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Devan
I flip on the small television on the kitchen counter Wednesday morning while I make a pot of coffee. I listen to the news playing in the background while I sit at the breakfast bar to check my schedule for the day. I stop what I’m doing and look up when I hear a report about another robbery early this morning. This one was a pawn shop directly across from the coffee shop that Julie meets her mother at every week. I never would have paid much attention to these robberies before finding out that Julie was chasing this story.
These robberies are becoming more frequent and the police still don’t have any leads. Julie is determined that there’s a story there that she needs to break. She is ambitious, I will give her that. But she is too trusting too, and she needs to be careful. I know she has not met her source in person yet, but I am worried that she is going to put her trust in the wrong place and end up getting hurt. I am just not sure how I can convince her to be careful without being too overprotective. The last thing I want to do is push her away.
With today being Wednesday, I am sure Julie will be meeting her mother for coffee during her lunch break. Julie has been under a lot of stress over the last couple days, especially since the dinner party at her mother’s house. Then, with Edward showing up at her apartment the other night. I know Julie thinks her mother gave him her address and she is probably hoping to confront her about it today over coffee. Maybe I should offer to go with her today or meet her there. Besides, it’s been a couple of days since I’ve been able to see my angel. Maybe that’s something that I should start thinking about changing. I wonder how long I should wait before asking her to move in. I smile to myself as the thought crosses my mind, something I never thought I would be thinking about. Just thinking about having her here with me, all the time, waking up to her every morning, falling asleep with her in my arms every night. I think I could get on board with that pretty easily. I already gave her a key to my house, maybe actually moving in would be the next step.
Me: Good morning angel
I send her a quick text then retreat to my office to grab my camera and extra lenses to pack up in my messenger bag. It doesn’t take her long to reply and I hear the chime of my text alert as I walk back into the kitchen and pick the phone up off the breakfast bar.
Julie: Good morning
It is after nine, so I know she’s already sitting at her desk pulling up her emails for the day. I’ll be quick, so as not to interrupt her work for too long.
Me: You meeting your mom today? I have time if you want me to come.
The three dots appear almost immediately. I sit and watch the phone screen while I wait for her reply.
Julie: That would be great. We meet @ 11.
That sounds perfect. I know the coffee shop well up the block from her office. And I will be in that area this morning anyway getting some shots of the pawn shop that was robbed early this morning.
Me: Perfect, angel. I’ll see you then. *heart emoji, wink emoji*
The pawn shop is across the street from Club Coffee where Julie is meeting her mom. I get to the pawn shop just after ten and start taking photos. There is a group of onlookers standing in front of the building watching a local news crew interview the owners. I take a few pictures of the interview to add to the shots for the paper.
While I’m looking around, figuring out what all to take pictures of, I notice a man standing behind the crowd looking across the street. Following his gaze, I see Julie walking up the sidewalk toward the coffee shop. A chill runs up my spine while I watch him thinking that he is looking at her. I can’t be sure, there are so many other people on that side of the street that he could be looking at anything or anyone else. But it still makes me nervous. I take a few photos of him too for just in case.
I grab one or two more shots of the storefront before heading across the street to catch up with Julie before she gets to the door. “Julie!” I yell in her direction and watch her stop. She turns my way and a smile spreads across her face.
“Fancy meeting you here.” She says as she giggles beautifully. She reaches out to grab my hand and we walk the rest of the way to the coffee shop together.
I look over my shoulder and see that the mysterious man is still standing in the back of the crowd looking this way. Maybe it’s a good thing that I decided to meet her here today, that guy is giving me a bad feeling. “How is everything today, angel?” I ask her as I reach out to open the door for her.
“It’s been a long day already. I got an email this morning from my source.” She answers, looking me in the eye to judge my reaction.
“Oh? And what did he have to say? Anything helpful?” I keep a straight face even though nervous energy is building like a coil inside my body. I’m already on edge after seeing that guy watching her from across the street and I can feel it boiling behind my eyes. I’m trying not to be an overprotective asshole, but there are too many similarities to the guy across the street with the one that I saw in the pictures from Runyon Canyon. I have no idea if they are connected or if they even have anything to do with this story she’s trying to break. Maybe I watch too many crime dramas and my imagination is running away with me, but I still feel the need to protect her. I just wish I knew what I needed to protect her from, this is uncharted territory for me.
