Waking Elizabeth (2 page)

“Give
her a Xanex.
 
She’ll be out the entire
time,” Geoff waved of his hand, “I made brownies tonight, want one?”

“Umm
… hells yeah,” I answered, already salivating while once again revisiting how
Geoff really was the perfect man, “Why do you have to be gay?
 
Can’t you make an exception for me?
 
We really are the perfect couple.”

Geoff
feigned an over-exaggerated frown, “Oh honey … If I ever wake up one day and
change my mind we will immediately get married and start breeding.”

I
laughed aloud as I fought to swallow the first bite of the delicious brownie,
“Breeding?”

“Yes,”
Geoff leaned against the counter, “Isn’t that what all of you clock ticking
breeders think about?”

“Ahh
… no,” I shook my head.

“Well
you should,” Geoff pointed at me and shrugged, “I hate to tell you this Ellie
but your clock is ticking.
 
I mean,
you’re 33 this year.
 
Those eggs aren’t
good forever.
 
Know what I’m saying?”

“Oh
God,” I jumped up from the counter with one brownie in my hand and reached for
another, “On that note, I’m taking my decaying eggs to bed.”

“I
love you,” Geoff leaned over to kiss me on the cheek and give me a light slap
on the butt, “more than my luggage.”

“I
love you,” I replied as I headed up the stairs, “Thanks for the brownies.”

After
devouring my brownies and taking a quick shower, I grabbed my iPad and crawled
into bed.
 
I checked my emails and
scanned the news before typing Lily Dale in the search bar.
 
A website for the town popped up and once I
scanned it I quickly determined that there was a guest house on site.
 
There was no phone or TV.
 
Great, I thought, Blair would love that.
 
I think I’ll conveniently forget to mention
that part until we get there.
 
It would
just give her one more thing to bitch about the whole trip.
 
I scanned the pictures of the little town and
immediately could see Phoebe in her leather lace up gladiator sandals dancing
through the cobblestone streets.
 
This
was definitely her type of place.
 
Jess
would hate it, no doubt.
 
She would feel
disconnected from the entire world which might actually be a blessing.
 
Jess worked way too hard as the assistant to
a prominent Washington politician from her home state of Connecticut.
 
She’d been with him in his district office
and had moved to Washington once he’d been elected.
 
We met by accident one day when she had
stopped into Starbucks on her daily rush and had promptly spilled coffee all
over her blouse.
 
She had an important meeting
to go to and was panic stricken about what to do.
 
I had my bag with me with clothes to change
into for a ballet later that evening and just happened to have a crisp white
button up shirt.
 
I offered it to her and
she happily accepted.
 
That was twelve
years ago.
 
Jess and I had known each
other the longest and were the easiest in each other’s company even as opposite
as we were.
 
Phoebe was the next to enter
our small clan.
 
She was the manager of a
Stone Age store that sold incense and crystals and strange paintings that the
hippy group seemed to worship.
 
Her store
was next door to a small Thai restaurant that Jess and I loved.
 
One day we’d decided to meet there for lunch
in the pouring rain and discovered that it was closed for renovations.
 
We were standing there drenched, trying to
decide what to do when Phoebe opened the door and ushered us inside out of the
rain.
 
We were instantly enamored with
her beautiful smile and free spirit and spent the next two hours drinking
something horrible called spirit tea as Jess and I listened to stories of
Phoebe’s travels around the country.
 

And
then there was Blair.
 
Somehow Blair and
Phoebe were distant cousins although Blair’s family had been married and
divorced so many times it was almost impossible to draw a conclusion as to how
without a very detailed diagram on multiple sheets of paper.
 
When Blair had moved to town to open her
store, Phoebe introduced us to her and begged us to include her since she knew
no one else in the area.
 
Despite her
somewhat snooty disposition she grew on us and became a full-fledged member of
our strange sisterhood.
 
She was aloof
and indifferent at times but we all knew she had a good heart.
 
Once when Phoebe was behind on her rent,
Blaire had quietly paid it in full for 4 months without saying a single
word.
 
She denied it, of course but we
all knew she had done it.
 
