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"Um, yes?"

"What wil you say if I cal to ask you to the uard

"U at the corners "Don’t tel me you’l think about it"

I didn’t knohat to say He was askingIt was intriguing A rare butterfly fluttered around in my stomach and that’s when I realized I hadn’t felt any cramps for the last five minutes

I tried to play it cool

"Yeah, sure, yeah, that would be great," I stammered

"Thank you"

So rinned at me in return and stuck my phone number into the pocket He did ayou darlin’" before turning his sturdy fra out of the shop

If this was a romance in the South, where he was fro ful of dirty milk

I walked back to the counter, unable to hide the strange smile on my face There were no other custoate me uninterrupted

"Who on earth was that hunk of finea thrust to her hips

I laughed "He’s an old friend of ave me a funny look and turned to clean out one of the blenders "He didn’t look like just a friend"

I put my hands on my hips "Wel he is He was on the Red Fox episode ere in New Mexico"

"Thought he looked farumbled, and turned on the water ful blast so he couldn’t hear ht Ash was jealous Poor guy

There was a chance he had been sendingbut I was too clueless and self-absorbed to pick them up Can men and women real y not be friends after all ?

See on and they never ended well

"You gave hi tel s me you may be more than friends now"

I waved at her but siven Maxi and a looker at that, but now things were different Especial y now that I kne he felt about le

After I reveled in iddiness, Shay tapped me on the shoulder and placed a mop in one hand and a disinfectant spray in the other

"Hate to burst your bubble, girl, but there’s a bathrooh

I gave her a defeated sed off to the women’s washroom with the mop and spray in hand I entered the empty roo, afraid that for soain or make me lose my lunch At least I had a mop to clean it up

The bathroo relatively busy I locked the door behind h and quick in case a custo

I tackled the toilet first, trying not to lean over the bowl too ue but it was present

While I worked, I thought about how strange it was to have two people from my past show up in the last two days

First Rebecca, wanting to check up on me – orme to rejoin Experi ood fewfrom it But somehow, it had found , from Dex, from that life, I was pul ed back into it I wondered if it would ever go away and I wondered if there was a reason for it So beyond this world

I was busy, deep in thought and scrubbing the stopper in the sink, when it happened

The lights in the bathrooht Then a cry of agony

A rush of pain hit my insides, so intense that I could only drop toround tre outside of the bathroom, in my direction

And then I heard a noise I never thought I’d hear

The consistent drone of a wasp flying around somewhere near my head I froze automatical y, my breath stopped and I didn’t blink

The door shuddered back and forth and I heard the cries of Shay outside of it, but I couldn’t pay it any attention

There was a wasp in the dark bathroom with me

I’d been in a si, the buzzing from the wasp stopped

I felt it land on ainst my skin

If my world was black before, it now turned even blacker

Whether it was froone

When I woke up, I was lying on a stretcher being wheeled down a hal in what looked to be a hospital all I could see were the panels in the ceiling above my head as they sloent past They were perforated and white, except for the corners, which seemed to leak this black fluid It caround in a splat

I turned my head, it was as heavy as a pipe, and looked at the person beside eon He earing a mask, his kind eyes focused on er til youup and doith histo be just fine"

"What happened to ealed like jel y