Underestimated (5 page)

My meditation was interrupted when a friendly yellow lab

barked and placed his paws on the rock that I was perched

on.

“Hello there,” I said, petting him. I looked up to

see where his owner was. There was an older gentleman

walking toward me with a smile and a crooked stick in

one hand.

“Sorry about that,” he said as he approached lifting

his walking stick and poking it into the sand with every

step. I noticed that he walked with a limp and assumed the

stick was for support.

“Oh, it’s okay. I think he just wanted to say hi,” I

said, sliding from the rock.

“I’m John Hunter. I live about a mile north of

here,” he explained pointing to the peak with his stick.

“I’m Riley,” I offered, omitting my last name. I

forgot it again, but just for a second. “I live right up there,”

I pointed, kind of in the right direction. He didn’t need to

know which house. You live on the other side of the

peak?” I asked, wondering how he got around it.

“Yup, you have about three hours of sand before

the ocean takes it back. This hour and two more,” he

smiled.

“Thanks. I will remember that.” I bent to pick up a

piece of sea glass that the sun had radiated on, catching my

eye. I wiped it with my thumb, feeling the smooth surface.

“Purple,” John said, admiring the sea glass,

“extremely uncommon. May I?” he asked, reaching for my

sea glass find.

I handed it over to him and asked, “Why is purple

uncommon?”

“Well, believe it or not, it started out as clear

glass, used in a variety of applications from beverage

bottles, food containers, decorative tableware, door

knobs, and more. It could have even come from an old car

windshield,” he explained and handed it back. “Wanna

know something else?”

“Sure,” I replied.

“A purple sea glass find is considered to bring

good luck. You should make a necklace or bracelet out of

it,” he added.

Good luck? I could use that.

“Come on boy,” he called to his wandering dog.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Riley,” he nodded and

went about his walk.

I spent two hours on the beach, looking for more

sea glass. I didn’t find any more. My stomach began to

remind me that it needed fed, and I walked back up the

path. Going down was a lot easier than getting back up.

I didn’t see Lauren again that day. I was starting to

get a little antsy about starting my new job the next day. I

made myself hotdogs and french-fries for supper and felt a

little sneaky about it. Drew would have never eaten a

hotdog. I also watched reality T.V, something else that

Drew refused to watch. I seriously needed to stop doing

things just because Drew would hate them, but it did make

me feel like I was twisting the knife just a little, which

made me smile.

I had a hard time falling asleep, and when I finally

did, I woke to a pounding heart and sweating profusely.

My dream was so real, and it took me several minutes to

calm myself down and convince my conscious that it

wasn’t real, and I was fine.

I walked to the kitchen and got a drink of water,

still trying to forget the dream. It was early morning, and I

watched Lauren leave for work. Rather than going back to

bed like I needed to, I ran a hot tub of water and tried to

relax. I really needed to stop thinking about Drew. I was

not Morgan Kelley. I was Riley Murphy, and Drew Kelley

would never hurt me again. This was my life. I was not

Drew Kelley’s wife. I had my own life, and I could now

live it however, I pleased.

I honestly did just think I could walk away and

forget the past twenty five years of my life. Needless to

say, it wasn’t working, just yet. Maybe I did need to seek

counseling. Ms. K had suggested it. No. I don’t need

counseling. I just need to focus on my future and not my

past. I can do this. I closed my eyes and breathed in the

steam from the hot water, giving myself the much needed

pep talk.

I made coffee and turned the radio station to Z-

103. I sat on my new sofa and listened to Lauren and this

guy, Levi. I was actually laughing. They had a psychic on

the show, and people were calling in to find out how old

they would be when they died. I laughed out loud when

one caller was telling the two how much she enjoyed their

show. She explained that she only had one complaint, and

as soon as she said it, Lauren hung up on her, saying their

egos wouldn’t handle complaints.

I was overly impressed with their morning show

and was even starting to like the country music that they

had played. That was until they played a song by Shania

Twain, ‘Black eyes and blue tears,’ something about no

more excuses, no more crying in the corner and no more

bruises. As soon as the country singer wailed out begging,

please no more, I jumped up and turned off the radio. It

was just too close to home, and my scars were still too

raw to cope with the words.

I searched through my closet to find something to

wear to work. What the hell do you wear to a coffee slash

hippy store? How do the two even go together? I decided

on a pair of dark jeans that didn’t quite fit. They could

have been a size smaller. I was definitely going shopping

my next day off. I wore a plaid, green and white shirt and

tucked it into my jeans, hoping maybe to use up some of

the slack. I brushed out my shoulder length hair and pulled

just the top back, leaving one strand to fall around my

face.

I was nervous as I parked my car in the back alley

where I was told to park. I saw the back door, but

wondered if I should I use the front door my first day. I

didn’t have to decide when Starlight came out with a bag

of trash.

“Good morning,” she said with a happy smile.

Starlight wore a long flowing skirt with sandals

and a sixties looking shirt with some sort of Indian design,

and long flowing sleeves.

