She sent him a quick text, 'we need to chat'
She waited for him to answer. She sat staring at the phone like a stalker. He never answered her but they called her flight.
She sent another quick message, 'you're my dad' She waited to be the last person boarding the plane staring at her two delivered texts. He never responded.
She closed the phone feeling the blinding tears filing her eyes and dropped the phone in the trash as she boarded the plane.
She wanted so badly to see Aimee. She thought about her as she sat in her seat and buckled her belt. She hadn’t been on a plane ever before in her life. She felt nervous about flying as she watched sitting around her.
She let her mind wander as she tilted her seat back and closed her eyes.
The take off was frightening but once they were in the air she felt like pieces of herself were coming back as she got closer to home.
She didn’t know what she would find but she knew whatever it was there had to be something about Jal that hadn’t changed. She missed her hometown even if it wasn’t hers anymore.
She stepped off the plane at the Albuquerque International Airport and walked confused of where she was supposed to go. She needed a connecting flight to Hobbs. She walked out into an open area following the other people around her looking around as they all walked in different directions.
"You lost?"
She looked at a man in a dark blue uniform. He was a little older than her with a very nice smile. He had an Australian accent. She liked accents.
She nodded, "I am.
His dark brown eyes sparkled, "Well just my luck. I never stumble upon the pretty girls who are lost."
She laughed.
"Where are you going?"
"Hobbs."
"You need a connecting flight?"
She nodded.
"This way." He started to walk pointing her in the right direction.
"Thanks."
"No prob. So you from Hobbs?"
She shook her head no actually I'm from a small place just south. Jal."
He smiled brightly, "Yes I've been actually once many years ago."
"Was there a diner on the outskirts?"
He laughed, "Yes Cookies. Yes, it’s a bit of a dive but the burgers are the best I've ever eaten. If I recall there was a sweaty man in the back who yelled at some lady. He seemed a bit feisty. You going there?"
She smiled brightly, "I am." Cookie was like a long lost relative for her. He was everything her uncle had been to her, before. She couldn’t wait to see him.
The man stopped, "This is your gate. You board in five minutes."
She smiled, "Thanks so much."
He bowed slightly, "It was my pleasure. Have a safe flight."
He turned and left her standing at the small gate with only a few chairs. She sat in one and waited for them to call boarding.
She tried not to think about the fact Lucas would never find her. They didn’t know where in New Mexico she had been from. She never had spoken about home with any of them in the new Ari's world. There would be no getting back to Portland, she didn’t have any money left. She had used the small amount of money she had to pay for the trip to Jal and had saved a small amount to get her through the first month of rent and food. She knew Cookie would give her a job, she hoped anyway.
The flight on the small charter plane was beyond frightening but it was fast and it seemed over before it had started. She got off the plane to the dry warm air like a sweet musk the desert air filled her nostrils and senses. She loved the feeling of the air and heat. She could feel the soaked awful feeling of the coastline leaving her as the warmth reached into her to dry her out.
She caught the transit from the airport, it was a coach line bus direct to Jal. She got off the bus at the stop breathing it all in. The town looked just as she recalled, nothing was different as far as she could see. She walked along the street smiling at people who looked at her like she was nuts. She saw Missy West who she had gone to high school with and waved. Missy looked at her like she had three heads and waved back awkwardly. Ari stopped herself and kept her eyes on the ground remembering no one knew her.
She walked to the outskirts of town and smiled looking up seeing the sign. It used to say Vince's but now it said Cookies. She nearly ran to the diner. It looked exactly the same, long like it were a doublewide trailer out in the middle of the dusty desert with wide wooden stairs in the middle of it. The sign was red and glowed in the night. She was exhausted from spending the night traveling but it had been worth it. She felt the exhaustion shake off as she ran up to the stairs and through the doorway.
The world stopped for her, everything froze as the smell of the diner filled her. She closed her eyes for the smallest of seconds letting it all wash over her. The million memories of a happy childhood filled with normalcy and love and kindness.
"Its not fancy sweetie, you just seat yourself."
She opened her eyes and smiled at Lorna, the waitress who had always worked there. She had long suspected her uncle and Lorna were more than friends.
