Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (113 page)

She
couldn't resist the golden treat, anymore than she could the freshly
ground cup of coffee, and she took her morning finds to a nearby
metal table and enjoyed several moments of watching the locals shop
for their day. It was a perfect moment, one that she captured
several pictures of, but the memory of how it felt to absorb a
culture in the small way that she was, would have to be stored in her
heart with the rest of her favorite moments.

Fifteen
minutes later, she finally left the growing crowd, and moved along
the buildings slowly as she scanned the remaining tables on her way
out of the market. She felt almost overwhelmed by the sights,
smells, and general feel of the city, and even the dull and slightly
echoed click of her boots against the brick was comforting. It was
exactly what she should have been doing at that moment, and what she
once again promised herself that she'd do more of in the future.

The
day would only be improved by warmer weather, but it was above
freezing, and she was at least grateful for that. It was, however,
enough to convince her to return to her room and plan the next part
of her day alone in the beautiful city. She had just walked into her
room when her phone sounded in her back pocket, and Morgan shook her
coat off quickly in order to reach it in time. It was on its last
ring when she pushed the button.

The
call was from Julianne, who wanted to make sure Morgan and Jordy
would find one another the following day. “I can have him meet
you at your hotel, or someplace close by?” Morgan could hear
that Julianne was in a hurry, so she chose the small restaurant
beside the hotel and agreed to a time of ten o'clock in the morning.
“Sounds good, Dear, call me in a few days.”

“And.....
she did it again.” Morgan laughed as she told the silent phone
'goodbye,' then put her phone on the dresser before pulling off her
favorite brown boots. She checked her watch, the one that made her
smile each time she looked at it. “Well, exactly twenty four
hours until we meet, Jordy.” How she planned to spend that time
was still a mystery, but one she planned to solve with the stack of
brochures that she'd snagged in the lobby on her way back to her
room.

She
walked to the bed and fell back, then held the multitude of papers in
the air above her face. “Let's see. Oh, wow!” Morgan
flipped over one of the brochures and saw what was to be the number
one most visited place in Brussels. “Grand-Place,” she
spoke aloud as if she were a tour guide. “
Considered
one of the most beautiful medieval squares in Europe, the ornate
Grand Place is the center of Brussels, where many historic buildings
dating from the 17th century are located.” She opened up the
tri-fold glossy paper and saw the pictures that convinced her of her
afternoon plans. If the area looked anything like it did in the
photos, she knew she would be in tourist heaven. She had already
spent the morning on the outskirts of Grand-Place, and couldn't wait
to delve in even further.

Morgan
took an hour to get herself ready, as she planned to make her
sightseeing an all day event. The temperatures were likely to drop
below freezing within a few hours, so she added a thicker sweater to
her ensemble, then found one of her cute hats and threw it on top of
the few curls she'd added to her hair. She also swapped out the boots
she'd worn that morning for a more comfortable pair that wouldn't
kill her feet if she'd be walking all night. Her red sweater, not the
low cut one that she loved, but one that had her girls covered and
had extra long sleeves, was matched perfectly with her red lipstick.
She'd even given her nails a coat of deep red polish, something she
hadn't taken the time to do in quite a while.

After
the finishing touches of her appearance, she grabbed her camera and
her purse, then went down to the hotel lobby to wait for her cab. She
got a hot cup of coffee to keep her warm on the trip and in a few
minutes, she was in the taxi, headed to the center of Brussels.

She
snapped a few photos along the way, but what she saw when she arrived
to her destination nearly took her breath away. “The pictures
don't do it justice,” she whispered to herself as the black and
white car rolled to a stop. She was sitting in the backseat, staring
out of the window for nearly a minute before the driver reminded her
that she needed to pay. “Sorry..” she mumbled as she dug
in her purse to pull out her card. Her eyes were still on the sights
around her as she passed the young man her bank card.

“Enjoy
your stay,” he told her when he handed her card back. Morgan
thanked him, then quickly climbed out of the car.

“Holy
shit.” It was the only thing she could say. The buildings
directly in front of her couldn't even be summarized in words. It was
a short walking distance away, as it didn't seem as any cars were in
the town square at all, but the distance allowed her to capture more
than a dozen panoramic photos before making her way across the
street. Morgan had been to a lot of town squares, including Scotland,
Ireland, Australia, Russia, Argentina, just about everywhere she'd
gone, she'd visited downtown at least once, but even though
Grand-Place was smaller than the rest, nothing could compare to its
beauty.

The
architecture was more than impressive and the only thing she could
compare the largest of the buildings to was an ancient castle. She
could have imagined warriors from long ago, standing in the watch
towers, holding their torches. Of course, she had no idea if that
were the case, but either way, that's how she pictured it.

As
she got closer, she noticed the whole area seemed to glow in the
sunlight. The gold plated sculptures, the fountains, the beauty...it
was nearly overwhelming. Morgan's feet carried her quickly to the
center of the square where she found herself spinning in a slow
circle, just to take in the sheer beauty. “Where to begin?”
The question was to herself, in her own giddy-excited way, but it was
heard by a near by couple.

“I'd
suggest ya try that place right over there,” a young woman with
an Australian accent reached across Morgan, pointing to a little
shop.

“What
do they have there?” Morgan smiled at the woman, but her
husband answered.

He
had an American accent, which made Morgan find the couple to be very
cute and reminded her of she and Tanner. “The best chocolate
you'll ever have!”

