Page 44 of Bishop

Just as I was about to reply the innkeeper returned with a rolling tray of steaming hot food. He sat it down in front of me.

“What can I get you to drink?” He asked.

“What red wine do you have?” I asked.

“We have a Clarion 92 and the Hyperion Hotels have us keep their wines stocked as well. It's a Moscato, not a red.”

Thinking about it, I decided to take the moscato and he once again waddled off to get my wine.

Miss you too. This place is a little backwards,I wrote Zane.

What do you mean?

Quickly I typed up another message with my observations.Well, the guy seems to be the only person on duty. He didn’t take an order for a drink first. Maybe he’s new. Anyway, drive safely. I’m fine. But I can’t wait for you to get back.

It seemed to take a while for the man to return with my wine and so I started to dig into my food. I had made a sizable dentwhen I heard someone approaching. Turning I found myself staring into the eyes of a woman.

“Hi,” I smiled.

She didn’t return the smile at first.

“You must be the other guest, the innkeeper mentioned,” I started looking around for him.

“I am.” She finally offered a smile. “Do you mind if I sit? I hate dining alone.”

The room started to spin and I blinked my eyes rapidly before replying. “No, please…please sit.”

She tapped her fingers on the table, looking around before her eyes finally came back to rest on me. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

Picking up a napkin, I really was starting to worry about the host.

“No, have we met?”

My head was still swimming and it seemed to be two of her. Slowly, my focus narrowed in.

Older white woman. Slender features, hair graying at the temple.

She shook her head. “You took my baby away from me, you fucking whore.”

“I…ma’am…I don’t know…”

Before I could stop myself, my body slid from the chair and darkness threatened to pull me under. The last thing I saw was the woman standing over me.

“I’m Gayle Storms you dumb bitch. And my sweet prince was Ryan Lavery. You took my son away from me…”

The darkness won, becoming like a thick blanket of fog smothering the land beneath it. I fought to stay alert, but finally I gave into the darkness and slipped into unconsciousness. The world faded away and all I could do was think about how I hadn’t told Zane I loved him.

ZANE

Something just didn’t feel right. My gut was telling me something was wrong. A knot had formed in my belly and my palms felt sticky and sweaty against the steering wheel.

My instincts were usually spot on. No matter what I did, unease had crept into my body and entered into my bones.

Emmy had simply stopped replying to my text messages and by the time I’d reached the midway point, I’d finally gotten Cory on the line.

“What are you talking about?” She’d asked as I’d moved her up to a management position recently, she was going to be taking on the night shift and training with the other manager.

“I talked to Ricky, he said there was some terrible flooding happening,” I took my eyes off the road for just a moment to look at the car console in disbelief. “I was calling you to get you to go look over the damage.”

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