She decided that if he was outside her door, she might as well turn it to her advantage.
Slipping out of the bed, she hurried to the door and pulled it open. She didn’t see him right away. She looked left and then right and then looked down. He was sitting with his back against the wall on the other side of her room, just beside her door.
“Looking for me?”
“Aye,” she said, trying not to blush. “Why did you follow me home, Michael? Why did you come here and speak with my father as if you knew him, gaining his and Old John’s trust? Why?”
“I don’t know,” he answered quietly.
“You have to know why you came here,” she insisted. “Why you followed me.”
“I saw you pickpocket some guy in the crowd. My things were missing, too. I figured you took them.”
“Your badge and your gun.”
“Right. My phone and my wallet.”
“I do not even know what those things are!”
“I can tell you.”
He could tell her. And just like that, they were speaking civilly to each other.
“I cannot sit out here with you in my chemise and you cannot come inside my room without an escort.”
“Sit on the other side of the wall inside the room,” he suggested. “We will keep the door open so we can talk and hear each other.
She nodded, feeling like a fool, and hurried back into her room to do as he recommended.
“You there?”
“Aye.” She wanted to giggle. She didn’t know why. She felt childish and silly, but she didn’t mind this so much either.
“Okay, my badge is a small shield I wear on my belt or around my neck to prove I’m a cop…police officer. My wallet is a small leather flap with pockets to hold my ID…eh, identification, money, credit cards.”
“What are credit cards?”
He explained them. They sounded delightful. So did he. She liked just hearing his voice and not seeing him. It emphasized things more clearly. Like his odd accent, his deep, breathy tones.
There was nothing like his credit cards in England. What was plastic? A chip? Where did he say he came from again?
“Brittany.”
“You do not come from Brittany,” she challenged “Why are you trying to hide it? I will ask Old John. He will tell me.”
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“How do you know? Did my father believe you?”
“Yes.”
“Then it cannot be so unbelievable.”
“Oh no?” he mocked. “I come from the future. From the year twenty nineteen, that’s two thousand and nineteen.”
She was quiet, then she made a small sound like laughter. “You are drunk.”
He laughed with her, but it sounded stiff and flat to her ears, and since that was all she had to go on, she didn’t think he was sincere.