That single
act had propelled her a few notches in Jess’s book which was a difficult
task.
 
So we loved her, with all of her
rich and haughty faults, and would defend her to the death.
 
Surprisingly none of us were married, which
was almost impossible to believe at our ages which rounded out to 35.
 
Phoebe was the youngest at 30 and Jess was
the oldest at 35.
 

I
was pulled from my thoughts as I heard Geoff shuffle past my door on his way to
bed.
 
I looked at the clock.
 
It was 10:35pm.
 
Reluctantly, I closed my iPad and placed it on
the table by the bed.
 
I needed to be
fully rested in order to deal with my high school students the next day.
 
I was excited about teaching them the new
routine I’d choreographed for the fall show.
 
I had chosen the song
Bittersweet
Symphony
by the Verve and knew they would be excited about performing
something a little different.
  

I
reclined against my pillow and closed my eyes.
 
“Fortune tellers,” I mumbled under my breath, “Phoebe
would
pick that.”

Maybe
they would tell me something wonderful … like I was going to finally meet the
right guy or I would be invited to perform at the Kennedy Center which was a
dream of mine since I was little.
 
Maybe they’ll tell you your eggs are
shriveled up and that you should marry your gay best friend and have a sexless
marriage and eat delicious brownies every night.
 
The last thought caused me to giggle out
loud.
 
I’ll have to remember to share
that tidbit with Geoff in the morning.
 

Chapter
2

A
t 6:30am my alarm
went off.
 
I curled into a ball for a few
extra minutes in my haze of sleep listening to the Kidd Kraddick crew arguing
over who was going to have the worst weekend.
 
Forcing myself to get out of bed, I stumbled to the bathroom and turned
on the shower.
 
The hot water revived me
and within minutes I was a tad more excited about the day.
 
As a dried my long auburn hair, I
contemplated if it was time to cut it.
 
It was easy enough to take care of, I had always been blessed with
trouble-free hair and it was nice to be able to pull it back into a pony tail
or leave it down.
 
It was thick and
beautiful, and I knew I was lucky, especially watching as Jess struggled with
her unruly curly dark hair which she fought with on a daily basis.
 
Maybe I would leave it long until I was
forty.
 
That seemed to be the magic
number where women should start going shorter.
 
I frowned into the mirror once I calculated that it was only 7 short
years away.
 
As my mascara dried I looked
down at my cosmetics drawer into the abyss of dozens of untouched eye
shadows.
 
I was a sucker for the gift
with purchase.
 
I loved them.
 
I ended up with tons of them and yet I always
reached for the chestnut brown that was nearly empty from use.
 
It was the only one I ever used.
 
It matched my eyes perfectly, I mused, as I
ran the small brush over my lid and blended it in.
 

Downstairs
I made me a cup of coffee before grabbing my things and heading out the
door.
 
I shivered as the wind whipped
around my neck and ruffled my slightly damp hair.
 
As I cranked up my safe and reliable Toyota
Camry, I turned the heater on full blast.
 
She was a few years old but I had never had a problem with her.
 
My dad had always instilled in me the belief
that you don’t go flashy, go reliable.
 
When I yearned for flashy I would just borrow Blair’s convertible and
would soon be cured once I swallowed a bug or two while I was driving down the
road singing with the top down.
 
As was
my schedule, I had nearly depleted my small cup of coffee by the time I got to
Starbucks so I whipped into the drive-through to order a white mocha.
 
I was a caffeine addict to be sure and a
proud one at that.
 
My drive to work was
relatively short, especially since I made an effort to leave the house before
the traffic out of Arlington was in full swing.
 
I preferred to get to work before anyone else and warm up my studio and
stretch before the students filed in.
 
Most of the kids in my class were from very wealthy affluent families
and attended private schools which allowed for their schedules to include dance
first thing in the morning.
 
It must be
nice.
 
I barely got away with taking
beginning and intermediate tennis back to back my senior year.
 
Today I had two classes in the morning and
then a break for lunch with some downtime before younger students would come in
for after school classes.
 
Grace Dance
Academy was the most sought after dance school in the area so the classes were
always booked with a long waiting list that sometimes lasted years.
 
