sack.
They put their coats on together, and she locked the door behind them. A friend honked for Fenn, and he grabbed her arm.
“Quick, if we go fast we can drop you off.”
Fenn jumped in the passenger side and clambered over the seat. Fallen slid in behind him and slammed the door.
“You two look like that house was on fire.”
Fenn introduced Fallen as the driver backed down the driveway like they were in a getaway car.
“Mitchel, this is my sister, Fallen. Fallen, this is Mitch. He drives too fast anyway, so don’t feel guilty if he gets a ticket.” He patted Mitchel on the shoulder. “Can we swing by Hotel Revel? Fallen overslept. You’re going to have to floor it, though.”
Mitchel smiled wide and hit the gas.
“Oh my God.” Fallen fastened her seatbelt across her chest as the tires made a squealing noise that no doubt painted the road with rubber.
Fenn laughed. “Don’t kill us, dickhead. We’ve got the spaghetti dinner tonight.”
Mitchel took his eyes off the road to give Fallen an elaborate onceover. Before she could demand that he look at what he was doing, Fenn hit him in the back of the head. “That’s my sister, not a girl. Do not even think about her.”
Mitchel gave Fenn the finger while scowling at him in the rearview mirror.
Fallen tried to break the awkwardness by changing the topic back to dinner. “You need me to pick something up for you to bring tonight?”
Fenn shook his head. “Nah, we’re good. Coach loves to do this. You coming on Saturday to our game?”
Fallen nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it. Amazingly, I’m off on Saturday.”
Mitchel drove up to the front of the hotel’s elegant doors. “Here you go, Fallen.”
She thanked him and reminded them to drive safe to school, but she didn’t think they were paying attention. Her brother was busy crawling over the seat while punching Mitchel.
“Don’t you even think about looking at her ass,” he yelled as Fallen closed the door.
She turned and hurried inside, shaking her head. She slid into the meeting and listened to Melanny give out orders in a dull monotone that made Friday feel more like a Monday. Desta lingered as Fallen clocked in, and they walked to the supply closet in silence, though Fallen was almost buzzing with the need to chat.
Finally, in the elevator Desta told her to come up with her to start, so she could go over a new way the hotel was folding towels. Once they were tucked into a vacant room on Desta’s fourth floor, the woman nearly exploded.
“Did you see him? Did you see Burt?” Her eagerness gave Fallen a glimpse of a much younger version of Desta.
“I’m not sure. I wish you had a picture.” Fallen sat on the unmade bed. Desta seemed too anxious to sit.
“You and me both.” Desta grabbed the room’s pen and notepad. She stuck her tongue out to one side and started to draw. Fallen stood and watched over Desta’s shoulder.
It became clear very quickly that Desta had no formal training in portrait art.
When she was finished, she held it up. “Well, that doesn’t look right.”
Fallen squinted, and Desta shook her head.
“He looks a little bit like Cookie Monster,” Fallen offered.
Desta busted out laughing in a way that was contagious. They were both so stressed, the emotion took them over. It was quite a while before they could do anything other than gasp and wipe tears from their eyes. And Desta had to cough, of course.
Fallen touched the horrible drawing. “Maybe just describe him to me.”
Desta nodded. “Much better idea. Well, he’s tall, about yea high.” She went to her tiptoes and held her hand above Fallen’s head. “And his eyes are the softest brown. His nose is pointy, but not like a witch—regal like. And he likes to whistle. All the time he whistled while we walked. He could really keep a tune. Gray hair, not a lot of it. And he loves to smoke. Does that help?”
She looked so hopeful that Fallen was torn about telling her about the older gentleman she’d encountered at the dinner. It would get Desta’s hopes up for sure. Fallen couldn’t imagine going without seeing Thomas for years and years. What if she was wrong? What if Burt had died after all?
She took a chance and described her encounter with the waiter. “But he wasn’t whistling. And your description is sort of general. I don’t want to hurt you…”
Desta nodded. “Girl, I’ve been hurting since the last time I saw him, 12 years ago. I can take a little hope. It’ll help me get through the day.”
“I’ll look for him every time; I promise.” Fallen went to the other side of the bed and started to help. “Is there really a new way to fold towels?”
Desta rolled her eyes. “No, baby. You can keep doing it the way you were. You wanna tell me how it was? With your guy?”
“I’m scared. He’s at war, and that has to be such a contentious place in time.” Fallen picked a pillow up off the floor and fluffed it before setting it on the bed. “But the dream? It was amazing. He’s amazing. I’ve never felt so…”
She was at a loss to name exactly what Thomas made her feel.
Desta supplied it for her. “Whole.”
Fallen nodded. That was perfect. Thomas made her feel whole.
···
Fallen went about the rest of her day as usual, and as she was leaving for home, Desta hailed her in the parking lot. She got into the passenger seat of Desta’s car after she unlocked the door. The heat was on full blast, though it wasn’t very warm yet, and Desta lit a cigarette. She spoke around the act of inhaling and exhaling her vice.