"Hi, uhm okay thanks." She wanted to hug the older woman and dance around the diner. Fans were blowing the smells around the room.
She recognized every patron.
She sat at the bar where she'd spent her entire life sipping a shake after school listening to them all bicker and razz each other.
A man she didn’t recognize walked up and smirked at her in a way that crushed her fantasy life of being home, "Hey there beautiful what can I get you?"
She raised an eyebrow wondering if anyone else could see him. He looked about twenty-five with short blonde hair and very tanned skin.
She grimaced at him, "Wow what did you get fired from Jersey Shore?"
He laughed, "Spicy, I like spicy. You don’t look like you're from here either."
She nodded, "I'm from around here."
He shook his head, "Nope I'd say North West by the sound of that accent, maybe even Canadian."
She smiled, "You think you're pretty good don’t you?"
He nodded, "Chocolate shake and a chicken burger with cheese no fries?"
She laughed, "Okay have we met?"
He smiled too charmingly, "Yeah I feel the same way but I don’t think so. I'm from the East coast so unless you’ve been there."
She froze realizing exactly who he was. She'd met him once in New York at the Roses, when she'd been angry Ari. He was a shifter, a werecat of some sort. He left as she arrived. They'd met twice.
"Mitchell?" She asked softly.
He froze taking a step back still smiling, "We have met. Where?"
She froze, "Uhhh New York."
His face dropped, "New York, as in New York New York?"
She nodded, "I still want my shake dude."
He smirked, "What's your poison?"
She raised her hands and waved her fingers at him.
"Jazz hands?"
She burst out laughing, "Basically."
"Name?"
"Ari."
He smiled, "Holy shit, I've heard about you." His face lowered as did his voice, "Oh my god wait a minute have we met before in one of the other worlds you've made?"
She nodded.
"What you doing here?"
She looked around, "I was raised here, before."
"No shit?"
She shook her head liking him so much more, at least liking the fact she wasn’t completely alone.
"You know Cookie?"
"Yeah he worked for my uncle for a few years before." Her smile faded as she remembered, "Well before."
He put one of his huge tanned hands on hers, "It's going to be okay Ari. I'm going to assume you're on the lamb?"
"Yeah. I left. I keep messing it up for everyone. As long as I'm near them their lives keep getting turned upside down."
He frowned and pulled his hand back, "Oh I heard it like you couldn’t send us back. Just mess us up short term."
She laughed at the concerned expression on his face, "No I can't but I can alter their world by influencing humans involved with them. I won't send anyone here back don’t worry. I'm trying not to notice people."
"How's that working for you?"
She shook her head, "Not good. The girl in the corner is like thirteen and pregnant, the man at the table behind me is a drunk and maybe a drug addict and I know for a fact the guy in the red jacket is abusive to his wife. I could change it all."
"Heavy responsibility. On one hand you leave it knowing their lives will be ruined or you send them back and change every footprint they’ve made?"
"That’s it in a nutshell."
"Lemme get you the burger, food always makes me feel better."
She laughed, "That’s cause you're a shifter."
Lorna walked behind the counter interrupting their discussion, "Mitch lets keep the flirting to a minimum."
He smirked at Ari, "Oh she's an old friend Lorna. You're still my favorite girl."
Lorna looked at the ring on Ari's hand and smiled, "Oh yeah you went to the same college."
Ari blushed, "Oh uhm yeah. Same institutional training." She rolled her eyes casually.
Lorna smiled, "Well I pity a pretty girl like you being stuck listening to prince charming here day in and day out." She winked at Mitch who smiled handsomely. He was truly smoking hot, like all shifters. He was tall and built with short blond hair and a tan like he was a surfer. Ari imagined him to be quite the ladies man. His smile was electrifying with perfect teeth and juicy lips. He bit his lip watching Ari.
She shook her head smiling again under the heat of his gaze, "I can smell him on you ya know."
She looked up at him feeling frightened, "Who?"
"Lucas and a little Ben I think. That’s some kinky shit Ari."
She rolled her eyes, "Not as kinky as you think."
He reached forward and rubbed his thumb down her hand, "If you need any help getting rid of that smell you let me know."
