somehow worth the several hours it had took to get booked.
But Cassandra had not told me much, just that she had went back home. I knew where she was from, so at least I knew where I was supposed to be searching. It had been a couple of times a week for several months that I had been looking for her. Every time I had gotten a chance I had went to the city and to the club where we had met, but she had just vanished. Now at least I had a direction to go.
Loch was not happy. It was a bad time to be taking off, but after he saw the way I wasn’t backing down, and chose not to turn the battle into a war. I hadn’t been the same since I had woken up alone that morning after and he told me to go get my head right. I was embarrassed that a woman had done such a number on me, but there was no way to deny what I felt for her. Fool or not, I needed to see the blonde-haired beauty again. It had become something of an obsession with her and I knew that I had to find her.
With a destination in mind and a few addresses of what I hoped and assumed were her family, I made my way west to the small town of Riley where Laney was from. It had been months since I had seen her and after trying unsuccessfully to forget about her, I knew that it was time for me to find her and bring her back with me. She was mine and I had decided that I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
***
“No sorry. I haven’t seen her today.”
“Today, so you have seen her recently?”
“She was over for dinner last night. Her mom makes some of the best meatloaf and Laney is always over when she makes that. With her in her condition, she can’t get enough of it.”
I was confused, not sure what her condition was, but it didn’t matter. Everything after she was there the night before was kind of murky. I had missed her by a day and this was her parent’s house. Almost sure that she would be staying with them, I was surprised to hear that she had her own place on the other side of town. After giving me the address, her father offered to call her and have her come by, but I told him not to. I didn’t want the first time we met again to be with her father.
There were many questions the more he told me, but all I needed to know was that she was supposed to be home and she was only a couple of miles away from me. Driving over to her townhouse, I was nervous for the first time in my life. It was the first time I cared what happened with a woman and the very idea of her telling me that she didn’t want to be with me, scared me to death. I would make her, I told myself. She had to be mine.
I got out and rechecked the address on the paper. This was the place. Taking a deep breath I locked the rental and walked down the cobbled walkway up to her front door. I could hear music blaring on the other side of the door, a slow Blues song that I had never heard before. It sounded mournful and it made the hand poised to knock stop for a minute. It was strange to think of how much she was on my mind, yet how little I actually knew about her. Laney liked the Blues it appeared.
My hand was still inches from the wooden door. Why was I so damn nervous? I needed to get a hold of my damn self if I was going to win her back. Finally I knocked, louder than I had expected. The area was just so quiet that the sound seemed to echo outside. The music was still blaring and I heard her yell for me to come in. It wasn’t what I had expected, but I pushed the heavy door in and peered inside.
The door opened to a small foyer and then a large set of stairs, as well as a living room that went to the rest of the downstairs. I didn’t see her and for some reason, I didn’t call out. I just walked towards the music. There was a small room to the side that I looked into and I saw rainbows and clouds on the walls. There wasn’t any furniture but the feel of the room stopped me in my tracks. I opened up the door a little more and new that it was a child’s room, maybe even a baby. Did she