Page 21 of Lake
“Bathroom?” I asked dumbly.
“Through that door, go down the hall and it’s on the left.”
“Thanks,” I gave him a tight smile and all but ran away.
What the hell was wrong with me?
I didn’t really need to pee but that didn’t stop me from following his directions and hiding myself away for a few moments of reprieve.
Damn.
I couldn’t figure out what it was, but there was clearly something about Lake that made me feel safe and want to open up.
Truthfully, I didn’t have anything to hide. I mean, if you took away the fact that I had built this wall around myself because I was afraid to seem vulnerable.
I washed my face thinking that this whole thing was stupid and crazy.
I was here for a job. One that I really needed to get cracking on.
But the longer I stood there staring at myself in the mirror, the longer I wondered who the woman was staring back at me.
I left the bathroom a little pissed-off and unsure that I wanted to face Lake again. But really, it wasn’t like the guy had done anything to me. In truth, he had actually been pretty nice. He gave up his bed so I didn’t have to freeze my ass off in my car. He even changed the sheets. And even though he did come knocking on the door at the ass-crack of dawn, he did bring me coffee.
So, maybe Lake wasn’t so bad.
I headed back out with the intention to help with my car in some way. What that was, well, I had no clue because I wasn’t one of those girls that knew things about engines and hoses and such. Which was apparent by the fact that I couldn’t remember the last time I had the oil changed. Really, it was probably a miracle that she’d gotten me this far.
I passed by the check-in desk in the lobby area. The sight of scattered papers and receipts caught my eye and I couldn’t help but cringe at the mess. Without even thinking, my feet were moving me to the old, beat-up chair that sat behind the desk. I glanced at a few of the papers and saw a bunch of handwritten notes. Some of the writing was neat and a little swirly while other papers held handwriting that was all kinds of crazy chicken scratch. Like wow. Could anyone even read this? I was able to make out a few letters and numbers but nothing I could put together to make any kind of sense. Dates, that was what I focused on because I could read those clearly at the top of each sheet. I found a stack of printed up papers and began to match them with the handwritten ones and stacking them in organized piles.
It was tedious work but I wasn’t even really aware of what I was doing. It kind of came naturally to me and maybe I needed something to take my mind off of all the other stuff that was going on.
Yeah, that stuff… well, I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid it forever but I figured a little longer couldn’t hurt.
It wasn’t like I was really going to be able to go anywhere any time soon.
