no probz ethan. cu @10
The message quickly registered as being read, but no further response was forthcoming. She could almost sense his brow creasing in consternation, and she smiled.
After that, she got started with her day, showering and eating a healthy breakfast – between the diner yesterday and the upcoming bakery today, she thought that she herself might be in need of some vegetable content – then ordering the new blinds for the clinic, as well as unpacking one of the innumerable moving boxes that still crowded her little rental house.
It was enough to keep her mind mostly distracted from the nerves that were jangling in her stomach. But once it hit 9:45 and she headed out the door, those nerves were back in full force.
Especially once she suddenly realized that she had almost no memory of getting home last night. And then…
Oh God.
Had Ethan driven her home?
He had. She remembered now. She especially remembered him asking for her address at one point, and her sleepily mumbling a jumble of sounds in response. The fact that she’d made it back to her house at all was astonishing, really.
Her face burned as she walked, but luckily the cool fall air took care of that quick smart.
One of the great things about tiny towns, she was quickly finding, was that you could walk to almost wherever you wanted to go.
Especially here in Girdwood Springs, where every road had a wide, well-maintained sidewalk, lined with vibrant foliage that seemed to glow in the mist and colorful little out-of-season blooms that dotted the ground.
She really did want to know how plants grew so well here! Maybe it was the mountain air? Maybe it was…magic?
Nothing seemed out of the question now – and Girdwood Springsdidhave a resident witch, even if she apparently ran a bookshop!
Chloe found the bakery with no issues – even if she hadn’t had Ethan’s instructions, the warm, spicy, heavenly smell that emanated from one particular building would have led her in the right direction regardless.
She drifted toward the smell with a happy sigh, and the bakery itself seemed to appear through the fog like a warm, welcoming beacon, its bright, plant-filled interior beckoning her inside.
Peering through the window, she saw Ethan sitting at a table with three chairs, back ramrod-straight, checking his watch and drumming his fingers ever-so-slightly against the table. He was wearing a different but equally expensive-looking suit, and somehow Chloe justknewthat when he came to Girdwood Springs, he’d just brought whatever clothes he kept in his probably-massive office.
Improbably, Curtis was sitting in the second chair, looking a little subdued. Chloe didn’t know quite how he was managing it, given that she knew he couldn’t touch anything with his hands, but it seemed like he wasn’t having any issues. Maybe he was justhovering? She supposed that when you were a ghost, you didn’t have to worry about things like sore glutes.
Checking her watch, she saw that it was 9:57 – time to put Ethan out of his apparent misery.
Entering the bakery, she unwrapped her scarf and pulled off her gloves.
“Welcome to Sylvie’s Sweets and Bakery!” a friendly voice exclaimed. “What can I get for you today?”
Chloe looked up, to see a smiling young woman behind the counter. The tag on her apron read ‘Emily’.
“Oh, hi,” Chloe said, gesturing in the general direction of the table where Ethan was sitting. “I’m meeting up with my friend over there. I’m afraid I have no idea what I want to order yet.”
“No problem! Take your time,” Emily said. The bakery was humming along, but it wasn’t packed, so Chloe thought she could take a minute to catch up with Ethan and Curtis first.
She went over to the table, catching Ethan’s eye just before she slid into the empty chair. Somehow his back straightened even further.
“Good morning,” she said, trying for ‘relaxed and friendly’ and mostly succeeding. Curtis’s earnest presence somehow made all of this about ten times more excruciating. “Thanks for the ride home last night – I appreciate it.”
“No problem at all,” Ethan replied.
Silence fell.
This is way too awkward! The two of us are capable of talking like normal people. I specifically remember it happening!
“So, a bakery, huh?” she said in a lightly teasing tone. “Doesn’t seem like your kind of place.”
“It felt like the best option for mid-morning,” he said gruffly. “And I thought you would like it.”