“I just got a text from my friend. I do a few housecleaning jobs on the side to make extra cash. My friend does too, and she’s moving out of state, leaving a fairly sweet deal. Adelaide Benson—I’ll drive you past the house if you want—her family pays for a housecleaner twice a week. It’s a cherry of a job because she’s a neat freak. The visit is more to make sure she’s got her heat on, and that she’s doing okay. Sort of like a wellness check. She’s in her nineties, and for the last few years she’s been suffering from a bit of dementia. A housecleaner dropping by for $50 an hour is a lot cheaper than a nurse for her. I think she pretty much lives in the present—doesn’t remember a lot about her past. And her kids don’t visit her much. They all live somewhere else. But anyway, you go in, snoop around and check out her fridge, make sure she has hot water—that kind of thing. They pay you for two hours twice a week. Tuesdays and Saturdays. You want it? I’ll recommend you to her.”
Fallen was already nodding. “Are you sure? I don’t want to take a job from you.”
Desta shook her head. “No, baby, I’ve got too much to do already.”
“Then yes. Absolutely. Thank you. Assuming I can walk there, that would be great.”
“Well, buckle up, sweetheart. I’ll drive you by.” Desta finished texting and pinched her cigarette between her lips as she maneuvered the old car out of the spot.
This unmonitored alone time with Desta was too tempting. Fallen had to ask at least a few things of the only person she knew who understood being in love with a dream man. What if something happened to Thomas and he disappeared like Burt had? She needed all the information she could gather.
“How’d you do it? All these years without Burt?” Fallen watched Desta take another drag before she responded.
“I don’t know. Minute by minute at first. And barely making it at that. I looked and looked for him. That’s the hardest—not knowing what happened to him, why we couldn’t find each other any more. Then hour b
y hour. Then day by day. There’s not really a choice in the end, I guess.”
She put her blinker on and turned toward Fallen’s neighborhood. “I think maybe I’m good at hoping. That’s why I take such good care of the hotel. In my way, I’m making sure I don’t give up on what’s happened to me there.”
“You’ve had no other guys? No kids?” Fallen looked out the window.
“I was married once, a long time ago. But I was young. It didn’t last long, and we didn’t have kids. After that I went on a few dates here and there, but after Burt there was just…” Desta started coughing.
She didn’t have to finish the sentence. Fallen could do that for her. There was no one else like him.
“Did you ever figure out where in time Burt was?” Fallen fiddled with a stray thread from the car’s upholstery.
“Here and there I picked up hints from what he said, when the noise wasn’t trying to blow our ears out. I think maybe he was from the 1920s—just the way he worded things, and some of the clothes he wore when we met up. He was in construction, I think. But I never was too sure. That’s the hard part, when the men are from before technology.” Desta brought them to a stop as a yellow light turned red.
“I’m pretty sure Thomas is at war, like I told you earlier,” Fallen said. “Wherever he is. We do get the white noise, but sometimes he tells me things without really meaning to, I think.” She shrugged and then clenched her fists. “I want to fight for him, but don’t know how to do that.”
“Well, getting information from him is something. Pay close attention to what he’s wearing. That seems to be something they can’t figure out how to hide. Whoever’s in charge of that whole thing.” Desta waved a dismissive hand.
Fallen felt like they both should be more interested in that aspect of their dream lives. Who was governing the censorship?
“Does being in a dream protect Thomas in his awake world?” Fallen felt a spark of hope.
“I don’t know, sweetheart. If you had asked me thirteen years into my relationship with Burt, I would have said yes. It had seemed that way. But then he faded, and everything I believed in changed.” Desta took her glasses off and cleaned them with the hem on her skirt.
“That’s understandable…and terrifying,” she added after a moment. And speaking of terrifying. “Was Mr. Orbit ever in any of your dreams?”
“No. No one was ever in the dreams with Burt and me. Well, that’s not true. There were be others, but they didn’t seem to matter. Like, I couldn’t see them real good. Does that make sense?” Desta turned down a block Fallen knew well. The extra job would be amazing if it was this close to her house.
“Yeah, I wish Mr. Orbit wasn’t there in mine. He seems possessive.” Fallen watched the houses carefully. Trying to pay attention while talking about the dream world was hard.
Desta stopped in front of a small, neat house with tan siding, and her face looked pale when Fallen turned toward her. “You’ve seen Lad? When you’re dreaming?”
Fallen nodded. “What does that mean?”
Desta shook her head. “I really don’t know. Maybe I’ll try to ask him sometime.”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea at all,” Fallen nearly shouted. She calmed herself. Desta surely knew much more about all this than she did, but it was hard to know who to trust.
“Maybe not,” Desta said, staring at Fallen for another moment. Then she seemed to remember herself. “Okay, here’s the place, according to my friend anyway.” She motioned with her cigarette.
There was a buzzing and Desta took out her phone. “Well, girlie, looks like they’re interested in you. Can you do a phone interview with Adelaide’s daughter this evening?”
Fallen couldn’t help but smile. “That sounds great!”
That money would be great for her and Fenn, and such easy work as well, though she felt nerves bubble up at the thought of an interview.
“Okay. You live close enough?” Desta looked at her over the top of her glasses.
“Yeah, for sure. I’m, like, two blocks that way.”
