Page 7 of Rewrites of the Heart
“I’m having a problem dealing with this. Up until yesterday the two of you were only alive in my imagination. You weren’t physically living in my office. No offense.”
“None taken.” The couple looked at each other to ensure they were in agreement on this one. Apparently, they were.
“But now, suddenly you literally pop up out of nowhere claiming to be characters from my book. You can see how this would skew a person’s view of the world. Fictional characters are just that, fictional. They only reside in a person’s mind. They just don’t spring to life one day on a whim.”
“Claim? Claim?” Blake took several steps toward JJ’s desk. “You said we ‘claim’ to be characters from your book. You don’t believe us?” He waved his arms, his hair dancing around his head. He certainly resembled the hero of her book, she thought, staring in amazement at the similarity.
“Who do you think we are if we aren’t from your—I mean, our—love story? Where do you think we came from?”
She didn’t need this. Hell, she hadn’t even had her first cup of coffee yet. Surely even they had to admit this situation was at best a bit bizarre. At worst, it was totally unbelievable. How many more times did she have to try to process this?
They appeared frighteningly real. Perhaps she should visit a psychiatrist? She rubbed her temples.
“Coffee!” Blake suddenly and loudly announced as if it were the start of a race. “Coffee. That’s what’s missing from your morning. Let me make us, uhm, you, your morning coffee. You’ll feel one-hundred percent better once you get that ole java flowing through your system. I know I’ll feel better.”
She waved her hand motioning him to go. He bounced out.
“I’m confused,” she confessed as she looked at Alex, now on the loveseat. “If you two didn’t leave, what did you do last night after I left?”
“Stayed in here, read some books, surfed the net, took turns sleeping on the loveseat.”
She pursed her lips tightly. “I guess I just assumed that once I left, you would, well, go away. I assumed you were the result of my thoughts. Like a dream or a hallucination triggered by a lack of sleep and overwork. Either way, I just thought you’d go away.”
“If it’s any consolation,” her heroine said, “I thought once you left the room, Blake and I would do just that—leave the room, too. I figured we’d just float back into our world again.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I’m not sure how these things work. While coming to help you was a great idea, I guess it was one we didn’t think through. And I didn’t think returning to our world would be so difficult.
“And I know you have troubles of your own, with us just showing up uninvited, but I’m a little worried I may never get back to my world. I admit we really haven’t investigated all avenues yet. But quite frankly, we made this journey on a whim. At some level I even doubted leaping into your world would work. But it did. And here we are.”
She bit her lip and added, “I’m not sure about anything at the moment.”
She gazed at the forlorn Alex. Yes, that’s how she had envisioned her in one scene when Blake tells her they could never be together, that they weren’t right for each other. It actually made her feel guilty for creating that emotion in her heroine.
“I hope you don’t think I’m saying this because you literally gave me my world, but I really love it there. It’s not that I don’t love you, but…”
She fully believed Alex was about to cry. The scene really touched her.
“We’ll get you back,” she promised her. “There must be a set of rules that could provide us with guidelines of what to do. In the meantime, we’ll try to make you as comfortable and as at home here as we can. Okay?”
Alex shook her head meekly, like a little kid who had just been consoled over a loss of a toy by a parent.
“Coffee for all.” Blake burst into the room, carrying a tray of three cups, milk, and sugar. His hair flipped outrageously from side to side as he jauntily stepped into the office. “I found some biscuits—oops, you guys call them cookies—for breakfast.
“But the food situation is looking a little pitiful down there, Ms. Spritely. I know you don’t want to hear this, but we do need to eat. We may be fictional characters, but it appears we’re equipped with some very real needs. And one of them is food.”
JJ looked over at Alex who nodded her agreement. “I’m starved, personally.”
“Okay, for starters, let me get dressed and then I’ll run to the café to get a quick breakfast. With everything going on, I didn’t realize how hungry I was too.”
As she left the room, she said, “I won’t be long. Later I’ll go grocery shopping. As long as we’re roommates, make yourself at home. The television’s in the living room, find something good to watch, if you want.”
She most assuredly didn’t understand it, but for the moment, the couple seemed very real.
Chapter 7
“That’s awfully nice of her,” Blake said, shortly after JJ left. “I’m really not sure, love, how we’re getting back. I’m a bit worried.”
“I am, too, sweetheart. But what you said earlier, I think you’re right. Our returning has something to do with JJ finding the love of her life. I’ve been thinking about it. I think we were sent on a mission.” Alex’s countenance brightened. “Once we fulfill that mission, we’ll return to our own world.”
He pursed his lips, as he thought about what she suggested.