The Color of Heaven - 09 - The Color of Time (25 page)

“Sort of.” I picked up my ginger ale and took a sip. “We knew each other… Oh, how can I put this? In another life.”

The barmaid nodded knowingly. “I get it. I’ve had lots of those. Two years ago, I was seeing this guy who just wanted to sit in his basement and play video games all day. I got into it, too, for a while. Thank God I woke up. That was definitely a strange life.”

That wasn’t exactly what I was referring to, but I understood what she was saying.

“Do you know where Cassie is now?” I asked.

“She left to take a job in a dentist’s office. Preferred the nine-to-five lifestyle I guess. I think she had kids. She wanted to be home for them at bedtime.”

My heart nearly beat out of my chest. “Did you just say she went to work for a
dentist
?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you know his name?”

“Can’t remember. I didn’t really know Cassie that well. We only worked together for a week or so before she left. I was her replacement.”

The food waitress moved behind the bar and knocked on it to get the barmaid’s attention. “I need two Edingers and a glass of Lindeman’s Shiraz.”

By that time, I was digging into my purse for my phone to check the listings for dentists in Portland. I googled Dr. Chris Jenson, and sure enough, a downtown practice with three other dentists appeared at the top of the list. Was it possible that Cassie worked there?

“Holy crap,” I said, as I fished through my wallet for a few bills to pay for my ginger ale. “Thanks. I gotta go.”

“See ya,” the barmaid said as I hopped off the stool and ran out.

Chapter Fifty-two

It was past 5:00, and I certainly didn’t want to burst through the doors of Temple Street Dental and dash straight into Chris’s arms like a long lost lover. That would make me look like a crazy person.

For that matter, maybe I
was
crazy. How could I actually believe that I’d lived three different lives? Maybe it was all just an incredibly vivid, lucid dream with psychic elements.

Either way, it was likely that Chris was married with a family by now, because that’s the kind of man he was. Settled and dependable. I wasn’t surprised when I learned he’d moved back here from Seattle. But the question remained: Had he brought Katelyn with him? Or some other wife? What had his life been like over the past fifteen years? I was overwhelmingly curious to learn the answers to those questions.

And what about Cassie, my dear, close friend who wasn’t going to know me from a hole in the wall? I tried to prepare myself for that as I searched through my laptop files for my resume and drove to the business center to have it printed.

* * *

I had no idea what my intentions were the following morning when I walked into the reception area of Temple Street Dental. I had originally come to Portland to care from my elderly grandmother who had fallen and broken her hip, but I was also an unemployed dental hygienist with very few prospects back home in Montana. I needed a job, and ever since my experience with lucid dreaming, this part of the world felt more like home to me than the place I’d been raised. The truth was…I’d never been truly happy in Montana. Maybe it was time for a change. Maybe that’s why all of this was happening. Fate was playing hardball with me, because subtly hadn’t worked thus far.

So there I stood, with the perfect excuse to approach the red-haired woman at the reception desk wearing a nametag that read “Cassie.”

* * *

“Hi there.” She greeted me cheerfully. “Do you have an appointment?”

“No,” I replied, feeling a burst of giddiness to be meeting Cassie like this, as if we’d never met. Which we hadn’t. I was still having trouble making sense of it all.

“Would it be okay if I dropped off a resume?” I asked. “I’m a dental hygienist.”

Her eyebrows flew up. “Oh, sure! That would be great. I can take it for you and show it to the partners. Each hires their own hygenist, so I’ll make a few copies.”

I passed the sealed manila envelope across the counter. “Thank you.”

Cassie took it and laid it next to her computer keyboard. “Are you looking for full time or part time?”

“Either, or,” I replied. “I just moved here from Montana where I got my diploma last year. I do have some experience, though. I worked a maternity leave for a large practice in Billings. Then the new mother decided to come back to work early.”

Cassie gave me a look. “Don’t you hate when that happens?” Her eyes fixed on mine and she inclined her head. “You look familiar. Do we know each other?”

The question filled me with euphoria and a feeling of hope. Perhaps I wasn’t a total stranger to her after all.

“I’m not sure. I used to spend my summers here as a kid. My sister and I took sailing and tennis lessons. That was a long time ago, though.”

“I always took tennis lessons in the summers. Maybe we played against each other or something.”

“Maybe so.” We stared at each other fixedly for a few seconds until I shook myself out of my reverie and cleared my throat. “On that note, I think I know one of the dentists who works here. Chris Jenson? We were friends back then. I don’t suppose he’s working today? If he is, I’d love to say hello.”

Cassie regarded me with interest. “Yes, he’s here, but he’s with a patient right now. What’s your name?”

She glanced quickly toward the resume, but it was sealed so I jumped in.

“It’s Sylvie Nichols,” I told her. “You could mention to him that I was Ethan Foster’s girlfriend, in case he doesn’t remember.”

The color drained from her face. “Oh… I see.”

It seemed that
no one
had forgotten what happened to Ethan and his father all those years ago. People certainly had good memories.

Cassie stood up from her chair. “If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll go and see when he’ll be free.”

With a heated rush of butterflies in my belly, I turned around and found a place to sit in the waiting room that was full of patients.

* * *

A moment later, Cassie returned to the reception desk. She leaned over the counter and waved me over. “Sylvie?”

I stood quickly and approached.

“Dr. Jenson is just finishing up with a patient,” she said in lowered voice, “but if you don’t mind waiting about ten minutes, he said he’ll be right out.”

I nodded with enthusiasm. “Sure, I can wait. Thank you.”

“No problem,” she said with a wink and a smile as I sat down again.