“No, actually. It was weird to be honest. He told me to follow the surveillance.”
I release the breath I didn’t realize I was holding, and my heartrate starts to calm knowing that he hasn’t asked for a meeting yet. “What does that mean, follow the surveillance?” I ask as we walk up to the counter to place our orders.
“I honestly don’t know, Devan. I pulled up the reports again and can’t make sense of it. Every place that has been robbed had a surveillance system installed on site, but no one was able to produce any video of the actual crimes. So there actually isn’t any surveillance to follow.”
“I wasn’t aware of that. I know you said there were no videos of the crimes, but I had not realized that they had surveillance systems installed. Maybe it has something to do with the actual surveillance, like the systems or monitoring companies or something.”
“Oh my God, Devan. I hadn’t thought about that! You are a genius!” She exclaims as we step up to the cashier. “Skinny caramel macchiato please.” She tells the cashier.
“I’ll just have a black coffee please.” I pay the cashier and give her my name then we stand to the side to wait for our drinks before finding her mother. “Well that definitely gives you some place to start then. You could talk to the shops again and see if they all used the same security company.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that before. Thank you, Devan.” She says as they call my name for our order. Julie grabs her coffee and looks around the café. “There she is, in the corner.” She waves at her mom as she walks toward the back corner. I follow closely behind her, only stopping long enough to grab a few napkins along the way.
Her mother stands and greets us, giving Julie a hug. “Devan, right?” She asks as she releases Julie and looks me in the eye.
“Yes ma’am. It’s nice to see you again, Mrs. Harrington. I hope you don’t mind me tagging along, I was in the area getting pictures for the paper and figured I’d meet you both here.”
“Not at all. I am so happy to see you again. Julie tells me you’ve been spending a lot of time together.” She looks over at Julie as she says the last part. I can see Julie’s cheeks starting to turn pink and can’t help but chuckle softly. I place my hand on her knee under the table and give her a reassuring squeeze.
“Mom.” Julie admonishes her. “Please don’t.”
“Oh, Julie, dear. I am not saying anything against it. I’m actually really happy that you’re doing something other than working all the time.”
“Thank you, mother. How are things with you? I haven’t talked to you for a few days.”
“Things are good. I finally finished that hat and scarf that I was working on. It was my turn to pick our project for this week and I have decided to try mittens. Won’t that be fun? It’s going to start getting colder soon and mittens would be nice to have. Don’t you think?”
While her mom talks about her new knitting project, I grab my coffee to take a sip and smile at Julie. I know how her weekly visits are with her mother, and I understand her lack of interest in knitting. She said she had tried it once a few years ago in an attempt at finding a way to spend time with her mother but she could not get the hang of it. She returns my smile and puts a hand on my knee, squeezing lightly. I place my hand on hers and entwine our fingers together.
“Mom.” Julie starts. “I have to ask you a question.” I run my thumb in circles on the back of her hand so she doesn’t forget that I’m here with her, lending her extra strength as needed. “Did you give Edward my address? Are you the reason he stopped by my apartment the other night?”
“I did.” She clasps her hands together and lays them on the table in front of her. “He made it sound like he had something to show you, something that might help you with your story.”
“He didn’t have anything to show me. The only thing he had to say about my story was trying to scare me into dropping it.” The air gets thicker as I feel the tension building in Julie’s words to her mother. I knew that he had made her uncomfortable, but I wonder if there was more to it than that. I hate that she was made to feel that way by someone that was supposed to be a childhood friend. But considering what happened this past weekend at her mother’s house, it does not surprise me. I squeeze her hand a little tighter trying to transfer some of my own strength into her. “It was inappropriate. You know that Devan and I are dating. I don’t need another man showing up at my apartment late at night.”
Her mother hangs her head in defeat. “I wasn’t thinking, Julie. I didn’t think he would show up or cause any trouble. Like I said, I wasn’t thinking.” She reaches out and takes Julie’s hand. “Are you angry with me?”