“You
lost me at chocolate!” Morgan laughed and so did the couple.
“I'll definitely try it, thank you.” The couple nodded,
then asked the young woman to take a photo for them in front of a
large fountain of peeing cupid, or so Morgan described it as in her
mind. Well, at least someone asking her to take a picture came with
finding out about chocolate, seemed like a fair trade. She happily
snapped a photo of the happy duo, then with a wave goodbye and a bid
to have a great time, they were lost in the wave of people.

Guess
I'll get that chocolate.
She
smiled to herself, then set out through the crowd and made her way to
the little shop. Next to it was a cute bar, one that she knew she
would have to check out after her sweet treat. She had also taken at
least two dozen pictures of her surroundings in that short walk.

*****

It
was nearly midnight when Morgan finally made it back to her hotel
room. “What a day!” she announced, pulled her boots off
her feet, then went into the bathroom and started a hot bath.

It
really had been quite the day. The chocolate had been the best she
could ever remember consuming and she'd bought extra, knowing
Julianne would feel the same. The beer, on the other hand, hadn't
quite been her taste, but it had done the trick to keep her warm
enough to stick around as long as she did. Of course, she hadn't
spent the whole day in the square. When Morgan had gotten her share
of photos and souvenirs, she'd ventured out of the area and had a
walk through town. Everything seemed to be the throw of a stone from
the Grand Place, which was convenient and gave her a sense of where
she was at all times.

The
people though were quite different than she was used to experiencing.
Unlike Sydney or Romania, where people would come right up to you and
begin talking, the people in Belgium, at least in Brussels, reminded
her a lot like Fane. Quiet, somewhat reserved, friendly, but not in
an 'in your face' way as some places had been. She already had a good
insight as to how Jordy would be, she just hoped he wouldn't be as
hard to crack as Fane had been.
Then
again, Fane had a nice shell to crack.

Her
wide smile remained on her full lips as she undressed, then slid down
into the hot tub. “Jordy. I like that name.”

*****

Morgan's
phone alarm sounded at seven the next morning, but since she'd only
fallen asleep five hours earlier, she easily turned it off and pulled
the blanket back over her head. Then, as if maturity had actually
shoved a reminder in her head about getting ready with a client
standing on the other side of her door, Morgan shot out of bed and
ran to the bathroom. She was still shading her eyes from the
bathroom light as she undressed herself with one hand.

The
hot water slowly forced her awake, and by the time she stepped out of
the shower, she was full of enough energy to get her day started.
Morgan laughed into the mirror after wiping the steam from the glass,
as she had wrapped an extra large fluffy green towel around her head.
She had a two and a half foot tall spiral cloud, that swayed from
side to side when she made the slightest move, wrapped around her
hair. She swayed her hips drastically as she walked, trying to have
a little fun while keeping the mountain of a towel on her head, but
overestimated her sway.

“Shit!”
Morgan hit her foot against the bottom leg of a cherry dresser, and
a distinct sound came from her second toe that mixed horribly with
the pain that was felt instantly. “Shit! Shit! Shit!”
Her towel fell to the floor, after hanging over her eyes, and as she
lifted her foot to grab it, Morgan fell straight to the ground and
hit her face against the corner of the nightstand... right below her
right eye. “Mother Fu...” she rolled to her side and
held her foot, and her face, as her hair nearly wrapped itself around
her neck in the whole process.

She
finally untangled the wet mass, and crawled up to the bed where she
could check the damage. “You freaking broke it! You're an
idiot, Morgan! A freaking idiot!” The girl was still yelling
at herself when her phone started to ring. “Shit!” It
took all of her strength at the moment to hobble to the dresser on
the other side of the room to grab it.

“What?!”
She jumped on one foot back to the bed and sat on the edge as she
thought of yelling into the phone again so that the caller would get
to the point. The pain had brought tears to her eyes, and down her
cheeks, making her squeeze her free hand into a tight fist as she
attempted not to touch her swelling foot. “Fuck! What do you
want?!” She fell backwards and took the phone with her, and
decided she wasn't waiting any longer for the caller to speak. Her
tight fast came up to do just that, when a voice finally came
through.

“Morgan?”
She didn't recognize the caller, and that was enough to make her sit
up again, in spite of the pain that ripped through her entire foot.

“Yes?
Who's this?” Her voice was low, and spoken through her teeth
as she held back the urge to scream at her own misery.

“This
is Jordy, uh... your boss gave me your number. Is this a bad... did
you want to... should I call you... later?” Morgan squeezed
her eyes shut tightly, and took a deep breath. This was exactly the
thing that Julianne had warned her about. The words, 'always be
prepared,' sounded through the loud buzzing in her head.

“I'm..
wow... sorry. I just. Damn. I'm sorry. What can I do for you,
Jordy?” She still didn't sound like herself, but at least she
got her jaws to unclench for a few moments.

The
man explained that he had been out of town, and had arrived earlier
than expected. He suggested that they meet early, as in right then,
since he was there. Morgan, at first, started to be agreeable to
whatever he wanted, but then maturity did that mind-shoving thing
again.

“Actually,
I'm not ready at all. I'll just meet you at ten, at the restaurant,
if that's alright?” Morgan, still reeling from the condition
of her worsening foot, sat straighter as she felt a wave of
independence fill her very soul.