Chapter 8
After driving to the retreat, largely in silence, Eric and Eden finally pulled up at the hotel and parked.
Walking into the reception area with their things, Eric noted the soothing music playing in the background.
Except for that and the hushed welcomes and polite greetings, silence reigned.
After a brief discussion and an extra fee, since it was quite a bit earlier than the normal check-in time, they were able to sign in and headed up to their rooms.
Stepping into the elevator, Eric suggested, “How about leaving our bags upstairs, then grabbing some breakfast?”
“Sure,” she agreed. A few minutes later, she dropped her bags in her bedroom, then headed back to the front door of their suite. She stopped when she saw something on the floor near the door stopper. She bent down and picked up a small locket, then gasped.
“What is that?” Eric asked.
“It is a locket, and I swear to God it’s one that Debbie used to wear.”
He looked at the locket, then back to her, and asked, “These are probably sold everywhere, bought by many. Can you confirm that this one is Debbie’s?”
“It’s not engraved, if that’s what you mean. I’m quite stunned to see it in the first place, especially since this wasn’t Debbie’s room. Still, I do recognize it and think it was hers. It was a gift from a boyfriend. But then,” she added, with a chuckle, “everything was from a boyfriend.”
He nodded and smiled. “She liked getting gifts, I presume.”
“She loved getting gifts, and she particularly loved gifts—”
“What?” he asked, turning to her.
“I was about to say something terribly mean, and I can’t believe it was about to come out of my mouth,” she admitted, “and it’s not me. I don’t like this thought.”
“You should tell me what it was anyway.”
“I’ll just say, she liked to get gifts from men,” she replied reluctantly.
“Lots of women do,” he stated.
She looked at him briefly and then smiled, nodding. “I guess it’s a fairly common thing, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s a very common thing.”
“Fine,” she muttered. “Debbie liked to get gifts. In fact, all her boyfriends were required to get her gifts. We used to sit and joke about it sometimes because it was such a thing for her.”
“Power trips?”
“Nah, not that. I think it was more that she felt, if she didn’t get the gifts, she wasn’t loved, so it was validation for her.”
“And you felt sorry for her, didn’t you?
” When she frowned at him, he nodded. “That was a big part of your relationship. You felt sorry for her. It’s not that you were there for your own reasons so much, though that would have been part of it, but perhaps a big part of your relationship was the fact that you felt sorry for her. ”
“I did in a way, I guess,” she acknowledged. “She didn’t really have many friends and not any long-term boyfriends.”
“Interesting. Now, let’s go get breakfast.” When she rolled her eyes, he added, “And remember that we’re friends.”
“We are friends, although I don’t know how that came to be,” she muttered. “I hardly know you. You just seem to be … you’re not the normal friend.”
“And there’s a very good reason for that, but I don’t want to try to explain it anytime soon,” he noted, with a laugh. She stared at him, and he shrugged, a twinkle in his eyes and an amused look on his face. “I know it sounds cryptic.”
“That sounds more than cryptic. I’m not sure I like that.” And the conversation was left at that.
Eric added, “It’s fine. I’ll explain later.”
When they went to breakfast, their waitress was a lovely young woman.
Her name tag read Loraine. She wore a turban on her head, and she was bright, positive, and gave them a steady stream of welcoming chatter as she went through their ordering process and bringing them coffee.
As she was about to leave, Eden shared, “I love your headpiece.”
The woman looked up and smiled. “Thank you. I borrowed it from a friend. I’m not religious, but … I’m having chemo, so I needed something.”
“Oh my gosh,” Eden muttered, “I am so sorry.” She couldn’t help but squeeze Loraine’s hand in empathy.
Loraine smiled at her. “I’m … getting by at the moment. I’m certainly not expecting miracles, but I am working my way through this. It just takes more time than you think. … And then you always just feel so tired.”
“Of course.” Eden patted her hand, and the waitress smiled and left. Eden turned to Eric and whispered, “Oh my, isn’t that so sad?”
Eric stared at her, wordless.
“What?” she asked, staring back at him. “What’s that look for?”
He shrugged. “You’re very empathetic.”
“Yet your tone is off, as if you’re swearing at me again.” He burst out laughing, and Eden continued. “It’s not hard to be empathetic to a young woman facing the battles that Loraine is up against.”
“I suspect she’ll be just fine now,” Eric replied.
“I hope so. I mean, you would prefer to think that, if healing was going on at this place. So, it would be something that would benefit the staff too.”
