Dear Mystery Guy (Magnolia Sisters Book 1) (5 page)

Long after Keisha had gone, Della sat in the same spot contemplating her unsolicited analysis. She was not hiding away; she had gone out couple weeks ago--or was it months ago?

She was not a party animal, and it was hard to be social when you couldn't speak.  She was more of a homebody and these days she was weary of going out with Mike. She just didn't like him the way that you should a guy you are contemplating marrying. It would be cruel to string him along.

Maybe she should just tell him what she was feeling; she was working up herself to doing just that.

Chapter Five

Thursday Della went to work almost twenty minutes early. She still earned a frown from Ted Nepaul but he didn't say anything to her. The supermarket was in its busiest period of the year. He probably had lots more on his mind than her.

Thursday was the day that the mystery guy shopped, and she was anticipating seeing him today. It was something of a grand occasion for her, especially now that she had started writing to him every day. Oddly, she felt closer to him, maybe because she envisioned that she was speaking to him like a friend.

He walked into the supermarket near five-thirty. He was dressed all in black. Black jeans, black shirt. Even his watch was black. It gave him an urbane look; usually he was in dark dress pants and a white shirt, like he was coming from work. Today he looked casual and laid back.

She could see a spattering of hair on his arms where the watch rested. His hair was neatly trimmed and he was cleanly shaven. He looked smooth and handsome and well rested. Unlike last week. Like he was more at peace now. Something had changed for him. She wondered what it was.

He got a cart from the dock area and Della watched him keenly as he walked past Sally's station and into the supermarket.

She looked across at the other ladies; they were all watching him. Olivia caught her eye and gave her a thumbs-up before turning to her customer. Della watched him as he headed toward the fresh produce aisle and then disappeared farther down the aisle.

She sighed in disappointment as he disappeared from her line of vision. She concentrated on cashing the five persons in her line and then she saw the mystery guy heading for her line. She was the only person free. Her heart skipped a beat. He had more than ten items in his cart but she didn't care.

"I have eleven items," he said. His voice was husky and low. "I hope that won't disqualify me from this line. I see the sign says ten items or less."

Della blinked rapidly and shook her head in the negative. This was one of her dreams, she was sure. He was really here in front of her, talking to her. She smiled at him.

And he grinned, showing her perfect teeth. He started unpacking his trolley and his phone rang.

Della looked over his items; today he was really shopping light, mostly fruit and vegetables. Maybe he was not going to be around for the Christmas holidays.

"I am in the supermarket," he answered his phone. "Of course I will be at your wedding on Sunday. Yes, I have a plus one." He chuckled at what the other person said on the line. "No, I won't forget the venue; how can I? It's the east section of Hope Gardens. Don't worry, I'll be there. I won't forget."

He hung up the phone and finished unpacking his shopping cart. He gave her an apologetic smile.

Della's ears prickled with the information she just heard. She smiled back at him shyly. Her hands felt a little nervy as she picked up his items and scanned them.

He handed her a credit card and then an ID: his driver's license.

She looked at the ID closely. His name was Luca Lawson. His address was 112 Norbrook Avenue. His birth date was June 3, 1979. He was 34. Thirteen years older than she was; that wasn't too bad. He certainly didn't look it.

She swiped the card and handed it back to him, along with a pen for him to sign his name. In the meantime she inhaled his perfume greedily. He smelled good, expensive.

This was first contact. She knew his name and now his address and even where he was going on Sunday.

This was more than she ever thought she was going to get in her fantasyland when she wrote to him. And she had written to him every day this week, sometimes twice per day. She was having the dream almost constantly now and it still had the added element of the ring.

Tonight she would write him again but this time he was no longer Mystery Guy. He was Luca Lawson. He had a name. She twirled the name in her head.
Luca, Looka, Luke.
She liked it.

He picked up his few items and gave her another smile and left. He was just being polite.

He hadn't really seen her. She was just one face in a sea of people that he probably saw and didn't register, but he had been unfailingly polite and effortlessly charming.

If she wasn't already under his spell, she would surely have been spellbound by his smile tonight.

She watched him as he strolled through the door. He was tall and broad-shouldered. He didn't look as if he had an ounce of surplus fat on him.

It was the first time since coming to the supermarket that he had paid with a card. He usually paid with cash, even when he had several more items than he had this evening. She thought that it was fate that he got a phone call when he came near her. This was supposed to happen. She was supposed to know his name and address.

