Wanderlust (12 page)

Addie rejoined us then, and I thanked the gallery owner for her hospitality. She bid us a safe journey and returned to the gallery.

“I thought he told you the letter would be his last contact with you,” Addie said as we started walking toward the next stop on the list.

The next two stops bore similar “reminders” of Chaseyn’s devotion to me--to us. At a café just off Oxford Street, I was once again greeted by name. The young man--clearly of the otherworldly nature, as well--told us that he had been given strict instructions that should I visit the café, I was to have the bread pudding. I laughed raucously, remembering the first time I had ever had bread pudding. Chaseyn had told me how it was his favorite treat but that Mina had never been able to bake even the simplest dishes--and what could be simpler than a pudding made from bread?

To prove this theory, he had looked up a recipe online and had attempted to make a batch for the two of us. He admitted defeat only when the smoke detectors went off, and instead, we spent the entire night calling local restaurants to see if they could make a batch for us. It wasn’t on the menu anywhere, but it’s funny the things people will do when money is no object.

The third and final stop was a record store in the heart of Soho. In fact, we had passed it on our way to the Hippodrome on our first night in London. When we stepped through the door, we got much the same greeting as we had at the last two stops, only this time the gum-chewing teenager who met us at the entrance wasn’t one of
them
. Not yet, anyway.

“Oh. My. God. You’re totally her,” the girl said popping a giant gum bubble as she spoke. “I have something for you.”

The girl ran to the backroom, and when she returned, she was carrying a carefully wrapped package. Like a kid on Christmas, I tore through the plastic wrap to see what was inside. I recognized it instantly, and I knew it was rare.

“Oh. Wow,” I said under my breath, sliding the vinyl disk from its cardboard casing and inspecting it from all angles. The name of the artist read Wilhelmina Larson. I knew her better as Mina Lear, Chaseyn’s mom. It was her birth name, and the name she first recorded under as a jazz singer. She had used many names over the years in order to keep her identity safe.

The cover art had no image of the performer, and I knew it was because she could never be photographed--literally and figuratively. As a vampire, her image could not be captured. But, on a more practical level, she didn’t want to give people an image of her that they could hold on to. Because she would never age, she needed to remain invisible.

“It was nearly impossible to find,” the girl said. “Let’s just say, I owe quite a few people favors.”

“Thank you so much,” I said to the girl. I noticed Addie slipped her a few dollars, and it made me smile. I loved that girl for being so generous with her pocketbook.

“Who is that singer?” Addie asked. I contemplated my answer for a moment, and I settled on the only one I could think of that she would believe. The truth.

“It’s Chaseyn’s mom.”

Thankfully, she didn’t ask any other questions, and I didn’t have anything more to say. We left the store, and made our way back to the hostel. I felt a pang of guilt that I wouldn’t make it to the remaining four stops on Chaseyn’s recommended list. He had clearly gone to great trouble to make these three memorable, and I couldn’t help but be curious about what we would have found at those other places.

On the other hand, a lot of the conflict I had been feeling about leaving him behind was quickly dissipating. I decided then and there that I would no longer try to keep thoughts of him from my mind or force the others to keep him out of our conversations. Chaseyn was a part of my life. There was no denying it.

Addie’s phone rang, and I knew from the look on her face that it was Rob. The green-eyed monster reared its ugly face, and I fought back the jealousy I felt creeping up from my gut to my heart. I itched to call Chaseyn--to reach out to him in some way--but there was no way I was caving on day three. I gritted my teeth and blocked out the sound of her voice as she made lovey dovey sounds and cooed at Rob over the phone.

Chapter 13 - Paris

We’d gone to bed early the night before because we had an early morning train to catch to Paris. As we gathered the last of our things from our hostel room, I contemplated the best time to tell Addie about Chip. Ultimately, I settled on waiting until I really had to. I knew it was a long shot, but I was holding onto the hope that the non-traditional beauty wouldn’t show.

For the past few days, we had been very fortunate that the receptionist was either away from the front desk, someone new, or too preoccupied with other guests to pay much attention to our arrivals and departures, but this morning, our luck changed. As Eli approached the counter to turn in his key and check out, Addie and I did our best to dash out without being noticed. In my attempt to squeeze past Eli in the narrow hallway, my bag tangled with his. Addie had been too busy daydreaming about Rob’s latest text to notice that I had stopped, and she knocked into me. The three of us tumbled to the floor in a mass of arms and legs. By the time we righted ourselves, the desk clerk had returned, and she wasn’t impressed.

“Hey, I know you two,” she said, pointing at Addie and myself while she moved out from behind the counter. “You’re those Italian girls from the other day.”

Luckily, the phone rang just then. The woman mumbled something incoherent and turned slightly so that she could reach over the counter and answer the call. I took the opportunity to investigate our options.

“Okay. Let’s not panic,” I said, trying to disguise the panic in my own voice.

I was a good girl. The kind who never did anything wrong. Ever. Let’s face it, I couldn’t even bring myself to have a drink in a country where I was considered legal age because I felt I was betraying the laws of my own country. And now, my first and only attempt at breaking the rules was falling apart at the seams. This woman was going to accuse Addie and I of trespassing, or worse, and I needed to think of a way to resolve this. Fast.

“She made a copy of my passport when I checked in,” he said, a hint of worry now showing in his eyes. “Oh, no. What’s going to happen to me? They’re not going to arrest me, are they?”

Finally, he had realized we were in some hot water. Unfortunately, I was learning that he didn’t react well to stressful situations.

“I can’t go to jail, Lia. I mean, I know I seem all tough, but I’m not sure I could make it on the inside. They probably use off-brand shampoos, and I’ll get a rash if the jumpsuits are that scratchy cotton. You have to do something.”