It meant job security for me all while doing
what I love.
 
It wasn’t often to find a
job that you adored where you got to play all day.
 
As I wheeled into the empty parking lot I
noticed the gray van that occupied a back space.
 
Sidney the bookkeeper was the only one that
would beat me in on rare occasions.
 
I
locked my car and hurried inside to my assigned room which was my own little
corner of the world in this place that I could decorate and do with what I
pleased.
 
I flipped on the light in the
far corner of the room, preferring to warm up with low light and sipped the
last of my coffee as I stretched my sleepy body.
 
I pulled up the soundtrack to Pride and
Prejudice, which was one of my favorite movie’s scores, and plugged my iPhone
into the system.
 
Closing the door so I
didn’t disturb Sidney I stretched my arms and began to move across the
room.
 
I closed my eyes, feeling the
music spreading through me.
 
I loved my
early mornings where I could dance alone to whatever I wanted … however I
wanted.
 
Dancing to me was as natural as
eating or drinking.
 
For as long as I
could remember it was all I ever wanted to do.
 
When I found out at a young age that you could go to school and study
dancing and do it for a living I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
 
How was it possible to spend all day long
doing something that you loved?
 
I heard
the door open in the corner of the room and I opened my eyes long enough to see
Geoff sneaking in and sinking to the floor to watch me.
 
I winked at him and closed my eyes to finish
my set.
 

As
the music died down Geoff began to applaud me with a slow deliberate clap, “I
never get tired of watching you.
 
Sometimes I wonder if I’m cut out for this because I don’t think I’ve
ever been as content dancing as you look every time you do it.”

I
smiled, “Yes you are.
 
You’re just tired
this morning.”

“That
and I’ve got a morning full of four year olds!”

Laughing,
I answered, “Well, that too.”

“Ladies,
this day could not be any more gorgeous!
 
Look at the sun!
 
It’s just
perfect,” Phoebe was pointing towards the sky, a beautiful straw hat secured on
her head as Blair drove down the highway with the top down on the
convertible.
 
We’d taken a vote and
everyone but Jess had agreed the convertible seemed to be the way to go as we
headed towards Lily Dale, New York.
 
Jess
had tried to convince us to be practical and think about the weather or the
dangers of the four of us being that exposed but she’d quickly lost the
argument and our bags were tossed into the trunk of the Mercedes Cabriolet and
off we went.
 
Blair looked as elegant as
Holly Golightly with a silk scarf tied around her blonde hair and large rimmed
black glasses as she drove us towards our weekend of fun.
 
I’d opted for a simple black travel outfit of
rayon black pants and a sleeveless matching shell.
 
It didn’t wrinkle and I could wear it with
the 4 other things I’d packed in my bag.
 
I could also throw on some jewelry and some heels and turn it into a
dinner outfit if the occasion called.
 
Although I doubted there was anywhere in Lily Dale that would meet the
criteria of an outfit that dressy for dinner.
 
I looked over at Phoebe who was practically beaming with
excitement.
 
I smiled.
 
It was good to see her that happy.
 
She had recently lost her father who had been
her only living relative.
 
We were pretty
much all she had now, and to her, that was enough.
 
She was such a good person, through and
through, and I knew there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for her.
 
Jess was as relaxed as Jess got, in a dark
pair of skinny jeans and a loose fitting white button down shirt with sensible
black flats.
  
She was currently buried
in her phone, “No chance of rain until late tomorrow evening, and even then
it’s a light shower.”
 
Jess … God love her,
she was the mother to us all.

“We’ll
be fine!” Phoebe answered, patting her on the knee, “Relax love!”
 

Phoebe
then turned her attention to Blair, “So, what do you want to do first?”

“What
do you mean?” Blair answered, not taking her eyes off the road.

“Well,
do you want to know your fortune, or do you want to talk to someone on the
other side?
 
You know, the possibilities
are endless.”

I
laughed as I caught Jess’ eye rolling look from my peripheral.

“I
definitely don’t want to talk to dead people.
 
The only person I know that died is my grandmother and she was a bitch
when she was here.
 