Desta offered to drive Fallen home, but she wanted to walk it to see exactly how far it was. After hammering out the details of the time and getting contact info for the call with Adelaide’s daughter, Fallen thanked Desta profusely, got out of the car, and plotted her route home.
Later that evening, when Fenn was studying in his room, Fallen called Adelaide Benson’s daughter, Marquette, to discuss the available position. The woman was very businesslike, explaining that all the supplies Fallen would need were kept at the house, but that the true focus of the job was Adelaide’s well-being and safety. Fallen would need to contact Marquette immediately if there was a problem or anything seemed off with her mother. Fallen agreed to be diligent about checking in regularly and spending some time with the elderly woman. After just a few questions about her background and experience, Marquette officially offered Fallen the job.
They exchanged email addresses, and Fallen promised to set up a MoneyPal account for payment since Marquette lived out of town. She hung up the phone hardly able to believe her luck.
Chapter 15
Football and Ex-wives
On Saturday, Fallen woke up after ten in the morning and felt gluttonous but refreshed. She tried not to think about what she’d be doing at the hotel right now. Anyway, her new job with Adelaide would be from 4 to 6 today, and after that she’d go to Fenn’s game under the lights at 8. If she rushed through her house chores, she could get a few hours of research in before going over to meet Ms. Adelaide.
Fenn woke up even later than Fallen and was obviously pumped about the game. He happily scarfed down the grilled cheese sandwich she made for him before she headed out to the library. She wanted to talk more with him and felt guilty about skipping out until he mentioned he was going to practice in less than an hour.
After telling him about her new job, she wished him luck, promised to see him later, and locked the door behind them. She had to stop herself from running all the way to the library. Her fear about the war Thomas was fighting was always with her, but she was determined to channel it into action. Today she would see if searching for the name Lucy McHugh and researching wars the US had been involved in would turn up any additional information about where, and when, Thomas could be.
She remembered the look on Desta’s face when she’d mentioned Lad being in her dreams. That worried her a little. She’d thought of the room just as a doorway to Thomas, but there was a whole other world there. And these days visiting it might be like riding an untested roller coaster without a seatbelt if things were happening that surprised even Desta, a 14-year veteran. But what could she do? Stopping wasn’t an option. Pushing those worries aside, she opened the glass door to the library.
She was thrilled to see that it wasn’t too crowded so they wouldn’t yet be enforcing the half-hour computer time limit. If she wasn’t kicked off, she could get in a good two and a half hours of searching before she would have to leave.
···
Scraps of paper littered Fallen’s station when she finally logged off. She’d attacked the problem from every angle she could think of, but ended her session without any uplifting information. Lucy McHugh didn’t seem to have much of an online presence. The clothes Thomas wore in the dreams had held promise, but had yielded the soul-crushing realization that time was a definite issue. She’d compared his khakis and T-shirts with the images on a website that showed US military uniforms through the ages. Thomas’ looked like standard issue from the Vietnam era or earlier. So the Thomas she met in her dreams was not living in her current, modern world.
As Fallen walked to Adelaide’s house, she thought about ways of learning more about Thomas during the dreams. It would help to know the state where he lived, his birthdate, and where he was in the world. But she knew all those questions would be drowned out or would fail to come to her mind in the first place while she was in the dream.
When she looked up, she was su
rprised to find herself on her new client’s block. She’d been in a daze the entire walk over. Fallen approached the neat house Desta had showed her and knocked on the door loudly, thinking of the elderly woman’s hearing.
A small lady with a swirl of gray hair in a bun on her head opened the door. She had gorgeous blue eyes and lips dotted with pink lipstick.
“Hello, dear. Are you here to clean?” She put her crepe paper-skinned hand on Fallen’s wrist.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m replacing your previous housekeeper. I hope I’m not too early.” She stepped in and looked around. Desta hadn’t been wrong. She would be hard pressed to find something to clean. “I’m Fallen Billow. I work at the Hotel Revel as a housekeeper, and I also live just a few blocks over with my brother. Thank you so much for having me in your home. Would you like to show me how you like to keep things?” She held out her hand for a formal shake.
“Fallen? What a unique name. I’m Adelaide Benson.” She accepted Fallen’s hand into her own and covered it with the other as well. It was as close to a hand hug as you could get. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Fallen liked Adelaide right off the bat. She had such a light about her. The brief tour of the tidy house was sweet. Adelaide loved pictures of her family and had them grouped on the wall. By the end, Fallen knew each of Adelaide’s children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren’s names. It made her sad to think of Desta’s comment about the family not stopping by much anymore, when the matriarch had such obvious love for all of them.
Reasons for the family’s concerns about Adelaide’s mental health became clearer when she showed Fallen for the third time where she kept her broom.
Fallen offered to vacuum right away, because Adelaide said the machine was too heavy for her to move around. While making sure the carpet showed the stripes of a fresh sweeping, Fallen peeked to make sure the outlets weren’t overloaded. She checked that the woman’s windows were locked as she went through with a duster. When she wiped down the already sparkling fridge door, she opened it to run the cloth over the accordion-style rubber that helped keep the box closed and checked that the contents were good. Everything looked fresh.