Dream

Chapter 28

           

It had been over a month since the night Lucy had spent in Zeb's arms. She had seen him off the next morning then raced home to change and report back for work. There had been a lot to do over the next week and she had fallen into bed exhausted every day, and she imagined that it had been the same for Zeb and that was why she hadn't heard from him. It was as if he had disappeared from her life. But now, a month later, she knew he was doing it purposely, and she couldn't deny that it hurt.

She tried being reasonable, telling herself that he probably had a very good reason to not contact her, but in the end, she always came back to the same answer, she had given him what he wanted, and he had disappeared. It was truly the Monroe curse happening all over again.

She was only thankful that she wasn't pregnant.

Her goal now was to finish her work at the LeClair house and disappear. She would head back to New Orleans and find a decent job to help support her and her grandmother, and if Zeb ever did return she wouldn't have to face the embarrassment of having to see him again.

Lucy parked the car and walked towards the supermarket. Her grandmother demanded that she needed to stop on her way home and pick up her favorite hot sauce for her dinner. Lucy had told her she would go at the end of the week, but she had been insistent, and when she was insistent there was no saying no to her.

Keeping her head down, she picked up a hand basket and walked to the aisle where she knew the condiments were. She only got a few side looks and no one talked to her which suited her just fine. Swinging by the dairy aisle, she picked up some creamer and few other things they needed before making her way to the checkout, picking up a newspaper and paying for her items.

As she was paying she felt a pair of eyes on her and turned to see Holden Brown watching her closely. Thanking the young girl at the checkout, who was staring at her just as hard as Dr. Brown was, she made her get away as quickly as she could, but it wasn't quick enough.

"Wait up Lucy!" Dr. Brown called out to her once he cleared the doors of the store and was in the parking lot.

Lucy pretended not to hear him and was almost to her car when he caught up to her, reaching out to grab her arm,but she side stepped him and she noted him frown at her reaction to him.

"How is your arm? You never came to see me." He looked at the arm which was covered with her shirt sleeve.

"Fine," she said, opening her car door and throwing the groceries across the seat.

"I wondered if you had heard from Zebadiah? I haven't heard from him in over a month and I'm starting to get worried."

"Why should I have heard from him?" Lucy asked, relieved that she wasn't the only one that hadn't heard from him. That meant there was a good chance that something was keeping him away. "He's a big boy, I'm sure he can take care of himself." She turned to leave.

"Wait, I wanted to know... that night, when I helped you..." He looked at her as if he expected her to know what he was talking about. "You said something."

"What did I say?" she asked with a frown. She didn't remember saying anything.

"You said, 'he's the one, you'll be happy', Zebadiah said you were dreaming, but..."

Lucy looked away, whatever she saw was a good thing, she could do the reading and give him good news, unless something had changed.

She gave a sigh, knowing he would hound her until he had his answer she reached out and placed her hand on his bare forearm and looked into his eyes. "What did you think I was talking about?" she asked. It was the right question because she saw it all before her. A tall man, a wedding cake, moving into a new house, a party where they were old and gray.