“Good morning,” I smiled back.

Starlight shook my hand, and the first thing that I

noticed was the peace sign tattoo between her thumb and

forefinger.

“Well, come on in,” she exclaimed and I followed

her in.

The door opened to a storage room with boxes and

boxes of I had no idea what. I looked in the first door as

we passed. It was an extremely messy office with stacks

and stacks of papers. This could be a problem with my

OCD. Everything had a place, and I couldn’t even blame

that one on Drew. Even when I lived at home growing up,

the dump that we occupied was as clean as the place

would allow. Maybe I tried to make it better than what I

knew it could ever be, but for some reason it had always

stuck with me.

“You can throw your purse in here,” Starlight

stopped at the office door. “Just remember where you put

it. Things seem to come up missing in here,” she joked,

and I raised my eyebrows.

I wonder why.

We walked out to the front, and there was a

counter with a register and too much junk. Oh boy, I

thought, wondering if I could handle the mess. The part of

the store on the far side was supposed to be the coffee

shop. The part by the register was the hippy shop. Or

something. I hadn’t quite figured out what she had going on

in all of the chaos just yet. There was everything you could

think of including a big glass bong displayed in a glass

case. No wonder she was so happy.

“Go ahead, look around,” Starlight gestured with

her hand.

I noticed three older gentlemen at a table in front

of the window, drinking coffee and arguing about what

year some bridge had been built. I thumbed through the

shirts and pants rack and then moved over to the shelves.

Starlight had every kind of tea imaginable. There were

shelves of little figurines, and I had already fallen in love

with a miniature little boy in jean overalls rolled up to his

knees and holding onto two little puppies as they licked

his cinched face.

“Would you like some coffee?” Starlight asked.

“Sure,” I replied and hoped she wasn’t going to

offer me the breast milk.

I followed her over to the coffee bar and was

relieved when she asked me what my flavor was.

“French vanilla?” I said in more of a question,

wondering if she had it.

“The best,” she answered, and she was right. It

was the richest coffee I had ever tasted.

I wondered why she would hire me to work there,

after only seeing three customers stopping into get coffee

after three hours. I didn’t think she could have that much

business to pay me. I got my answer around three o’clock

when she decided that she should show me how to order

the teas and coffees.

“Come on,” she said and I followed her to her

confusing office. “We only have a week to get you up to

speed before I leave.”

“Leave?”

“Yeah, I am flying to Australia for few weeks. I

usually just close the place up, but my usual patrons are

getting pretty tired of me just closing up and leaving. Don’t

worry, you’ll be fine. Truck comes in on Tuesday. I will

show you how to keep the coffee machines going. Saturday

mornings are pretty crazy in here, but the good news is,

you only have to ring them up. They get their own coffee.

Phyllis brings pastries from her bakery on Saturdays and

Millie brings the best deli sandwiches ever on Wednesday

afternoons. That empty cold case by the counter is where

you will put them. We always sell out of them or pretty

close to it anyway.”

“If the pastries and deli sandwiches do so well,

why don’t you sell them every day?” I asked, curious.

“Nah, that’s too much work, besides I don’t want

people hanging out in here every day,” she teased.

I did like Starlight and Lauren was right, the lady

was as Bohemian as you could get. I don’t think the devil

could have pissed her off.

***

love with my new life. I would almost say I had a

delightful routine going. Wake up and laugh to Lauren and

Levi in the morning, laugh some more with Starlight during

the day, drink too much coffee, eat dinner with Lauren, and

walk on the beach. By the end of the week I knew

everything that I needed to know to be able to keep the

shop up and running, not that any monkey couldn’t learn it,

but still. I liked my job other than the fact that it needed a

good cleaning which I was planning to talk to Starlight

about that day, her last day with me. I didn’t want to step

on her toes, but come on, I didn’t know how in the world

she kept her books up with the mess in the office.

It was well into the afternoon when I finally

worked up the nerve to ask.

“Starlight, I was wondering if it would be okay if I

done some cleaning and organizing while you were

away,” I asked, really fast. I always had a problem with

asking for things, even growing up, and it was worse with

Drew. He always made me earn it one way or another.

Why was my heart beating so fast? It wasn’t like I asked to

remodel the place or anything. The worse thing that could

happen was she would say no.

“Honey, you do whatever you want to do here. I

don’t plan to spend much time here, now that I have you.

You’re going to be running the joint, so make it your

home.”

I smiled, relieved as I relaxed.

Friday was the busiest day I had seen since I had

started. I sold some of the clothing articles to some high

school girls and some of the Indian figurines to some

tourist. The coffee had to be replenished throughout the

day and we opened up one of the boxes in the back and

restocked the shelves with figurines.

“Where do you get these?” I asked Starlight,

unwrapping a family of picnicking figurines.

“I go to this trade show in Las Vegas twice a year.

I will take you some time. It’s the coolest thing ever.”

My heart sped up at the mention of Las Vegas. I

wouldn’t be going anywhere near that trade show.