Page 13
HARLAN
“What?” I answer my phone, the fucking buzzing is driving me up the wall.
“Where are you?” my sister asks in lieu of greeting.
“Fuck, I’m coming, Bird.” I forgot I was supposed to see her this morning. Again.
“For lunch or dinner? Because you missed breakfast and now it’s almost noon.” My sister talks way too loudly for my poor just-woke-up ears.
“I’ll be there in half an hour,” I groan, and hang up. Opening my eyes properly I realize I’m alone, the room service mess has been cleared and the fire-cracker redhead sex goddess has left. She might be completely fucking crazy, but there were things she did to me last night that I’ll be jacking off to for a long time. I’m not sure who shattered who’s earth. I drag myself up, feeling the kind of stiff that only comes with great sex, and locate my scattered clothes from the night before, and get dressed. I use the tiny bathroom, and rinse out my mouth, running wet fingers through my messy sex hair. I thank my lucky stars I don’t have any meetings or inspections today, just breakfast with my nosy sister who will know exactly what I did last night based on my appearance. She doesn’t need to be impressed. As long as I show up this time, I’ll be fine. Making sure I’ve left nothing behind, I leave my room and take an elevator down to the lobby.
“I’d like to check out,” I inform the concierge. “And could they please bring my car around?”
“No problem, Mr Waters. Can I have your card for the room service bill and the late checkout fee?” This was a very expensive parking space.
“Sure.” I can see the other two staff members behind the counter whispering, and looking at me. “I wanted to ask, I had dinner with a guest last night, could you please give me her last name?”
“No, sir, I’d get fired. Guest information is confidential.” She looks upset that I even dared to ask. I thought that shit was only in the movies.
“That’s fine, thank you.” She hands back my card, and says, “Your car is waiting for you with the valet.” She joins her coworkers in whatever gossip it is I’ve sparked. I really don’t give a damn what people say about me, even if it serves as entertainment during an otherwise boring and mundane day at work. It’s not like I’m going to be bumping into these people on the streets or anything, and I’m positive another guest will come along and become a new source of scandal.
Once I’m in my car, my phone connects and I start returning the calls I missed last night and this morning. Mostly just site issues and work. And my sister. It’s like she thought twenty missed calls would be better to get my attention when one call would suffice. I don’t call her, she knows I’m on my way. Paige called a few times, but I’m not in the mood to deal with her. Not yet. I bet my left nut Bird called her and filled her in, and I’m not in the mood to answer her questions about who I was with or get ‘praise’ for finally getting laid. That’s crossing a professional boundary, even if Paige doesn’t see it that way. I park in the small lot at the back of my sister’s bakery, and enter through the kitchen.
“Hi, Harlan.” Her one waitress greets me as I step into the front of the bakery, getting Birdie’s attention from behind the counter. She pulls up her nose when she sees the state of me, and shakes her head while approaching the table where I’ve taken a seat.
“Where have you been? Fight club?” she asks, taking a seat opposite me. “You look like shit.” Just what every man wants to hear after a night of rough sex.
“No, I had to deal with a tenant.”
“What did you do, murder him and dispose of his body?” She points to my wine stained shirt.
“That’s wine, and a woman spilled it on me at dinner,” I reply without thinking.
“You said you were dealing with a tenant, meanwhile you stood me up to have dinner with a woman who tossed wine at you. How very Harlan,” she smirks. I’ve made a terrible mistake. The giant smile on Birdie’s face tells me this. “Who is she, and why didn’t you just say you had a date, asshole.”
“I didn’t have a date, I ran into her. I have no idea who she is, actually, I met her last night at a hotel bar. Just because you’re my sister doesn’t mean you have to know everything about my life, in case you forgot.”
“Is that why you look like the dog’s breakfast? You were up all night getting lucky?” Oh, Lord, she’s invested now and as much as I’d like to tell her she’s wrong, I can’t. However, I won’t be spilling my guts. I’m her brother, not one of her girlfriends.
“We, uhhh. Hmm…”
“Boned all night.” She fills in the blanks but doesn’t lower her voice, and now the lady buying cupcakes at the counter is looking at us from over her shoulder.
“Shhh,” I hiss, trying to get her to speak quietly, but the idea I might’ve had female company has my sister too excited. “It was nothing, she cut and ran while I was asleep. It’s unlikely I’ll ever see her again, anyway.” I wouldn’t mind seeing her again, something about her was so different, so raw, and it’s been quite some time since a woman has held my interest.
“Why not? You spent the night with her.”
“Well for starters, I only know her first name, the hotel wouldn’t help me with any information and she ran away before I could ask her.”
“So if you could find her you would see her again?” Birdie leans in, her skinny elbows on the table. “Whats her name?”
“Olivia.”
“Oh, a proper name.” She means unlike the hippie name our parents gave her. “You know where she’s staying, just go wait at the bar again.” It’s a plan I’d considered, but it’s midday on a Saturday and if she really wanted to see me again, she wouldn’t have left before I woke up.
“Because that’s not creepy at all.”
“You have a point, we don’t want her to think you’re a stalker,” Birdie says, then adds, “Oh, Paige is on her way here. She said you weren’t taking her calls either, so I told you’d he coming here.” Ugh. Sometimes I hate how close my sister is with my assistant.