Why did I have to do something? Shouldn’t we all put our heads together and come up with a plan? Remembering the company I was in, I quickly acknowledged the flaw in that reasoning and put on my thinking cap. I could tell that the woman was wrapping up the phone call by the tone in her voice. It was no surprise as she shifted her body closer to the phone base in preparation of hanging up.

“So, Eli, I don’t think there’s too much they can do. You paid in full, and we weren’t any extra trouble. The worst that could happen is that they will send a bill for the extra charges to your home in Amarillo,” I explained.

“Oh, and I can take care of that,” Addie said excitedly, bouncing on the tips of her toes to show her enthusiasm. I nodded in agreement.

“Okay, but I still don’t understand how we’re going to get out of here,” Eli said.

I looked from side-to-side--Addie was on my left, Eli on my right. They were looking at me as if I was Nostradamus and had the ability to prophecy the outcome of our situation. In reality, I had no idea what we were going to do. Our train was scheduled to leave the station in less than an hour, and I wasn’t in the mood for a fight. It wasn’t until the woman hung up the phone, and turned to face us once again--threatening to call the police as she did--that I knew with perfect clarity what we had to do.

“We’re going to run,” I shouted, pushing Addie and Eli aside as I made a gallant leap over the two steps separating the reception area from the lobby. I dashed to the door, and as I pushed it open, I looked over my shoulder to ensure my accomplices were in hot pursuit. To my dismay, they stood in awe at my sudden escape. I waved my hands frantically, urging them to follow suit. The woman had already picked up the phone to dial what I could only assume was the local authorities. If her threats had been idle before, my behavior spurred her to action.

Finally, Addie and Eli caught on, and, after a quick glance at one another, they grabbed each other’s hands and ran full speed toward the doors. We would be halfway to France before the cops even had a chance to finish questioning the clerk.

We ran for what felt like hours--past cafes, over bridges, and around corners. In reality, it had only been about five minutes, but we huffed and puffed like the big bad wolf when we finally came to a stop just outside the station. Had I really just done that? I knew I should have felt guilty, but all I could feel was an attack of the giggles. Bent over at the waist in an effort to regain my breath, I rested my right hand against the brick exterior of the adjacent building to brace myself. Try as I might to suppress the laughter brewing in my gut, I just couldn’t do it. One look at Addie told me she felt the same way.

After a moment, I could no longer stifle the laughter, and I let it burst forth. Addie grabbed my hand and laughed alongside me. We stood that way--embracing and laughing belligerently--for a minute or two while Eli watched in wonder.

“I don’t get it,” he finally said.

We tried to respond, but all we could do was shake our heads and slap our thighs. In truth, I wasn’t sure what was so funny exactly either. We had never done anything like that before and likely never would again. I felt terrible about it, but it was also strangely liberating. The combination of our emotions--fear of being caught, adrenaline from the escape, joy at succeeding--was an odd sensation. Laughter seemed the only option for release.

It seemed nothing could stop our outburst. Eli had given up and walked away. From the corner of my eye, I could see he hadn’t gone too far--a man was roasting chestnuts on the street corner, and he went to buy a cardboard cone filled with them. As we struggled to compose ourselves, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I had almost forgotten about the possibility of a fourth-person joining our party, but I was quickly jolted back to that reality when I looked up to find Chip standing right in front of my face. Balthazar loomed ominously in the background.

“Oh, I’m like totally sorry. I didn‘t know.” Chip said, the look in her eyes said she was sincere. She punched Balthazar in the arm playfully. “
Someone
could have told me.”

“Cordelia, nice to see you again,” Balthazar said with a nod of his head. Apparently, he didn’t play by the rules. “I trust you are well prepared for today’s journey and that you have taken to heart our conversation the other night.”

“The other night? Who is this guy, Lia?,” Addie asked. “Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?”

By now, Eli had returned to my side, his mouth full of chewed up chestnuts. He silently offered Addie and I a nut from the cardboard cone he was carrying. He swallowed exaggeratedly before stepping forward and extending his hand to Chip’s dark companion.

“Balty, man, how’s it going?”

“You know these people, too,” Addie said. “How?”

Ugh. I had been dreading this moment for the past two days. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but just in case, I had been working on a back story. Eli and I had very little alone time since we had all been cramped together in such close quarters, and I hadn’t yet shared my story with him, so I hoped he would play along.

“Addie,” I said in my most soothing voice, hoping to get her onside from the start. “This is Chip. She’s--”

“She’s Chaseyn’s cousin,” Eli cut me off. My jaw dropped at his unexpected outburst, and I looked at him in stunned surprise. Clearly, he had done some thinking about this, too. I made a mental note to cut the guy some slack. He was sharper than I had given him credit for. “Balty, here, is Mina’s brother.”

I was fairly certain I saw Balthazar wince as Eli said the words. The last thing he thought of Mina as was a sister. Still, he seemed pleased overall with our explanation, and while he never stepped out of the shadows, he did extend his hand to Addie in invitation. Addie stepped forward to complete the exchange.

“I hope you don’t mind, but Chip is going to join you on the rest of your trip,” Balthazar said to Addie, his deep baritone voice booming over the din of the crowded station.

Standing there just beyond the reach of the Sun’s rays, he was every bit as brooding as I recalled. His shaggy, black hair hung in his onyx eyes. He was wearing dark jeans, heavy boots, and a cotton tee that clung to his sculpted chest. If he wasn’t so old, he’d be smokin’ hot. But, he wasn’t just old, he was ancient. I could tell my the dazed look on Addie’s face that she was thinking the same thing. He sure didn’t look like any of the dads we knew. She couldn’t know why…ever.