Flash Fiction – “Woman in White” (and a bonus chapter!)

Remember how last month I was going to post a new chapter each week so that by the time this prompt was due I would be up to date?  *nods* That never happened.  Mostly because work and life got in the way and I needed to add a chapter so that later chapters would make sense.  But I didn’t get any time to write for fun until Saturday.  So I changed up the plans a little. :p

I added this week’s photo to my new chapter and I’ll be giving you bonus chapters after that.  Then hopefully by next month we’ll be on the right track again. 🙂

So here’s the next chapter of the still untitled Jensen story. 🙂

If you missed the previous chapter, click here.

Previous Chapters can be found here: 1  2  3  4  5  6

Chapter 7 – Woman in White

After our second meeting, Josh and I were suddenly a thing.  We saw or spoke to each other every day and it was all kinds of exciting.  Each time the bell above the door at work chimed I looked up like an expectant puppy hoping that it was him that would be walking in the door.  I went from being someone who could go almost all day without checking her phone, to keeping it in the pocket of my work apron so that if it vibrated with a text from my adorable new guy friend that I could immediately check it.  He had a habit of sending me photos of every heart-shaped thing he came across in the day and would write his interpretation of what the heart meant.  Usually his theories were incredibly goofy and nothing to do with what the universe had to tell us, but it was a fun addition to my days.

Another really great thing that showed up in my life after meeting Josh was his best friend Miklos.  Miklos was a beautiful, tall, pretty, man who looked like he was fresh out of a men’s fashion magazine.  He was one of those guys who you had to take a second and third glance at when you first saw him because he was just that good looking.  He and Josh met in med school and eventually became roommates and besties.  He too worked at the children’s hospital but was a surgeon.

Miklos and I immediately connected.  He welcomed me into his life with Josh so easily that I felt like I’d been a part of their friendship forever.  Whenever he came into the coffee shop it was always a good time.  Once we’d met and he found out that I worked at the shop he started hanging out there on his breaks from the hospital or sometimes would come in to sit for a while before he began a shift.

“Are you required to stand behind the counter even if there aren’t any customers?” Miklos called out with a chuckle from where he was sitting and reading the newspaper.

“No. I just don’t like to fraternize with the common folk,” I teased.

“Uh, wouldn’t you be the Common Folk since I’m paying you for my coffee?”

Diamond chuckled from where she was bent over the counter playing Candy Crush on her phone.  It was a very slow day. “He’s got a point…”

“Whatever…” I groaned and finished the coffee I was making for myself.  “I still like calling you Common Folk.”

“If it floats your boat, cousin…” he said with a smile then looked back at the paper.

“Wait…” Diamond said and paused her game.  “Why exactly do you call her cousin?”

I smiled and moved to sit in a chair near Miklos.  “Yeah, Mik… explain your logic to Diamond.”

He lowered his paper and shrugged, “It’s not all that deep.  Elle’s last name is Jensen.  My yiayia’s maiden name is Jensen.  Therefore we’re distant cousins.”

The look on Diamond’s face made me laugh hard enough that I almost spit out my coffee, “That’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Diamond shook her head and sighed before going back to her game, “Your lack of imagination disappoints me.”

I patted Miklos on the arm and smiled, “It’s okay, your lack of imagination is good enough for me.”

He smiled, “Thanks, cousin.”

The bell above the door rang and as usual I looked up expectantly.  My heart swooned as my eyes landed on Josh walking through the door, dimples leading the way.  I set my coffee down and stood with a grin, ‘”Well hello there, Dr. Hart.”

He wrapped his arms around my waist with a grin, “Jensen…” He bent to press his lips against mine.  My eyes drifted shut and at least for a moment I was lost in the moment.

I held his face in my hands as we broke the kiss.  He was just so damn pretty. “Hi…”

Miklos chirped up from his seat, “Hello, love muffin…”

Josh chuckled and looked at his friend, “Hey, baby…”

We all laughed and Josh sat down next to me on the couch.  He was fresh from a shift at the hospital and although he tried to hide it, fatigue was hitting him fast.   “You should’ve just went home and gone to bed.  I could’ve caught up with you later.”

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and settled back into the couch, “It’s okay.  I won’t stay long, but I wanted to see you.”  He kissed my temple, “And I expect to see you later too.”

I blushed and looked into my coffee mug, “Okay.”

“So, what’re you guys up to?” he asked.