I really wouldn’t
have anything to say to her,” Blair answered smugly.

“What
about you?” Phoebe turned to Jess and I silently cringed, wondering what her
response would be.

“Whatever
you think I should do Fee.
 
This is your
deal,” Jess offered a bright smile and I gave her a silent thumbs up for being
so supportive, then she threw this my way, “I think we should pick something
fabulous for Ellie to do.”

Phoebe
smiled, “Ellie, I can’t wait.
 
You’re
going to love it there.”

I
smiled and silently hoped it appeared sincere, “I’m sure I will, doll.”

The
ride was uneventful after a stop for gas and a bathroom.
 
There was no way four women were traveling
anywhere without bathroom breaks and I was amazed we made it all the way there
with only one stop.
 
Our bladders must
have been in sync.
 

The
tiny town of Lily Dale was not at all what I’d imagined with its picturesque
little streets and its Victorian period architecture.
 
It was quiet and quaint, with people walking
around shopping at all the little stores on the main street.
 

“There
it is.
 
The Angel House,” Phoebe pointed
to a cute looking Victorian that was a shade of light pink I was sure I had
never seen on a house before.
 
It was
fairly large with a wrap-around porch that held several rocking chairs.
 

“Angel
House?” Jess’ eyes were wide and she looked toward me with fear, “It doesn’t
have a communal bathroom we have to share with everyone in town, does it?”

“All
the rooms have their own baths, Jess,” Phoebe assured her, “I’m bunking with
Blair and you’re bunking with Ellie.”

I
could see the immediate relief flood her features.
 
Jess and I did well together and it suited us
perfectly to be paired for the weekend.
 
Blair’s convertible looked a tad out of place in the peculiar little
village and most assuredly brought us a few stares.
 
As a matter of fact, the only one of the four
of us that looked as if we belonged was Phoebe who was attired as usual in a
long flowing maxi skirt paired with a bohemian top that hung casually off one
shoulder.
 

We
checked into the hotel and took our stuff up to the sparse but comfortable
rooms.
 
I collapsed on one of the twin
beds covered in a vintage looking pale pink chenille comforter with tattered
fringe at the bottom.
 
It reminded me of
my grandmother’s house, I thought with a smile.
 
She had a spare room that was decorated to the hilt with a full size bed
that had a green comforter much like the one in this room.
 
She never let anyone in the room and instead
told us all it was for looks only.
 
I
remembered she had a cheap knock off painting of the Mona Lisa that hung on the
wall in the hallway outside the decorated room that always freaked me out
whenever I spent the night.
 
One night I
actually pulled up a chair and took the picture down and left it on the floor facing
the wall.
 
I couldn’t help but feel her
eyes were always on me, wherever I went.
 
I was getting chills just thinking of it now.
 

“Are
you ready for this adventure?” Jess asked with a dread.

“Can
we eat first?
 
I think I may need a full
stomach before I talk to any dead relatives,” I said, only partially kidding,
as I brushed out my long red hair and reapplied my lipstick.

“I
only brought a few hundred.
 
Is that
enough to get her fortune read or hear some kind of damn past life story that
we’ll hear about relentlessly on the way home tomorrow?”

I
laughed, “I think it’s plenty, although this is new to me too.
 
I honestly have no idea.
 
I may try to escape this and tell her I did a
reading while she’s in with her person.
 
I should start planning my story now so she doesn’t pick up on it.”

“That’s
not a bad idea,” Jess locked arms with me, “We should both disappear into a bar
and then find her when she’s done.”

We
found Phoebe and Blair downstairs talking to the innkeeper about which
restaurant to visit.
 
At least I’d be
able to eat before coming up with my fake story.
 
We were directed to a small little place
called Mame’s on main street.
 
The fare
was light and simple although they had a pretty impressive selection of
beer.
 
Maybe the goal was to get people
smashed before they walked around with all their cash and a desperate need to
hear something wonderful about their future.
 
I ordered two beers with my turkey wrap which turned out to be quite
good.
 
The waitress was more than willing
to point out all the good mediums in town who all began to flip on their neon
lights as the sun set on Lily Dale.