Forever Layla: A Time Travel Romance (10 page)

“We will this month.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.” He reached down to open a drawer, and his brow furrowed before he bent down to look more closely.

“I threw the bottle out. It was empty anyway.”

“I could fire you for that.”

“I’d just show up anyway and work all day with you passed out.” I smiled at him as I said it and then walked back to my desk.

*

BY MY SECOND WEEK, THE
office was busy with customers coming in. I’d set up lunch to be sent to at least one of the car lots each week on us and had a goody basket sent to another real estate office. Mr. Duke had even managed to stay somewhat sober during work hours. One evening after closing, he asked me to step into his office.

“I’m sorry to say this, but I can’t find your paperwork
from when I hired you. Can you fill them out again? To be honest, I don’t even remember hiring you. As you saw when you first got here, I’d pretty much given up. I was waiting on the main office to come shut me down.”

I sat up straight in my seat. “Actually, you didn’t hire me.”

“Then who did?” He stiffened. “Are you here from the main office to take over?”

“No, I walked in to apply for a job and found you in your office. I couldn’t wake you when a customer walked in
, so I took care of him and just stayed.”

Mr. Duke’s brows furrowed as he looked at me, causing the abundance of wrinkles to be
come more pronounced. “So…what? You just walked in here one day while I was passed out and started working?”

I
nodded. “Pretty much.”

He stopped and looked around then back at me. “Are you serious?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“How do I know you’re not a thief?”

“I am. On my first day, I took your wallet and keys—bought and delivered cookies to the local car lots.”

“I wondered what thos
e thank you messages were about.”

“So, do I have the job?”

“Maybe.” He opened the drawer beside him.

“If you drink until you pass out, do I get to make that decision too?”

His eyebrow rose on that, and he closed the drawer. “How do I pay you? Are you even licensed to sell insurance?”

“Not in
South Carolina. I’m in the process of moving from California, so I’ll need you to send me to a school and sign me up for the test. I lost my purse in the move along with my driver’s license and all ID with it. Is there any way you can pay me in cash until all that gets taken care of.”

“You have to have an ID to go take the state licensing test.”

“I know. I’ll have it here by then. If we can’t work this out, I’ll keep looking for a job. But if you can, I promise you, I can get your office back to where it was before your father passed away—maybe surpass that level.”

Mr. Duke sighed. “You’re on.” He reached for his wallet and pulled out a stack of bills and handed them to me. “This enough?”

I smiled as I took the money. “Yes, it will do. When I’m signed on for real, I want a straight pay and a percentage of the book of business I build and renewals.”

“I don’t normally give renewals.”

“You don’t normally sell like you’re going to with me here.”

The older man grin
ned. “Let’s just see first?”

“If I win the contest for you
, can I have my own book of business with renewals?”

“All right. Deal.”

I stood and turned to walk out the door.

“Where did you come from? I bet I’m still passed out on my desk, dreaming this whole thing.”

I only laughed as I grabbed my bag from under my desk and let myself out the front door. I already had a key.

Chapter 10

Layla

DAVID HAD GOTTEN A SENIOR
lunch pass since graduation was now only days away and came to take me to lunch one Friday. We were sitting in the Bantam Chef, a Fifty’s style restaurant, chatting over burgers.

“What year did you turn twenty-four?” he asked after taking a sip of his soda.

I smiled, thinking about the ridiculousness of my answer. “I turned twenty-four on January 4
th
, 2014.”

His nose scrunched in the cute way it did. He glanced away
, taking the information in and letting it process. Then he faced me, looking into my eyes with his beautiful blue ones. “So you were born in 1990?”

I nodded. “Sure was.” Then I took a bite of the low
-carb version of a burger I was eating with a knife and fork.

“So right now, out there somewhere, there is a four-year-old version of you too.”

I sat up and took that in. “Yeah, I guess there is.”

“And she is just out there living somewhere?”

I looked down at my dark suit with new recognition and pulled out my planner to look at the date. “Yeah, something like that.”

David continued talking to me but I didn’t hear him. My mind was somewhere else—somewhere I’d soon have to revisit.

“Listen, I need to get back to the office. I just remembered something I need to do.”

David grabbed his jacket and stood. “Sure. I’ve got to get back to the school anyway.

After he drove me back, I walked in and headed for Mr. Duke’s office, praying he was sober. Thank goodness he was.

“Mr. Duke, can I borrow your car?”

“Sure!” He picked up his keys and extended his hand. “Taking more business cards out to car dealers?”

I considered lying
, but I didn’t want to do that. “Not exactly. It’s…personal. I need to borrow your car for the rest of the day. I will bring it back to you this evening.”

