Chapter 20
It had been a couple of weeks since I got my tattoo, and it only took Haley a day to realize my tattoo had something to do with my dreams. She was convinced that the stars would align and this green-eyed beauty would reveal herself. But until then, she helped me work on lucid dreaming so I could conjure her almost nightly.
It was weird letting Haley offer me advice in the romance department, but she was right. I could strengthen my connection with this woman in our sleep, and if my feelings were real, there was a chance hers were, too. Even though it was typical for our appearance and location to change, our love never did, which gave me hope that I’d find her in this life. But I quickly got discouraged because I had no idea how.
Work had slowed down some recently, which I was okay with because it gave me time to finish my proposal and apply for a few grants from different entities. I wanted to see my idea put into action, and that gave me a break from analyzing my dreams too much. But now it was a waiting game to see if my proposal would get accepted.
Until then, I had been spending most of my spare time at the studio because I didn’t like to be alone unless I was sleeping. It seemed like there was an emptiness inside of me, and I needed to fill it. I tried to keep busy, but there was only so much I could do in my office.
Usually, I would have hung out with Shanny, but she and Toni hit it off like a house on fire, and I was happy for her. She deserved to find someone who was more than a fly-by-night. But then that left me to my own devices, which meant my mind would wander to her.
As I sat at my desk, staring at my computer, Haley knocked on my door.
“Hey, boss.” She stood there expectantly.
I waved her in. “What’s going on?”
She had a troubled expression. “I wanted to check to make sure everything was okay. We haven’t been swamped the past couple of weeks, but you’ve been back here every day. Is something wrong?”
“Oh, no, nothing’s wrong. I’ve been a little preoccupied with a side project. That’s all. I appreciate your concern, though.”
“Is there anything I can help you with? I mean, I’ve been rather slow up front, too. I’m here if you need me.”
Haley was quickly becoming a sounding board for me, and she would help me with anything.
“Why don’t you shut the door and take a seat?” I motioned to the chair in front of my desk.
Her eyes widened like a baby deer. “Okay. Are you letting me go?”
“What? No! I need your opinion on some things.”
“Oh, thank God. I love this job, boss. And I love working for you. You about gave me a mini-heart attack.”
“Calm down. I couldn’t run this place without you. I’m not letting you get away from me that easily.” I chuckled and relaxed in my chair, hoping she would, too.
“I’m glad to hear that. So, what can I help with?” Her voice was much calmer.
“I’m not sure if there is anything we can do, but I can’t stop thinking about finding the girl from my dreams. Is it a losing battle?”
Her eyes sparkled as she shook her head. “No! It’s very romantic.”
She appeared to be one hundred percent on board, and her excitement was infectious.
“So, what details do we have about her?”
Even though Haley was the one who taught me how to lucid dream, I never talked to her about the specifics of them. They seemed too personal to share with anyone.
“That’s the problem. I’m not sure what she looks like… but maybe.” I shrugged, and she blinked.
“Maybe?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure. But the dreams are constantly changing. It appears there are numerous lifetimes that we’ve lived.”
“Okay, so how do you know which one she is?”
“Well, we usually start as ourselves, and then things evolve.”
She nodded like everything I was saying made complete sense, and I realized she was the right person to talk to. “You think you could describe what she looks like?”
“I can do you one better.” I reached down to my briefcase and pulled out a sketchpad. “Here.” I handed her the picture I had drawn. “I’m not the best artist, but I do have an eye for things, and I tried to capture her essence.”
“Oh wow. If this is what she looks like, no wonder why you’ve been dreaming about her.” She fanned her face as her cheeks turned beet red, but I decided to let that go.
I didn’t want to embarrass her, and I had more important concerns. “I’m definitely taken by her, but do you think if I run this through a program and make it more picture-like, we could put it up somewhere and see if anyone recognizes her?”
She bounced up and down like she had won the lottery. “Oh! You mean like missed connections? Oh my God. And then we could do one of those meet-cute videos, and you two could go viral. This is seriously like a scene from a movie,” she squealed.
“What is missed connections? Will that work?” It seemed odd it would be that easy.
“It’s a section in the classifieds where someone can post messages hoping to reconnect with a person they met but didn’t exchange information with. Regardless if it works or not, it’s at least worth a try.”
I didn’t have any other ideas, and she seemed hopeful, so I was game. “That sounds good to me. But Haley,” I stopped and gave her my serious eyes, “if this works, there will be no videos of any sort.”
She waved her hand as if swatting that comment away. “Don’t be ridiculous. There is no if. I believe this girl is your soul mate, and I have no doubt you’ll meet her.” Haley had this enamored look on her face, which I wished would rub off on me.
“I’ll try to keep that hope alive. But I haven’t been that lucky in the past.” I laughed mirthlessly.
“Yeah, but you haven’t been with her before, right?” She had a good point.
Hopefully, she would end up in my arms soon. At least she would tonight in my dreams, but I wanted to trust it would happen in this life, too.