Page 15 of Forever Dark
She set the phone back in its cradle and stared at it.“Perfect.”
No sense wasting time.She dropped the towel long enough to drag on underwear and jeans, then pulled a shirt over damp skin just as a knock sounded at the door.
When Selena opened it, Eric stood there with a metal toolbox in one hand and the same eager expression he had worn in the lobby the night before.
“Morning,” he said.“Teenage staff.I love her, but you can’t trust the younger ones with anything more technical than toast.”
Selena stepped back to let him in.“I appreciate this.”
“No problem.I’ll have it working in no time.Can you believe it’s like twenty-odd years since we were that age?”
Selena glanced at the doorway to the bathroom, hoping he’d take the hint.
But he continued.“I mean, it feels like a click of the fingers to me.”
“It seems like forever to me,” Selena said.But that was only half true.Some memories were fuzzy like watching an old movie, others jagged and sharp like broken glass.“Could you take a look at the shower?Sorry, I don’t mean to rush you.”
Eric held up his hand and said: “Say no more.You’re a busy lady.”
He crossed the room like he had been waiting years for an excuse to be useful in front of her.Setting the toolbox down, he rolled up his sleeves and headed straight for the bathroom.The motel room suddenly felt smaller with another body in it, especially one who kept glancing back at her with an energy that had less to do with plumbing than it did with the girl he remembered from school.She had no intention of being someone’s nostalgic therapy.
Selena leaned against the dresser and watched him crouch near the tub.
“You always this responsive to maintenance complaints?”she asked.
Eric looked up with a grin.“Only for special guests.”
She gave him a polite smile and said nothing.
Metal clinked.Water hissed briefly, then stopped.Eric worked with more confidence than skill, though maybe that was unfair.Motel owners probably learned every kind of repair whether they wanted to or not.After a minute he turned the shower on again.Steam rose.
He stood and looked almost too pleased with himself.“There.Knew it was the mixer valve.”
“You fixed it fast.”
“I guess I’m still good for something around here.I think some people around here look down on me sometimes.”
Selena folded her arms loosely, feeling sorry for him.Eric had been one of the cool ones.The guy girls wanted to be with.The guy people thought would jump in his Camaro one day and head off out of town, kicking up dust and never looking back.But no, he stayed.A ghost in his old haunts.
She gave him a soft smile.“Running a motel counts as something, Eric.You’ve done better than you think.”
“Depends who you ask.”He picked up his toolbox.“Sorry, Selena.You don’t want to hear all that.I work so many hours up here; I don’t get much time to catch up with people from back in the day.Any that want to, that is.”
His tone had shifted just enough for her to hear the edge beneath it.Elmsview and Eagleton had a way of measuring people by what they might have become somewhere else.Eric probably knew that.Most people who stayed did.
He wiped his hands on a rag and closed the toolbox.“You heading out today?”
“I am.”
“Then I won’t keep you.”
Another glance.Another smile that wanted to linger.
Selena picked up her jacket from the chair.“Thanks for fixing that, Eric.”
“Any time.”
She believed that.