Mr. Drake sat up straight. “Are you in trouble?” He glanced around the office. “Is trouble following you here? I don’t want some old jealous boyfriend shooting up the place.”

“No, nothing like that. I’m not in trouble. Not me here anyway. Someone really needs my help and… All I can say is that it is a matter of life and death, and I will never ask this of you again. I HATE asking for favors, and I hate drama.” I swallowed after I said it.

“I hardly know you
, young lady.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“You’ve already stolen my car and credit card once.”

I couldn’t look him in the eye as I nodded again.

“But you brought them back. And me back. Are you an angel, like on one of those TV shows?’

“What?” I finally looked at him
, scrunching my forehead.

The older man nodded
and reached out farther to extend the keys my way. “You were there to save me when I needed it. So here. I trust you. Do you need some cash?”

I nodded again as I took the keys and the cash he was now handing to me. “A little. I’ll pay you back.”

“Nah, just consider it an advance on your bonus. We are creaming the other offices. The bonus is in the bag for us.”

I smiled as I headed for the door. “Thank you, Mr. Duke. You will not be sorry.”

I walked out to the car, sat down, and started the engine before I said a quick prayer. I tried not to bother God too often with my problems. He had enough to deal with so why bother Him when I could take care of it all myself. But this was bigger than me, and I knew it. I closed my eyes, and after the prayer, I focused on the memory. I opened my eyes and opened the glove compartment to see if he had a map of South Carolina highways. I let out a sigh when I found a map. GPS wasn’t standard in cars yet.

I pulled it out to get an idea of the general direction I would take on the interstate. It was time to face my past and prepare myself for the future.

*

I
PULLED INTO THE PARKING lot of the Beach Bum Motel in Camden, South Carolina. It was just off the interstate. Faded paint covered the front of the building, and the rails were missing off the stairs and along the balcony. It was the epitome of the word “dump.”

I grabbed my purse, not wanting to leave it in the car
, and walked into the motel office. A greasy, dirty man stood when I walked in.

“I need a key to get into room 209.”

The man smiled, exposing large gaps where several teeth used to be. “You don’t look like one of Blain’s girls. He getting into the high end game now?” He eyed me up and down, and I fought back the vomit and swallowed when he gave me a lustful look.

“I’m not one of Blain’s girls.”

He stepped back and examined me further. “Then who sent you?”

“Look, you can open the door and let me retrieve what was left there last night, or I can call the police and let them know a drug
-dealing pimp is operating out of your motel. I can tell them when to show up, and I can tell them what he pays you to keep quiet.” I crossed my arms in front of me, trying to make my bluff look authentic. “Or you can hand me a key, and I can get what I need from the room and the whole thing can be forgotten—no police called.”

The man’s nose tilted up as he asked, “You a dirty cop?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not opening anything for you. Blain will kill me.”

I gestured to my business suit. “Blain is the least of your worries.”

“How’s that?”

“Do I look like I work for someone the same level as Blain?” I leaned over the front counter. “The person I work for can take care of Blain.” I stood straight again. “And you…one way or another. I’m the one he sends to play nice and keep it classy. But we don’t have to play it that way.”

“What’s in the room and how much is it worth to you?”

I sighed and rolled my eyes at the man before reaching into my purse and pulling out $300 and tossing it on the desk. “It’s none of your business what is in that room. I suggest you leave a key on the counter here and walk to the back, so you can say you didn’t see who got in the room or what they came out with.”

The man grabbed the cash, reached over to the wall beside him
, and pulled a key off a hook and slapped it down on the counter. “Five minutes. After that, I’m calling the cops myself before you do. I’d rather them think I’m innocent.”

I took the key and walked out of the office and up the steps to room 209. I slid in the key and turned the knob before pushing the door op
en slowly. There, staring at me wide-eyed was my mother. I hadn’t seen her in years. Her face was strained and blue.

I covered my eyes and turned away. Emotion enveloped me and bile rose up. The smell of death in the air turned my stomach. I reached for a waste can, unable to control the retching for a few moments. When I’d stopped, I grabbed a bunch of tissues from a box and cleaned myself up. I tried to look at her again, but she didn’t look the way I remembered. And I knew why. Without looking at her again, I pulled the sheet up over her face. The little four-year-old girl in the bathroom didn’t need to see her mother like that. I walked toward the bathroom and opened it. Big brown eyes stared up at me
, and my breath caught. The little girl there lying on a dirty towel, wrapped in another, was me. Memories I’d kept suppressed as much as possible came rushing back to the front of my mind.

I swallowed and forced a smile. I remembered how scared I had been in that bathroom. The regular noises, but then scarier was the long silence that had f
ollowed. I was hungry and frightened.  I remembered exactly how the nice lady had comforted me. “Hey sweetie, are you hungry? Your mommy sent me in here to get you.”