* * *

I pretended to flip through a magazine while I sat in a leather chair in the far corner of the waiting room. In reality, I was completely disinterested in anything I was reading. All I could think about was what I would say to Chris and how I would behave.

I couldn’t act as if we knew each other intimately, because we didn’t. I had to behave as if we were old acquaintances who hadn’t seen each other in fifteen years.

It all felt very intense and stalker-like—and good Lord, I didn’t want to be either of those things, but I could see no way around it. I had to meet Chris Jenson again and lay all my questions to rest, one way or another. At least then I would know the lay of the land and could move forward from there—whatever the terrain might be.

Maybe he’d emerge looking nothing like the man in my dreams, and then I would know that’s all they were—
dreams
.

Either way, he was probably married. In that case, I would say hello, politely ask after his family, maybe get a job out of it, and that would be that.

Ten minutes passed and the waiting continued. Eventually, a full twenty minutes went by and I began to wonder if I should just get up and suggest that Dr. Jenson give me a call when he had more time, because clearly they were running behind. I was about to do exactly that when I heard voices in the back hall. I looked up from my magazine just as a young man emerged to pay his fee at the desk.

My heart began to race out of control at the idea of seeing Chris in the next few seconds. I forced myself to stay focused on the pictures in the magazine and try to look surprised and relaxed if he appeared in front of my chair.

Then at last, he came out of the back hall to the reception desk. Wearing a white lab coat, a blue T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, he scanned all the faces in the waiting room, searching over all of us…

I felt like a deer in the headlights—completely dumbstruck by how handsome he looked with his tousled brown hair and strong facial features. Slim and muscular, he was just as I remembered in the dream, but even more jaw-droppingly virile, because it was obvious he hadn’t shaved that morning.

Finally our eyes met, and he gave me a dazzling smile.

Chapter Fifty-three

“Sylvie.” Chris waved at me to follow him. “Come on back.”

I tossed the magazine onto the coffee table and immediately stood, slung my purse over my shoulder, and felt the other patients watch me with envy for being called in ahead of them.

He led me into a small staff room with a kitchenette, microwave and table, and moved fully into it before turning around.

“My God,” he said, holding his hands out. “Look at you. I feel like I should hug you.”

Feeling completely dumbstruck, I laughed clumsily and stepped forward into his arms. It was a quick hug, friendly and casual.

“How many years has it been?” he asked as we stepped away from each other.

“Too many,” I replied.

“The funeral…”

I nodded and looked down at my feet.

“Rough times,” Chris said. We were quiet for a brief moment until we both looked up. “But you look great,” he said. “What have you been up to? Cassie said you dropped off a resume.”

“I did,” I replied while I struggled to calm my racing heart and behave like a normal human being. “I got my diploma in dental hygiene in Montana just last year. I worked a maternity leave in Billings for a little while, but that ended. Then I had to come out here to take care of my grandmother. She fell and broke her hip a few days ago, so somebody needs to be here for her.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He rested his hands on his hips. “Is she going to be okay?”

I waved my hand dismissively through the air. “Oh, yeah. She’s a real trooper. Nothing can keep that woman down. She’s eighty-six and still goes to Zumba classes and cleans her own rain gutters. It’ll take her a while to get back on her feet, though.”

He looked impressed. “So is this just a temporary thing?” he asked with a tilt of his head. “Or are you planning to move out here permanently?”

Honestly, this was the first time I’d ever considered that as an option. It wasn’t a bad one, actually.

“It depends if I find a job or not,” I replied. “If I do, then it could be a permanent thing. I’m certainly open to it.”

Chris nodded, but didn’t say anything. After a few seconds, he shook his head as if to clear it and dropped his gaze to the floor.

“I’m sorry. I can’t stop staring at you.” He bowed his head for a long moment, then at last his eyes lifted. “Seeing you really takes me back. It feels like yesterday, doesn’t it?”

“More than you know,” I replied, the corner of my mouth lifting in a small grin.

I should have said something more I suppose…helped the conversation bounce along in a socially acceptable manner. I should have asked him what brought him back to Portland or how long he’d been living there, or if he had kids, how his family was. Instead, I found myself locked and held in the incredible spellbinding depths of his eyes.

We stared at each other without speaking for a long moment. In any other circumstance, with any other person, it might have been awkward. But with Chris, I felt as if there were some sort of implicit understanding—that we were both consciously aware that something was present between us. A knowledge of each other. An age-old fondness.

Then propriety set in.

“Your timing is impressive,” Chris said. “As it happens, we’re looking for a new hygienist. Not me, specifically, but one of my partners. Her name is Sandra Aldridge and her regular assistant gave her two weeks’ notice just yesterday. No joke.”

“You’re kidding me.” I wanted to chuckle, because I’d never been a very lucky person in the past—quite the opposite, in fact—so this was a first.

“If she’s looking to hire,” I said, “I’d be available to start right away. I just need to make sure my grandmother is okay at home. They’re supposed to discharge her in a few days and she’ll need some help for a little while.”

Chris nodded. “I’ll certainly put in a good word for you. At the moment, there aren’t many resumes on file, so I think you have a really good chance. I know that Sandra would be thrilled if she didn’t have to advertise the position.”

I spread my arms wide. “I’m totally available.”

Again, we regarded each other meaningfully for a few seconds until he gestured toward the door. “I’m really sorry, Sylvie, but I have to get back to work. Something urgent came in this morning, so we’re all behind today.”

“No problem. I understand. I won’t keep you.” I turned to the door, but he stopped me.

“But wait a second…”

There was something in his voice that made my heart beat faster. I paused and faced him.