Chapter two hundred and sixty nine:

Isaac hadn’t known precisely what Christy would be hungry for when she woke. He decided to let her sleep as long as possible, and studied the breakfast menu carefully. He finally decided the safest choice was the waffle bar.

He called down to the kitchen and had breakfast sent up to their room.

He waited patiently until he heard the knock at the door.

Once the trolley with the waffle ingredients was wheeled into the room, he decided to wake Christy before everything cooled.

“C?” He asked gently. He leaned over her and touched her bare shoulder.

“I’m awake.” She said drowsily, pushing herself up on her elbows.

He smiled. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine… why?” She asked, then quickly remembered. “Oh… uhh… so far so good…” She smiled up at him.

“Okay, great… I ordered breakfast.”

“Sounds good. I’m starving.” She reached up and kissed his cheek. “Give me a minute?”

“Sure thing.” He smiled. He walked out into the main room and closed the door behind him. Christy wasn’t normally shy. But he wasn’t going to push it. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down with that morning’s paper. However, before he could even open it, Christy came out of the bedroom, wrapped tightly in the complimentary bath robe.

“Gosh, that coffee smells good.” She smiled, bending to kiss his cheek again. She walked past the breakfast trolley and went straight to where her suitcase was sitting on a chair. “I hope the girls packed my pencils and my sketchbook. I want to draw that view from the balcony.” She began to search through her duffle bag.

“Honey, why don’t we eat? We can always find an art store…” He urged. He was anxious to eat also.

“Oh good! They packed my travel art kit, my collapsible easel, water colors, ooh! Pastels!” Christy cried, excitedly removing the items from the bag.

“C?” Isaac stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, and eat something.”
She smiled finally. “Okay, you’re right. What did you get?”

“Waffles.” He smiled, lifting the metal lids off some of the toppings.

“Fresh strawberries!” Christy cried, “This is fantastic!”
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Jenna leaned over the pool table, lined up her cue carefully and took a shot. The cue-ball jumped over another ball and hit three of hers, knocking them all into separate holes.

Taylor’s jaw dropped in shock.

Without anywhere else to go, they had gone to a nearby pub. Having not slept yet, Taylor ordered himself a beer, and Jen ordered her favorite tea. They had spent hours chatting aimlessly, until he at last challenged her to a game of pool.

She had claimed to not be any good, saying she hadn’t played in ages. Taylor was good; he had a table at home and had quite a bit of practice. However, Jenna was much better.

Jen sauntered around the table, her heels clicking on the slate floor. She considered her next move, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She glanced up at Taylor who was gawking at her in complete awe.

“What?” She asked, “Just because I’m a girl, I have to be bad at pool?”

“No,” Taylor said quickly. “I just didn’t think you’d be this good!”

Jen shrugged. “Small town girl, right? I’ve got to be good at hustling pool.” She bent to line up her shot, and Taylor found himself distracted by the expanse of skin that was showing between the waist of her jeans and her t-shirt. He shook his head quickly, shaking away the inappropriate thoughts.  

Taylor’s phone rang loudly in his pocket.

Jen glanced up at him, raising her eyebrows.

Taylor fished his phone from his pocket and glanced down at the screen on his phone. He recognized Luke’s number. He knew Jen wouldn’t want to talk to him, so he quickly said. “It’s Ike. We’re working on a new song idea,” and stepped out of earshot. Jen was going to win the game anyway.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Tay?” Luke asked “Is Jen with you?”

“Yeah, she’s here. She’s fine.” Taylor said evenly.

“She isn’t answering her phone.” 

“I think it’s off. She doesn’t really want to talk to you right now… she’s pretty pissed.”

Luke sighed. “I know. There’s no indication of her forgiving me any time soon?”

Taylor thought for a minute. “I don’t know. She’s pretty pissed at you.”

“I know… I guess I’ll have to talk to her when she gets back… I just wanted to make sure she’s alright.”

“She’s fine.”

 

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