Chapter 13 #2
The trouble was, so much strangeness had gone on by now that she wasn’t even sure what Richard could possibly have had to do with any of this.
According to Stefan, some connection existed between Debbie’s death and this seminar, which may or may not include Origin.
So, considering what Eden and Eric had just experienced, she no longer held any animosity toward Richard.
She smiled at him and added, “Sorry. We didn’t mean to disrupt your sessions.”
“No, but it’s always a little upsetting when people pay to come and then don’t show up. I’m always left wondering why.”
“Of course,” she agreed, “but I can assure you, in this case, it had nothing to do with your program.”
He just nodded and didn’t say a whole lot.
To Eden, he seemed a little on the morose side. “I’m sorry. It was inconsiderate of us.”
He shrugged. “No, that’s fine. It’s all good.”
Yet it was obvious to Eden that something wasn’t all that good. She noted, “You seem a little sad.”
He nodded. “Somebody I knew passed away not long ago, and, though I didn’t get a chance to know her that well, sometimes things are a little hard to deal with. You remind me of her for some reason.”
Realizing he probably meant Debbie, Eden nodded. “I lost somebody not very long ago too,” she shared. “And that was really difficult. She had attended one of your seminars.”
He looked at her in surprise. “Really?”
“Yes,” Eden began. “She was a good friend of mine, and that’s one of the reasons I came. I just … I feel so guilty because I didn’t get to spend the last bit of time with her.”
“What happened?” he asked.
Eden shrugged. “She just didn’t wake up one morning.”
He winced, went pale, and then nodded. “That must be very difficult,” he muttered. Then he got to his feet far too quickly. “Thanks for letting me know. Enjoy your lunch.”
“You can stay if you like,” Eden offered.
“I have business to take care of, and we’ll be resuming right afterward. I’ll take a few minutes for myself before we begin the afternoon session.” And, with that, he moved quickly away, heading out of the room.
She watched as his brother caught sight of him, frowned, then looked at her, picked up the pace, and followed Richard.
Beside her, Eric noted, “That was interesting. Had you never talked to Richard before? Surely he would have recognized you from the earlier weekend session.”
“Not really, he had eyes only for Debbie,” she pointed out.
“I just now more or less decided that Richard had absolutely nothing to do with this mess. Stefan can’t yet link the Origin portal to Debbie’s death necessarily, and while he did say the seminar was connected to Debbie’s death, he didn’t say that Richard was involved.
I guess the least I can do is let him off the hook.
” She added a wave of her hand. “He didn’t acknowledge that he was speaking about Debbie, but it seemed as if he was definitely concerned that my friend might have been Debbie. ”
“I don’t know if concern is the word,” Eric noted, “but I’m sure he cared. If not Debbie, it’s also a reminder that he lost somebody.”
Eden winced. “Right, and I wasn’t thinking about the aspect of his grief at all.”
“No, of course not,” Eric noted, with a gentle smile. “I think you’ve had enough to keep your mind busy for a very long time. Yet you are an empath, so would end up visiting that too.”
She rolled her eyes at that. “I’m still really struggling. How is all this even possible? And what just happened?”
He didn’t say anything, just smiled.
She sighed. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“I know. I get it. Yet, as Stefan said, we need to stay together to stay safe.” Just then his phone buzzed, and he looked down, his eyes squinted. “That’s work calling.” He hopped up. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
She bolted to her feet. He stopped, looked at her, and she shrugged. “We were told to stay together.”
He frowned at her, an odd expression on his face. “I don’t think it matters for this. I’m just taking a phone call outside.”
“It matters,” she snapped. She had no idea why she was so upset, but, as far as she was concerned, it mattered.
He shrugged. “Then it’s a good thing you finished eating. We can go outside to take my call.”
With that, they walked back outside, Eric already on the phone, trying to call his partner.
When he couldn’t get through, he frowned and tried it again and got nothing. Finally he sent texts in the hope that Cody would respond to one of them. When he still got no answer, he shrugged.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I can’t seem to get through to anybody.”
“Could it be a signal issue?”
“Could be. Why don’t we grab a coffee and go sit in the lobby?”
Some comfy chairs were in the lobby, which for her was a boon. It didn’t happen often enough in a lot of these hotels, particularly where conference events were held. You would think that would be an immediate consideration for their guests, but apparently it wasn’t.
With coffee and dessert in hand, they sat in the lobby, where they could be seen in public, where they could be friendly, still together, and allay some of the laughter, suspicion, and curiosity about their absence earlier.
Several people came over and sat down in the vicinity, although nobody struck up a conversation.
And, since they were in such a public space, Eden and Eric also couldn’t speak about all that had happened to them.
Frustrated, she just sat here on her phone as she waited for the bell to ring for the next set of sessions.
Even as it rang, she watched as he got up beside her, then directed her attention to the entrance, where Richard Santino and his brother, Rinaldo, were arguing animatedly out on the front steps.
She winced as she watched obvious signs of strife between the two brothers. When they were done, clearly no meeting of minds had happened. Richard turned and walked back inside.
When he saw that multiple groups of people had been watching them, he just smiled and raised his hands. “Are you guys ready to head in for the afternoon?”
Several people bounced to their feet and walked toward him with a big smile. Others stayed where they were, a little disconcerted by the obvious strife between the brothers.
“Nothing like family to drive each other mad,” Richard quipped, followed by a laugh, “but don’t you worry. My brother and I are doing just fine.”
Several people laughed and said they would expect nothing else.
Richard nodded. “That’s it exactly, isn’t it? I mean, life sometimes sends things a little sideways, and that’s okay. The important thing is that we keep going forward.”
And, with that, he led the way to start the afternoon sessions.