“It tastes even better.”
She picked up her cutlery and set to work on her meal. I could tell by the way she shimmied in her chair like she was doing a little happy dance that she liked it.
While we ate, I asked her dozens of questions about herself. She’d been living in my head like this hollow cut-out of a woman and her name was appearing in my work. I needed to know more about her if I wanted to use her as a muse.
“So you’re an only child?” I asked.
Briar nodded and added more curry to her plate of rice. “Yes, my parents only ever wanted one. At least that’s what they claimed when I begged them to make me a little brother or sister when I was little. I didn’t know what I wanted, of course. I just liked the idea of it all. As I got older and hung out with friends who had little siblings, I was secretly grateful that I didn’t have to share my parents’ attention or any of my personal belongings with another kid. Selfish, I know.”
“Not really,” I said. “I’m an only child too, so I get where you’re coming from.”
She smiled appreciatively at that. “My parents are the light of my life, if I’m being honest. Being an only child made us a really tight unit and I miss them a lot. I’m happy they’re traveling because they love it so much, but even as a grown ass woman, I still get separation anxiety when I don’t see them enough.”
“Where are they now?”
“The south of France for another week, I believe. Then they’re heading to Scotland.”
“Have you ever traveled with them? Or on your own?”
Briar shook her head. “We used to go camping when I was little because it was affordable and easy. But I’ve never left the country.”
“If you could go anywhere, where would you go?”
She finished chewing her bite of curry and shrugged. “I don’t know. Nobody’s ever asked me that before.”
“Think about it.”
She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I suppose I’ve always wanted to go someplace tropical. Like the Bahamas or Fiji or Belize.”
I imagined that a tropical vacation would look spectacular on Briar.
So would a bikini.
We finished our meal around two o’clock and Briar asked if I could take her back to the motel so she could get things in order for tomorrow. She had a phone call scheduled with her folks for early this evening and she wanted to get some groceries. I agreed begrudgingly and wished we could have spent a little more time together.
I would settle for what I could get at this point. She had a lot on her plate.
I drove her back to her motel and parked in front of her room. She took off her seatbelt and twisted toward me in her seat. “Thank you for today. It was nice to celebrate with someone rather than just spend the rest of the day by myself.”
“My pleasure. I had a nice time with you.”
She smiled sweetly and put her hand on mine over my shifter. “I’m glad we ran into each other last night, Wes.”
“Likewise.”
Her green eyes danced back and forth between mine, and as she stared at me, it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the car. I couldn’t look anywhere but at her eyes and her lips, and I found myself subconsciously leaning toward her as her cheeks flushed pink and her lips parted ever so slightly. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and pinched it between her white teeth.
Then she blinked, shook her head, and opened the car door so she could step outside. She leaned over and smiled. “Thanks again, Wes. Maybe we’ll see each other again soon?”
“I hope so.”
Chapter 11
Briar
The front doors of the apartment building were solid wood. There was an old-fashioned knocker mounted on the door in the shape of an owl and it had been spray-painted black to match the hinges on the door.
To the right was the intercom system which listed all fifty units in the building. I scanned the list until I found the name I was looking for, Sonia Alef. I pressed the button next to her name. The speaker beeped and then went fuzzy until a bubbly female voice spoke.
“Hello?”
“Um, hi,” I said, suddenly nervous. “This is Briar.”
“Oh hey! Of course! Sorry, I lost track of time. Hang on. I’ll buzz you up.”
The speaker buzzed on cue and Sonia told me the doors should be unlocked and to come on up. I pushed inside the building. The lobby was clean and simple. There was a green bench against one wall facing the mailboxes on the other. Beside the sofa was a small bookshelf with a fake plant on top of it. It was a communal library for residents to take a book and leave one for someone else. It was in a bit of disarray but I liked the idea.
I made for the elevator and hit the up arrow. The doors opened with a bit of a whine and I stepped on and jabbed the button for the tenth floor. The elevator lurched and climbed and spat me out ten stories up.
The hallway carpets were thin and navy blue. The walls were white and all the lighting came from sconces mounted on the walls. There was no decor and the halls had a minimalist and sterile feel to them.
At the end of the hall, a door opened and a young woman stepped out onto the welcome mat outside her unit. I knew immediately this was Sonia. She had black hair that was pulled up in a massive, messy bun on top of her head and kept off her face with a silk red bandana. She wore an oversized sweatshirt and a pair of black spandex shorts, and she balanced on the balls of her feet as she waved hello.
When I reached her, Sonia held out her hand for me to shake. She had a firm grip and warm palms.
“It’s nice to meet you, Briar. I was glad to get your email yesterday. It hasn’t been easy finding viable candidates to come check the apartment out. Would you believe that most of my responses have been from men when my ad clearly said I was looking for a female roommate?”
“I would believe it.” I smiled. “Very easily, actually.”
She rolled her eyes but maintained her smile. “Right? Bloody bastards. Anywho. I’m pleased to see that you are in fact a lady.”
“I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say lady.”
Sonia pushed open her door and stepped aside to invite me in. “I think I like you already. Come on in. Check it out. I’ll give you a tour even though there isn’t really much to see when all you have is six hundred square feet.”
I stepped into the apartment and Sonia closed the door. Hanging off the back of it was a coat rack where a denim jacket hung along with a black canvas backpack and a wide-brimmed hat. Sticking out of the backpack was a long, multicolored scarf.
The place smelled like potpourri and lemon. I told her so.
“Whenever the fall rolls around, I get a little carried away with all things cozy,” Sonia explained. “I have a pot of cider brewing on the stove and I have a bit of an obsession with seasonal candles. I hope that’s not a deal breaker.”
“Not at all,” I said as I looked around.
The place was exceptionally tidy. Nothing looked out of place, and for such a small apartment, it didn’t feel crowded either. There was no kitchen table and the small alcove that might have served as a good sitting place was left open in front of the patio doors. Against one wall was a wine cart which housed three bottles of red and a bottle of champagne. Wine glasses hung upside down and the top of the cart was full of other liquors: rum, whiskey, vodka, vermouth, and several more.