“That would be good, wouldn’t it?” he asked, with a nod. “Let’s hope that’s happening here.”
As they waited for their breakfast, Eden yawned.
“Maybe we should go back to the suite for a nap afterward,” he suggested.
“Maybe,” she conceded, as she yawned again.
Their food came a few minutes later, she smiled up at the same waitress, who reached out a hand instinctively and whispered, “Thank you so much for your kind words.”
Eden nodded. “Hey, anything that you need for support, I’m happy to help,” she offered. “It’s not an easy road ahead of you, but I know you’ll do just fine.”
“Thank you,” Loraine said, with a big smile, and then her smile waned. “I’ve got to work in the back, so I won’t be out here for the next little bit. Enjoy your breakfast. If you need something, you just might have to holler a little louder than normal.”
Eden looked around and realized no other waitresses were nearby. “Not a problem,” she said. “We’re adults, and we can look after ourselves.”
Loraine rolled her eyes at that. “I appreciate that, but you would be surprised at how many people can’t.” And, with that, she was gone, leaving the two of them smiling as she disappeared.
When they finished up their meal, they walked back to their suite. He watched as she yawned several times. “Nap time, maybe?”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
“I was doing great until we stopped. Then, once we got to the restaurant, it just seemed like … all the stuffing came out of me,” she shared, with half a laugh. “Given a chance to unwind, my body jumped at it.”
He studied her to see if she really was completely unaware of what had just happened, and that was certainly how it appeared.
He filed that away in the back of his brain as something to bring up with Stefan.
If Eden really had no clue about energy work, to what extent did she have any involvement in this?
Did she have any idea that she was involved in this? And what was Debbie’s involvement in any of this? Or was it all just Eric’s imagination?
He couldn’t even begin to think about everything that was going on right now. As they walked inside their suite, he urged her inside her bedroom. “Go lie down. You’ll feel better.” She nodded, yawned yet again, and slipped into her room. He watched her door close.
His bedroom was right next to hers, and, as he walked inside, his phone buzzed. He checked his Caller ID and noted it was Stefan. “Right on time,” he said into the phone.
“You just get there?”
“We did, just returned from having breakfast. Eden has gone to lie down.”
“How does it feel?”
“Odd,” he replied, releasing his pent-up breath.
“What’s odd?” Curiosity filled his tone, along with a hint of amusement.
“The whole place feels … off in a way. I’m not sure exactly why. And,” he added, looking out the window, “the thing is, I don’t really feel it’s off in a negative way. There’s a unique, positive vibration here.”
“And that would make sense.”
“Does it?”
“I mean, they’re selling a good-vibration package,” Stefan noted, with a small laugh. “And people must feel good to have a successful retreat, with repeat guests. … What else is on your mind? I can tell there is something.”
“Yes.” Eric was unsure if he even wanted to broach the topic. “Maybe I just need to observe a little bit more and get a better understanding. It’s not necessarily odd as much as unique maybe.”
“Her abilities, you mean?”
“Yeah. Wait. … You knew that already?”
“No, but I had my suspicions.” Stefan sighed. “She doesn’t know she has any.”
“That’s the other thing I don’t quite get.”
“That’s not unheard of,” Stefan stated cautiously. “A lot of people don’t necessarily know they have abilities. They do things instinctively and don’t realize the full extent of what they’re doing, and I would say that’s exactly what’s happening here with Eden.”
“It is special—watching her, I mean. She has so much compassion for people, which is probably why Debbie took advantage of her … constantly. And the more I think about it, the more I believe Debbie was getting something out of that relationship with Eden.”
“Of course. That’s always the case, isn’t it?”
Eric hated to admit that, but Stefan was right, nonetheless. People tended to gravitate to others out of curiosity, comfort, and ultimately need.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just see what comes from this and if you can spot any other abilities Eden might have.”
“Is there anything in particular you’re thinking of?” Eric asked cautiously. “I would love to get to know her better, but I don’t know if she’s up for that or not.”
“Right, but—”
“I’m a little too far out of the norm for her at this point.” Eric chuckled. “She would probably be pretty quick to come back to whatever normal is.”
Stefan laughed. “You might be surprised. Anyway, take care.” An odd note filled his tone, as he added, “You need to take care, for the both of you.”
“Oh, good,” Eric muttered. “I always love it when the psychic says to be careful but can’t tell you why.”