“No, mom. I’m not angry. I was, but I’m not now.” She squeezes her mom’s hand. “I love you, mom. But I don’t want you meddling anymore. Devan and I are together, and Edward and I are not close enough anymore to even be considered friends.”
“I understand. I am sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“I have to go, mom. I have a lot left to do today and I need to get back to the office.”
“Okay Julie. I’ll see you next week.”
Julie leans in and hugs her mom as she stands. I grab her purse for her and stand myself, throwing our empty coffee cups and napkins into the trash. “It was nice seeing you again, Mrs. Harrington.” I smile at her before reaching out and grabbing Julie by the hand. “I’ll walk you back to work, angel.”
“Thank you, Devan. I’d like that.” We leave her mother sitting at the table as we walk out onto the sidewalk. The crowd across the street has cleared out and the news crew has left. I am pleased to see that the guy that I suspected of watching Julie earlier is nowhere to be seen.
We arrive at the building where Julie’s office is located, and I turn her to face me. Cupping my hands on her cheeks, I lean in and press my lips against hers for a short kiss. It is soft and slow, my thumbs caressing her cheekbones. Her hands fisting my shirt at my chest. My heart is pounding in my chest and I am sure she can feel it beneath the palms of her hands. I pull my lips from hers, resting my forehead against her own and allowing our breaths to mingle. For several seconds, I just breath in her intoxicating vanilla and lavender scent. “I have to go, angel.”
“Okay.” She sighs.
“If I don’t leave now, security is going to come running out and accuse me of being inappropriate.”
“Okay.” She says again, this time with a giggle. I stand up straight, but she does not immediately release my shirt.
“You have to let go of me so I can go, angel.” I lift one eyebrow and give her a crooked smile.
“Okay.” She says again. It is obvious that I have kissed her into insanity. She can no longer form more than two syllables at a time.
“Are you okay?” I chuckle.
“Yeah. Sorry. I’ll text you later, Devan.” She finally releases my shirt and I watch her walk dazedly into the building before I turn around and walk back to the parking lot to retrieve my car.
I am just pulling out onto the road when my phone rings through the car’s Bluetooth, Matt’s name showing on the stereo screen. “Hello?” I answer.
“Hey troublemaker.”
I laugh at his name for me. I have never understood why he insists on calling me that as I have done nothing to cause trouble since we have known each other. “What’s going on? It’s barely one in the afternoon. You don’t usually call in the middle of the day.”
“Yeah, we just broke for lunch and I had something on my mind. I wanted to run it by you.”
“Shoot.” I tell him, wondering what he could have going on. Matt is very independent and runs a successful construction business. He stays busy and rarely has time for common chitchat.
“Look, man. I’ve been driving myself crazy over Marie. I like her. A lot. I really want to get to know her better, but I keep getting the feeling that she’s scared of me. We’ve spent a lot of time talking on the phone and I’ve been able to see her a few times over the last couple of weeks. She finally starts to act like she’s opening up to me then she pulls back. I wondered if you knew anything about it. Maybe she’s got something going on. Didn’t you say something about Julie working on some crazy story?”
“Yeah, but the story she’s working on isn’t for her work, so it doesn’t involve Marie. There it wouldn’t be that. And unfortunately, I don’t know Marie personally. I’ve only seen her in passing but never actually gotten to talk to her.”
“Damn. I’m determined to make this work. She’s it for me, I can feel it.”
“Are you sure she’s worth all the trouble?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Don’t take it the wrong way. I just mean if she isn’t interested you can’t force it.”
“I know. But I at least want her to give me a chance. Let me in, ya know?”
“Yeah. I know what you mean. Hey, listen. I was thinking of having Julie come over for dinner Friday night. Why don’t you come by and have dinner with us? I’d love for you to meet her. Maybe you can ask her about Marie since they’re friends. Maybe she has some insight she can share with you.”
“I’d love to. You know I’ve been looking forward to meeting this girl that’s got your panties all twisted.” He chuckles into the phone and I roll my eyes.
“Right. How about seven. It’s supposed to be a nice night, I’ll grill some steaks. You can bring some beer.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”
“Later man.” I say before disconnecting the call. In all the years since Matt and I became friends, I have never heard him so torn up over a woman. I hope it works out for him, though. I can tell he is really into her.