I was tossing and turning and couldn’t sleep. It had been an eventful evening, and I was too amped up with too many thoughts rolling around in my head.
I tried to push them aside and think of something more soothing and relaxing. I thought about Mick. I missed him so much. I hated being homesick, and I felt like a child again, counting the days until I could go home. At least it was only one more day, or two more sleeps was how I counted when I was little.
If only I could go to sleep.
I tried to think about Mick again and remembered a picnic we had taken in the city park. We held hands and walked along a shallow creek as it snaked its way through the park. There was a huge bank of lilac bushes near a footbridge to cross the creek. As we walked across the bridge, the smell of the lilacs was intense. The strong, pleasant odor of the flowers gave me a feeling of euphoria. I breathed in deeply and made a satisfying uhm sound.
Mick was aware of my delight. He led us off the path and turned me to face him with my back against a tree. He leaned in and kissed me, gently at first, but then harder and with longing. I was overwhelmed by my feelings for him and returned the passionate kiss. The moment was perfect, but I was grateful we were in a public park and couldn’t succumb to the urges that were going to put us in jail if we gave in to them right there.
He took me by the hand again, and we made our way back to our picnic spot. Everything about the day had been perfect. I settled onto our blanket while Mick unpacked our lunch. I had made fabulous chicken salad sandwiches with a hint of lemon, no bread crusts, and the edges rolled in crushed cashews.
Who knew bees would be attracted to chicken? So many bees.
Ok, that was a good memory with a bad ending. This wasn’t helping me to sleep. I tried to think about our conversation yesterday. He missed me, and wanted to see me. That was good. He told me about his marriage. What did his wife look like? Ooh, what did his wife look like? I could find out if I really wanted to. He said she was involved in the community theater over in Marshall. I bet there was a picture of her there. Did I really want to see what she looked like?
Yes, I did.
I hopped out of bed, turned on the lights, and quickly changed into a t-shirt and jeans. I left my room and took the elevator to the lobby.
I didn’t recognize the night clerk, and he didn’t say anything to me as I walked across the stone floor to the small media center. I sat down at a computer and brought up a browser.
The Marshall Community Center had a nice website. They were currently showing Suessical the Musical. I wondered if they would be singing about green eggs and ham, or feet, or Thing One and Thing Two. I smiled. I loved Dr. Seuss as a child and thought this would be a fun production to see.
I didn’t see any reference to Jenny Raines in the current show. I looked at past productions and found her name referenced in Driving Miss Daisy. I clicked on the cast picture and found her name right away. She was seated in the center of the first row. I was surprised. She was quite nondescript. There wasn’t anything that made her stand out. She wasn’t overly attractive, but she wasn’t unattractive either. She looked like a nice person. I didn’t know why I thought this was a good idea. It suddenly seemed like a terrible invasion of Mick’s privacy.
I moved the cursor up to click the browser closed, but my eye caught a familiar sight on the page. Two rows back from Jenny, in my line of sight as I moved the cursor up the page, sat Skinny Guy.
My heart started to pound. I suddenly felt dizzy and cold.
Skinny Guy. He was from Ohio. He knew Jenny. My mind was out of control. Was this the guy she was tight with? He didn’t know Darby. What was his name? I was so shaken, I couldn’t match the captioned names with the faces in the picture. His name, his name, what was his name? There it was. Wicker Barnes. Wicker Barnes? Who names their kid Wicker? It had to be a stage name.
I was freezing. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I had to get back to my room - fast.
I ran to the elevator, jumped in, and repeatedly jammed the button for seven. I was shaking, and my teeth were chattering. The doors closed behind me. Why didn’t I take the stairs? What if the elevator stopped on another floor and Wicker Barnes got on?
I was in a full-blown panic.
I ran to my room and slammed the door behind me. I ran to the door between our rooms, banged a couple of times, and threw the door open. I jumped onto Darby’s bed and began shaking him. I didn’t realize it at first, but I was crying.
“Susan. Susan, honey, calm down,” he said gathering me into his arms. I was nearly rolled into a ball and shaking hard. “Susan, what is it? Tell me.”
I was sobbing but managed to say, “I know who Skinny Guy is, and he’s not after you, he’s after me!”