July 10 - Part one
Entry #4
Journal 6 am
Dream interpretation was never my strong suit, but the one I just had was so clear a kid could interpret it. Well, most of it was. Some of it made zero sense, but the hobby and the familiar on my list of things to find? They were there clear as day. In the dream curled up on a pillow pile in my new apartment was the scraggliest cat I’ve ever seen outside of an ASPCA ad. I think it was purring when it looked at me, but it could have been a growl.
In a basket next to it was a ball of yarn, a stick, and a book of patterns. When I picked it up it was crochet for beginners. The pattern on the front was of a tea cozy that looked like a giant dandelion puff ball. It didn’t look like a beginner pattern but what do I know?
Thank you, dream me for telling for clearing up the new hobby should be crochet and the familiar should be a cat. Now I just have to find a bedraggled cat that sounds like a broken diesel engine.
Journal 2 pm
I can’t believe everything that has happened today, and it is only 2 pm.
Everything was fine after I journaled about my dream, we got dressed and headed down in the elevator for Betty to get her first coffee before we headed to breakfast. It went to pot when the elevator doors opened in the lobby and flash bulbs filled the air. Every cell in me froze in panic. The paparazzi found out I was here and what happened on Draig and wanted to tell everyone. Why they would be interested in something that happened on two other planets I have no idea, but there they were ambushing me in a hotel lobby.
Betty gave them all the evil eye daring them to follow as she guided me to a table hidden by plants down a little set of stairs in the lobby. I’ve stayed in fancy hotels before, but this one will forever be my favorite. Last night at dinner Betty explained the Rent-A-Witch house she lives at is doing some remodeling, so she reserved us a double queen at the Crowne Plaza. I rolled my eyes. But after sleeping in that bed, even with the scraggly cat showing up in my dream, I love this place. The fact that half the lobby is some kind of indoor greenhouse with a forest full of trails and statues right out the door makes it even better.
I relaxed when I realized the cameras hadn’t followed me. Not a single lens poked through the shrubbery. My entire body slumped in relief when I realized they were here for someone else. I hated the fact someone else was going to go through that but there was nothing I could do about it. Actually, that was a point against the hotel. Why in the world did they let the paparazzi camp out in front of the elevators? Surely, they were supposed to protect the clients from such things?
I focused my attention on a pair of weird trees with twisted branches outside the doors as I waited for Betty. That was the first time I saw him. Tall, built, and sweaty. He stood outside the doors wiping sweat from his face with the bottom of his T-shirt showing off his perfect abs. He winked when he caught me watching. Seriously winked. Not gonna lie that wink did things to me.
He pulled a plastic wristband off his water bottle and slid it onto his wrist and boom, he looked completely different. He was the same height, but everything else was different. The abs turned into a soft belly, the tattoos were gone, he aged a good ten years. He looked like a middle age business guy trying to work off the wings and beer from the night before. Even his hair was boring.
He’d put on a glamour. Most people do it on the sly to make sure no one knew what they looked like wearing it. This guy slid it on while making eye contact like he was daring me to call him on it. The butterflies in my stomach dropped like lead balloons. He didn’t wink because he thought I was hot. He winked because I wasn’t a threat.
I nodded at the middle-aged version of him when he stepped through the door. I tried not to laugh when he walked right through the group of photographers waiting at the elevator & mumbled excuse me. Betty asked why I was smiling when she got to the table with her coffee. I wasn’t going to tell her I watched a hot guy turn middle-aged in a second, then walk through a group of photographers completely undetected, even though chances were good they were waiting for him. So I shrugged and pulled out my new phone to play solitare.
Why is this important? Why am I filling up my journal with this? Other than it was a humbling and funny moment? I saw him again.
He was still wearing his middle-aged disguise. This time dressed in jeans and a band t-shirt… at the bookstore. Betty and I were wandering through the tables of new releases when I noticed him in the thriller section. Not only was he secretly hot, but he read.
I didn’t think he saw me until he stopped at the table where I was looking at dark romance and asked if I’d read the new one by Mariah Thayer. I just shook my head like an idiot trying to figure out why he was talking to me. He handed me a book, said it was a great read, and walked to the register with a smirk on his face.
Not even gonna lie. I bought the book.
Now Betty and I are sitting at the shed behind Black House waiting for Pearl. It was tempting to go in and meet the animals while we waited, but the ward on the door wouldn’t budge, and since I can’t hear a single thing from inside, I doubt there are that many animals inside.
After this we’re going to hit Michaels for some yarn and a crochet hook. I didn’t find the book from my dream at the bookstore, but I did find a couple of beginner how-tos and got those, so I should be covered.
Oh my lord …