~ Chapter Five ~

The next morning, Lotte woke to the smell of coffee and the beeping of the microwave. Her back was hunched in a weird position, and her legs were aching for a warm shower. Giving a little stretch, the girl’s vision took several long moments before they were focused enough to realize the desk she had been slumbering over was not her own. With a sigh, she rolled her neck a moment and then turned to face the gaping figure standing by the pastry oven, a cup of coffee in hand. 

Jeffery extended said cup toward her, “Rough night?” 

By the time Charlotte was done sponging herself off in the employee bathroom and had worked her way through two chocolate-stuffed muffins, she was ready to ‘face the day’. Lucky for her, Jeffery had a spare shirt in his car that didn’t smell like pot or ocean water, and she was even able to find a spare pair of socks in Julian’s desk. 

“You missed a pretty delish meat loaf last night,” Jeffery teased. “Why for did we not come see our buddy Jeff when we needed a place to crash?” 

Lotte had no answer for her friend. She had never been a loner - not for as long as she could remember. In fact, sometimes Charlotte would get a little panicky at the idea of being alone. Yet, for some reason, last night she had wanted to be with David or no one at all. This thought made her insides jump. DAVID? A stranger that she had only met yesterday and hadn’t even spent a total of two hours with. Why was she so determined to be with her Aunt’s boyfriend? Boyfriend? Huh? When had that word entered her vocabulary? Romy didn’t have boyfriends… 

It took several minutes for Lotte to realize that she had lost herself in her own train of thought and hadn’t actually answered Jeffery. By the time that she registered just how crazy she must have been looking, the other baker had already refiled Lotte’s cup of coffee and fetched a bottle of painkillers.

“You look super strung, my little buddy. What did we take?” 

Drugs? Lotte couldn’t help feeling a tinge of excitement. Yes, drugs… That could explain everything. Someone had to have spiked her and… Where? 

Mind reeling, Charlotte replayed her meals from the day before and immediately felt a wave of disappointment wash over her. A croissant she had made herself… Food from the Diner… Jeffery’s eggrolls. It seemed odd to be upset over not having been drugged, but at least then Lotte would have had some logical reason for her behavior the night before. With a sigh, she muttered, “I owe you more eggrolls…” 

Jeffery looked up from the muffin batter he had been gently caressing like a dedicated lover. “What?” 

When Julian arrived around 10, she was pleasantly surprised to see how much work that Lotte and Jeffery had managed to do together. In fact, she was so pleased that she encouraged Lotte to leave around 2 with the other baker. The new guy had just been coming in as they were heading out, and the older woman assured the girl that she deserved the afternoon off. 

Still not in the mood to return to her apartment, Lotte allowed Jeffery to take her home with him and even accepted a t-shirt and some swim shorts so that they could go enjoy the beach. Despite it being winter, it certainly didn’t feel that way. With Christmas always a bust of drunk Romys and some kind of new fling, Charlotte often pretended that day didn’t exist. However, in 27 days, she would be 21, and that was something she knew that Jeffery and his RV neighbors, Tim and Britney, would go all out for. 

Digging her bare feet into the sand, Lotte all but lost herself watching the waves crash against the sand. They had found a great spot to rest, one that plenty of the RV dwellers liked to congregate to, and she was practically being lulled to sleep by the ocean noises when Jeffery turned to her suddenly. 

“Hey, so… You want to move in with me?” 

Thinking that she hadn’t heard him right, Charlotte raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?” 

The man wasn’t deterred, “I mean, we are besties. I just don’t like the way your Aunt keeps piling bullshit onto you.” Crossing his legs, he continued, “At least if you move in with me, you are always going to have a place to live. No more having to worry about a different apartment every couple of months or… sleeping at Julian’s desk. Hell,” he shrugged, “Maybe you should see about moving in with Julian. Anything is better than what you are doing right now…” 

Lotte nodded in full agreement; however, she knew that it would never happen. She was Romy’s only family, and they ‘needed’ each other. It was a bit annoying having to relocate every so often because the crazy lady’s bad habits, or never knowing where money was coming from (or going), but there was no way that Charlotte would just up and leave her Aunt ‘high and dry’. Opening her mouth, the girl was about to voice as much when someone from behind interrupted.

“I can’t agree more,” said a voice that was both strange and familiar. 

Startled, Charlotte turned to find David standing just behind her. She hadn’t even heard him approach over the crashing of the waves. 

Jeffery watched him in confusion, taking a few seconds more for it to click as to where he had seen David before. “Oh, wait, you are that Doctor dude from yesterday. What up?” Ever the friendly guy, he reached out to shake David’s hand. 

David, of course, returned the shake; however, his eyes never left Lotte.