High Tide

Chapter 9 [Orientation]

Chapter 9

Orientation

It was an amazing night, one Lydia wouldn't soon forget; Charlie was always such a romantic, but he definitely outdid himself this time.

There were candles everywhere casting a pinkish glow to the light blue walls. There were roses on the kitchen table, red ones this time, and a trail of red rose petals disappeared into the hallway, leading down to the bedroom.

He had a bottle of her favorite wine waiting; as they drank a glass together and talked, he cooked her dinner and they ate underneath the twilight sky, watching it grow darker and darker.

Then he took her to the bedroom and made love to her... twice.

As good as it was to be away from their lives for a little while to spend time together and behave like they were twenty-one again, the following morning Lydia was looking forward to going back home to the girls.

She called Avery when she woke up at eight, figuring the girl would be up by now too since she was such an early riser.

"Hey hon," Lydia said when the fifteen year-old picked up on the second ring. "No house fires?" she asked, glancing behind her at Charlie, who was lying in bed, eyes closed but with that crooked grin of his on his face.

"Nah, it's all good," Avery replied on the other end of the line. "How was your night?" she asked and Lydia could almost hear her goofy smile.

"It was very nice," Lydia smiled. She could hear the sound of pots and pans as well as a kitchen drawer slamming shut. "How was yours?" she added.

"It was okay," Avery answered. "Hey I've got to go finish breakfast, I'll see guys later."

"Alright, we should be home in a couple hours," Lydia said quickly before hanging up and tossing her phone onto her purse on a white armchair.

Eyes still closed, Charlie grumbled something inaudible into the pillows and reached for Lydia's wrist, tugging her back in bed.

"We should be thinking about getting up," Lydia told him, pressing a kiss to his bare shoulder and running her fingers gently through his hair. "As much as I'd love to, we can't stay here forever," she sighed, snuggling into his embrace. "At what time are we picking up Marissa?" she wondered.

"Beginnin' of the afternoon," Charlie said; his voice was groggy and hoarse with lack of use. He shifted his weight around in bed so that his stomach pressed to her back, his arms snaking around her waist. He buried his face into her neck, intoxicated by the sweet scent of her. "We've got plenty of time," he drawled.

A few hours later, after packing their things into the car and locking up behind them, they went into town to grab some breakfast. Lydia had a bag packed with toiletries and a change of clothes, courtesy of Avery, so she was able to wear something a little more casual into the little family-owned diner.

It was walking back in time. Everything had a late-eighties feel to it, from the décor to the peach-colored uniforms the waitresses were wearing. Coffee, bacon, eggs and a whole lot of grease filled Charlie and Lydia's nostrils.

It was a quiet morning; a few men in their fifties or sixties were having coffee in a corner booth, a businessman in a nice suit was working on his lap top, and a mother was trying to get her three young children to behave themselves and eat a couple more bites. She had a fourth child, a baby girl less than a year old, in a high chair.

The woman couldn't have been more than twenty-five years old.

They grabbed the table opposite the young mother and her children. The oldest of the children, a little boy around the age of five, stared at them for the longest time, his mouth and chin covered in ketchup.