“Where is she?” The little girl stood and rubbed her eyes. Her hair was matted together from sleep.

How many hours had she spent there? How many times had I been locked in a motel bathroom while my mom visited her
boyfriends
? The sounds. The smells. The fear. I searched the little girl’s face and choked back the emotions as I answered her. “She’s not feeling well. I’m going to take you to your grandmother while she sleeps. Want to stop for pancakes on the way? She told me pancakes were your favorite.”

“I’m not supposed to go with strangers, and I don’t have a grandma.”

I extended my hand. “You can trust me. I know all about you and your mom. She loves you. She always makes you stay in the bathroom when she can’t find a sitter, and you are a good girl and obey. You never open the door. You always wait for her to come get you. It’s her way of protecting you from what she does to provide for you. Then she takes you to get something to eat and always tells you how you are worth it…all of it.” I spoke the words as I realized the truth of my mother and my childhood. She wasn’t a perfect mother, but she had tried…in her way.

The little girl
still looked unsure.

“She calls you her little pumpkin pie.”

Her eyes grew wide before she put her hand in mine, and I grasped it. I was extending her a lifeline, one that would save her…for now, and one that would rescue so many others in the future. I had to prepare her…me. “And yes you do have a grandma, and she loves you very much. You just don’t remember her. You haven’t seen her since you were a baby. But she is going to be so happy to see you. She’s going to take good care of you.” We stepped out to the room together and little me stopped and stared at the bed.

“See, she’s sleeping. We need to leave her to rest right now. She wants you to get something to eat.”

The little girl looked up at me with concern. “I hope she feels better after her nap. She’s been really sick lately. Her tummy was hurting before we came, and she threw up all day yesterday.”

I looked down at her…me and then back toward the bed. I’d forgotten that part. Mom probably died of dehydration. I smiled at the scared little girl. “She isn’t hurting anymore. We need to leave so she can rest in peace.”

It was then I remembered the next step. “Stay right here, so you don’t wake up your mommy.” I walked to the nightstand beside the bed and pulled out a wallet. I flipped it open. There was my mother’s driver’s license and social security card. The picture was close enough to pass for me and the age would pass too. I put the wallet into my purse and walked back to the little girl who would grow up to be me.

“Let’s go get those pancakes.” We walked out to the car and I buckled her in. Then I pointed to the motel. “I need you to look at that motel and the sign. You have to remember this day. This is the Beach Bum Motel in Camden, South Carolina. We are going to say it over and over on our way to the pancake house. If you can say it all back to me after we finish the pancakes, I will take you to buy a pretty new dress to go meet your grandma in.”

The little girl’s eyes grew wide. “I like new dresses.”

I smiled back. “I know. Let’s get busy. You are such a smart girl and a strong girl
, and you can take care of yourself. Remember that always.”

The little girl finished her pancakes
, and the waitress came to take the plates off the table. I pulled the page from my day planner, took a pen, and circled the date. Then I wrote the name of the motel on the date before handing it to her.

“I want you to keep this. Hang it up in your new room at your grandma’s house. Take it with you when you move from there. Look at it every single day and always keep this day fresh in your memory. It will save your life one day.”

The little girl took it and looked at the paper, her eyes large and dark. I could see her shoulders slump like she suddenly felt the weight of what I was saying pressing against them. I hated it for her but she might as well get used to it.

“Can you read yet?”

She shook her head.

“Well
, you will soon. Your grandma will put you in a good school and feed you good foods and teach you lots of good things. You were a good girl for your mommy. You obeyed and stayed in the bathroom, no matter how scared you got.”

The little girl nodded.

“Now I need you to listen to me and to your grandma just like you listened to your mommy. Do what your grandmother says. Keep the promises she tells you to make. Pay attention, learn and always be ready to work hard. Life isn’t easy and no one is going to take care of you except you. Today, I came and rescued you from that bathroom when your mommy got sick, but no one else is ever going to come rescue you again…ever.”

The little girl’s eyes grew wide.

“I’m sorry, but it’s the truth of it. From now on you have to always be ready to save everyone else around you. No one will ever do that for you again.”

A lonely look filled the little girl’s eyes
, and I saw her shake a bit. But she had to know the truth of it. The truth of her life.

I reached out and took her hand. “If you do what I tell you and listen to your grandma, everything will work out just like it’s supposed to. That’s your job. That’s why you are here. Someday, you will understand why you were rescued today. Someday, it will all make sense and when that happens, you will meet the most handsome man with dark hair and blue eyes and you will find out who you were meant to be.”