There was a reason why she was so drawn to him. God wanted them to meet. It was that or she was slowly going off her rockers and had turned into a stalker.

After all, she had been traumatized when she was younger. The possibility was always there that some day she would have a complete mental collapse. Maybe she was degenerating slowly.

She shook her head and quelled the urge to laugh at herself. She had never been this fanciful before.

Chapter Six

"It's nice of you to suggest that we go somewhere today." Mike gave her a boyish grin. "You know, I was thinking that you were trying to avoid me."

Della felt guilty when she saw his happy face. She had suggested that they go out this Sunday because she wanted to go to Hope Gardens and he had a car; it was more convenient to go in a car than to take the bus.

It was something that they had done in the past too, drive around and chat. Well, Mike chatted and she signed. They hadn't done that in a long while and when she texted Mike, suggesting that they go somewhere today, he had been over the moon happy.

But she had thought about it all weekend. Going to Hope Gardens would help her unravel one more layer of the Luca Lawson mystery. She would see his friends or family and she would get to see his plus one.

That had bothered her all weekend. He had a plus one. She was obsessing about it. Who was his plus one?

The thought had occurred to her that she was being a bit weird and this was stalker behavior, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to see him.

It was puzzling, this driving need to see him today. She looked across at Mike, who had opened the car door for her and was regarding her with a smile in his eyes.

"You are so pretty, Della, with your hair out like that."

Della smiled and mouthed, "Thanks." She had thought that a change was in order. She had combed out her hair and had marveled at its length; it was in her mid-back, thick and wavy. She had quite forgotten how long it was.

Maybe Keisha was right in saying that she had been hiding. She had also worn one of her nicer sweater dresses in a nice lavender shade, her favorite color.

Mike cleared his throat and held her arm before she could slide into the car. "Have you thought about it?"

Della's eyes skittered from his. She should have expected this. Mike must have been thinking about the proposal and thought that she had made an extra special effort to be dolled up for him.

She swallowed and then turned around and looked at Mike wearily. "I thought about it."

Mike nodded eagerly. "And?"

"I don't love you, Mike," Della signed, "not like I should love a potential husband. And before I marry anyone I want to know who I really am."

Mike stepped back from her, a disappointed slant to his mouth. "I figured that's what you would say. I thought you'd give me the we are too young argument too."

"You did?" Della asked. She looked around in the parking lot. A car drove up and parked in front of one of the apartments. "You want us to go to Hope Gardens and talk?"

"Sure. Why not?" Mike said, watching as she got into the car and closed her door. He went around to his side and turned to look at her. "But I hoped that...I don't know...I guess I was just being overly ambitious but we have known each other for over a year and you are a great girl."

"And you like the idea of having a wife who can't speak," Della signed. "Hence, no nagging."

Mike chuckled. "No. Well...there is that too but seriously everybody agrees that you would be a great catch so I didn't want to waste any time, you know."

"Me?" Della mouthed. "Really?"

"Yeah." Mike started the car. "You are smart and pretty and you have integrity. Remember last year when you found that purse from Sister Grandison at church and you gave it back with all her money?"

Della frowned. "Isn't that the normal thing to do?"

Mike shrugged. "I would give it back too but there are so many other people who wouldn't, even at church. And then there was Pastor Johnson; he told me if I didn't propose to you soon he would do it himself."

Della's eyes widened and then she started laughing.

Mike glanced at her as she hugged the side of the door. He was chuckling too. "Pastor Johnson is a good catch; he is not old enough to be your grandfather yet."

"You are so funny," Della signed. She thought of the lovable and affable elderly pastor. He was recently widowed. He must have been egging on Mike to propose. 

"I want us to stay friends," Della signed, "but we can't if you are holding out some kind of hope that we can be together."

Mike stopped at a stoplight and looked across at her. "Friends. I can do that. You have to promise that you won't get jealous if I see somebody else, though."

Della chuckled. "Promise."

"I got a promotion last week." The stoplight changed and Mike drove off. "I am now the regional IT manager for the bank. The youngest manager at that level. At twenty-six that's not too bad, is it?"

"That's great!" Della signed. "Really great."

"I'll be stationed in St. Lucia for a short while." Mike grinned. "Maybe I can find a lovely St. Lucian woman to propose to."

Della nodded. "That would be something."

"Sure you are not jealous?" Mike asked again. "Because I am still on the market."

"Sure," Della signed. "I want you to be happy."