“Mik was just telling Diamond why he thinks we’re cousins.”

Josh chuckled, “Oh nice… He’s already got people at the hospital thinking that you really are cousins.”

I shrugged, “I suppose it could be worse, he could be telling people that we’re twins who were separated at birth.”

“Now that would be a creative story,” Diamond said from behind her phone.

Miklos groaned, “If you must know, one of the reasons I made the cousin connection is because you’re a lot like my yiayia.  You don’t just have the same maiden name, you’re a lot alike.  Josh is always talking about how you get signs from the universe and crap… Yiayia is the same way.  Except she doesn’t call it universe… she has some other name for it that I can’t remember.”

“I love that you call her yiayia… Most men would have switched over to saying grandma because yiayia is too sweet,” I said with a smile.

“Yeah well, those men aren’t half Greek.  Although Yiayia isn’t Greek, it would be totally not cool in my family to refer to her as grandma.”

“Well I love it. And that’s cool that I remind you of her.”

“That thing about the hearts that you and Josh have… she used to say that to me as a kid.”

“Really?” I asked, my interest increasing.  If Miklos’ grandma was originally a Jensen, was known to get signs from the universe and knew the meaning of symbols in the world, maybe we really were related.  “Where’s she from originally?”

“Chicago.  She moved here in the 30’s I think.  After she and Pappous were married.”

I grinned, “Say that again…”

“What?”

“The Greek word for Grandpa.”

He sighed but smiled, “Pappous.”

“Oh my god that’s adorable,” I giggled.  “Pappous and Yiayia.”

Josh nodded, “Adorable.”  He laughed and Mikloas flipped him off.

“Anyway…” Miklos said.  “I was going to ask you two smartasses to come up to my family’s cottage for the fourth of July.  Elle can meet Yiayia, and we can hang out on the lake for a few days.”

“Do you have that weekend off?” Josh asked me with a great big grin.

“I do…” I said with an equally big grin at the thought of a road trip and a whole weekend with him.  The fourth was still a few weeks away, but what a fun thing to look forward to.

“We accept your invitation…” Josh said.  He grabbed my hand and raised it to his lips for a kiss before holding it in his hand.  “You’ll love Yiayia.  I never really thought about it, but you two really are kind of alike.”

Two customers walked into the shop so I gave Josh a quick kiss then went to help Diamond.  She took their drink orders and I worked on them.  I looked over to Miklos, “Where’s the cottage?”

“Crystal… the little one, not the big one.”

“By Carson City?” I asked as I tended to the coffee.

“Yep!”

“Cool… I’ve been there once, it’s a nice lake.”

I had the strongest image pop into my head of a woman in a white sundress walking through trees at night.  I could tell it was night because everything had a light blue tint to it like a summer night under a full moon.  It was such a powerful image that I felt like I could smell the leaves and feel the warm breeze of the night.  It was really freaking weird.  There were some women in our family who had waking visions but as far as I knew, I wasn’t one of them.  I couldn’t see the woman like I would have in a dream, but she was in my head so vividly it was like I was thinking of a photograph.

I shook my head to get the vision off of my mind and focused again on the coffee for my customers.  After giving the two drinks to the customers and wishing them a good day I cleaned up and made my way back to the boys.  They were talking about previous trips to Crystal Lake and laughing about memories.  Every time one of them said the word Crystal the image of the woman in the trees popped into my head.  I got so caught up in the musty smell of leaves and dirt that I actually sneezed.  I got a chill then too and ran my hands over my arms.

“You okay?” Josh asked and pushed one of my curls behind my ear so he could see my face better.

I nodded and lied, “Uh huh… There’s something in here that’s making me sneeze today.”

“Mik does that to the ladies…” Josh teased.  “When we go up to the cottage we’ll pack some Benedryl for you.  It’ll be fine.”

The guys continued to do that guy thing where they pick on each other incessantly for fun and I was relieved when they finally stopped mentioning the lake.  As long as they didn’t mention it, I was able to keep the woman out of my thoughts.  I had no idea who she was or why she was in my thoughts, but I definitely had some questions for my mom about what significance, if any, Crystal Michigan had in our family.

Bonus Chapter!
Chapter 8 – New

Don’t forget to check out what the other girls have cooked up for this month’s photo!
Bronwyn | Jess | Leigh | Kris | Jessica | Gwen | Paige