"Okay," Mike said. He drove into Hope Gardens and parked under a huge weeping willow tree.

He turned to her. "So why are we here?"

Della groaned. "Promise you won't be mad?"

"Promise." Mike held up his hand. "Wait, you are not here to behead roses, are you?"

"No." Della bit her lip and then mouthed, "I think God wants me to be here."

Mike chuckled. "He does?"

Della nodded. "I am sure of it. I am absolutely sure of it. There is this premonition, this feeling, this urging, this knowing, that this particular man I am going to spy on is vital to me somehow."

"A man?" Mike raised his eyebrows. "We are here to see a man? I mean, spy on a man. Hmmm... How old is he?"

"Youngish," Della said.

"I can't believe this." Mike placed his hand over his heart dramatically. "This is heartbreaking. You really know how to cut a guy deep."

Della signed rapidly. "I have to know why I am so drawn to him. I have never felt like this before. It's like an out of the blue kind of fascination. Can you understand where I am coming from with this?"

Mike released a long sigh. "No. Well, sort of. You think he is a brother or your father or something?"

"No." Della looked at Mike in horror.
Gosh no,
a voice squealed in her head. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. Was that why she was so drawn to the mystery guy, because he was family?

"It's a possibility," Mike defended. "You don't know your family, and you are drawn to him. Wait, when you say drawn to him, you mean attracted?"

Della sighed and then nodded.

"And you are choosing me as your sidekick to check out a guy? You just broke my heart, Della. This is like kicking me when I am down."

Della signed. "Sorry, Mike."

Mike grimaced. "But I'll recover. Okay, what are friends for? Let's go check out this guy you are attracted to."

Della touched his sleeve for him to turn around and read her lips. "We are going to crash a wedding."

Mike sighed dramatically. "A wedding. Is he getting married?"

"No," Della said, "a friend of his...I guess. " She didn't want to tell Mike how she came by the information. He was already looking at her funny.

Della signed rapidly. "I have this dream, of somebody holding me down in a pool. Recently a wedding ring started dropping in the water. I don't know if there is any connection with that and this wedding."

"Oh, now it makes sense." Mike looked at her and nodded. "It makes perfect sense. A dream about a ring and an attraction to a guy. It makes perfect sense."

"It does?" Della asked tentatively. At the best of times it was hard to tell when Mike was joking or being serious.

"No Della. I am not serious. You realize that this sounds crazy. You had a dream about a ring and now you are spying on a guy that you are attracted to."

"It may be significant," Della signed.

Mike grunted.

They headed to the north gardens. Della looked at her watch. It was four o'clock. She had anticipated that this was the time when most weddings would be in session. She was right.

The guests were all seated under a white tent, which was decorated with glorious fresh flowers.

Even Mike commented on the decor. "That is impressive."

"Yes," Della said, still searching through the assembled guests to see if she could spot Luca Lawson. In the two rows of chairs she couldn't see him.

She drifted closer to the tent and then stopped. He was to the far right in the second row and was seated in an aisle seat beside a lady in a red dress. Della's heart started doing a weird skittering motion.

The lady was gripping his hand possessively. Her nicely manicured nails were done in a French manicure; she had her thumb rhythmically rubbing Luca's hand. It was a show of ownership.

Della stared dazedly at the lady's hands. She had two rings on her fingers. Her fingers were long and perfectly manicured.

When the lady turned her head in Della's direction, Della got a full look at her and then she gasped.

She was happy that her gasp was silent; she didn't want Mike asking her any questions.

The lady was beautiful; she looked to be in her thirties. She had one of those classically beautiful faces, with pure honey gold skin and seductive pillowy lips.

Della stepped back from the tent but not before glancing at Luca. He didn't look particularly happy or sad; his expression was neutral as he watched the bride and groom exchange their vows at the front of the tent.

She wondered who they were. Were they relatives of his? The groom was short and chunky and had a receding hair line. The bride was slim and pretty. She looked a little bit like Hazel with her curly hair and peanut butter skin.

Della slowly backed away from the tent. What was she doing here, anyway? Mike followed behind her closely.

"Did you see who you came to see?" he asked.

"Yes." Della nodded.

"And?" Mike asked.

"I want to go home," Della signed. "I think I am having a headache."

Mike picked up a fat curl and tucked it behind her ear. "I have no clue what is going on with you."

"Me neither." Della mouthed. "Me neither."