The Space Between Rachel and Evie Read online

  I would sleep the day away, working off my vicious hangover and wake later this evening to leave again to explore this interesting place.

  Evie

  Kitten waited for me on the doorstep after work, as always. She purred and meowed as I got closer to the stairs, rubbing her soft white fur against my bare legs.

  I scrambled to find the key in my purse and fumbled clumsily with the grocery bag in my other arm as I opened the front door. It creaked loudly as it opened.

  The sound of the crickets outside was deafening and moths fluttered around the outdoor light on the porch. I hated bugs.

  The neighborhood if you could call it that was usually dead quiet this time of night. It was only a row of three houses spread fairly far apart, with an unpaved road running through it.

  Tonight, there was only Mr. Vasquez’s radio heard playing across the street. He raised his hand which held a beer in it to say hello while the other held on possessively to a rifle, as he sat in his rocking chair taking in the heat of the night.

  “Good evening, Mr. Vasquez,” I said as I waved a quick hello before slipping inside.

  We’d lived across the road from Mr. Vasquez’s family for almost sixty years.

  His wife died a few years ago. His children tried to shove him into a nursing home but Mr. Vasquez refused and chose to remain in the house he had been born in alone. Each night he sat outside looking aimlessly to the sky as though he was looking for something but I never knew what.

  Some nights I sat outside on my porch, staring at the night sky with the heavy refractor telescope my uncle Jaime had given me when I was nine for my birthday. It was the best gift I’d ever been given and I took care of it like my life depended on it.

  I’d always been interested in science since I was a little girl, astronomy in particular. I always wondered what could be floating around out there past the edge of Earth’s atmosphere.

  I begged my dad to stay up with me to watch on television when the first International Space Station module launched on November 20th, 1998 from Kazakstan. The rocket carried the Russian-built Zarya Control Module.

  I wanted to be an astrophysicist. I was also fascinated with the laws of physics and chemistry to explain the birth, life, and death of stars, planets, and galaxies but I was never good at math. It was kind of a major prerequisite for the profession.

  Tonight, I had a clear view of Sirius from where I stood. It was the brightest star in the sky.

  I looked at it for a long moment and sighed, then decided to go inside. I made it to the kitchen and quickly unpacked the grocery bag I was carrying. I plopped down at the kitchen table exhausted.

  I worked seven days this week alone and managed to save seven hundred dollars. It had been a good month.

  Kitten returned with her purring. I stood to open a tin of cat food and filled her bowl to the top generously.

  My feet were sore but I was too tired to massage them. I took my shoes off and placed them on the warm linoleum on the floor. That would have to do for now.

  The note that Luke had written was still in my pocket. I pulled it out and placed it on the table staring at it.

  I huffed again as I read it. “I want to see you smile.” Who the hell does he think he is? Was I not smiling as I greeted him? I’d been voted Employee of the Year at Martin’s Diner for three years in a row. The customers loved me.

  Most of the people that came to eat at the diner were from Nevada. The others were either truckers passing through day or night or tourists on their way to Area 51. I made good tips.

  This Luke didn’t know a thing about me. What gave him the right to make baseless accusations that I didn’t smile?

  I thought about my life. I was still in my twenties. I should be out having fun.

  I didn’t have a boyfriend…any longer. There were times when I missed his handsome face. The way he used to trace his name along the soft skin on the inside of my thighs with his fingers as the feeling lulled me to sleep. I used to swear there was no other man on earth that could kiss or fuck me the way he did.

  We’d known each other since grade school. He was the first man I’d ever loved, sometimes it seemed like he would also be the last. I lost my virginity to him when I was sixteen and spent the last ten years hoping he would marry me.

  I considered him my best friend. We were connected, or so I thought.

  Steven or Stevie as everyone called him around here, had dumped me and moved to New York City to live with the girl he had been cheating on me with while he was at NYU.

  Porsche was her name.

  Stevie had at least cared about me enough to come back to Rachel to break up with me in person, which he of course did, after he had sex with me. He didn’t tell me it would be the last time.

  Porsche Altman was a young, fancy socialite and daughter of some multi-millionaire real estate mogul. When I put her name in Google shortly after Stevie told me about her, a picture of a tall, thin, leggy blonde with long hair and blue eyes appeared on the screen of my laptop.

  Porsche’s lips were painted magenta and a huge diamond pendant adorned her neck and hung between her voluptuous breasts. The image of her left me feeling ill.

  I cried as I sat there analyzing the picture for I don’t know how long, looking for whatever flaws I could find on Porsche. There were none. Quickly, I closed the laptop, realizing I was hardly on her level. I accepted that. If I had clever plans to get Stevie back, there was no way I was getting him back from her.

  I couldn’t blame him for leaving this place. Stevie was gone for good.

  It was probably the best thing anyhow. I couldn’t bear the annoying thought of being referred to as Evie and Stevie for the rest of our lives but it still burned for a while—the rejection. The feeling of being passed over for someone and something else better.

  Stevie was destined to become someone important. He was always interested in architecture. I knew one day he would build something amazing from his brilliant ideas. I, on the other hand, was just me. A small-town girl with small dreams, if any dreams at all.

  After the first set of post-breakup phone calls that came from Stevie, just to make sure I was handling the heartbreak constructively and not contemplating suicide, the calls stopped completely and I never heard from him again. Stevie had moved on with his life. I tried my best to do the same.

  I remained here in Rachel, Nevada.

  I worked like a dog. The other exciting thing I did was meet with my astronomy group, two nights a week in the Nevada desert to view the night sky. That was as exciting as my life would get.

  Most of the year-round residents in Rachel lived in mobile homes but there were some permanent homes scattered about. My grandparents’ house was one of them, where I lived. Abuela y abuelo were long gone. The cozy one-story house sat on a large plot of land that used to be a ranch, when my father was young. There were too many memories in this house to sell it. It was free lodging for me also, which was another reason I stayed.

  When I was younger we were bused to Alamo, Nevada days to attend school. It was a forty-five-minute ride, each way. Ariana and I used to see how many cows we could spot along the way and count them. There were cows moseying around everywhere in Rachel. We would also count the tumbleweeds along the way. I giggled at the memory.

  All the money I made at Martin’s Diner, I was able to save for myself. I was planning to invest in a growing enterprise at some point but I wasn’t sure what.

  Mom and Dad retired and had moved off to Tampa, Florida five years ago to live in a seniors’ condominium development, even though they weren’t quite senior yet. They called once a week to check on me. They always seemed to be enjoying life and having more fun than their twenty-something daughter. My parents religiously celebrated happy hour on Fridays and Saturday nights were bingo night with their new friends. If I ever did call on either day, I would struggle to hear what Mom was trying to say through the phone, over the background noise of laughter, music and clanking bottles. I wou
ld tell them that everything was fine here and that I loved them, before pressing the phone to the receiver slowly and taking a deep breath.

  Ariana was really my only friend here and even she found me boring. I sighed.

  Opening the fridge, I spotted a bottle of white wine on the bottom shelf. I didn’t drink during the week. Hell, I didn’t really drink at all but tonight I was going to break the rules and have a little fun, alone. I uncorked the bottle and poured myself a glass and gulped it down in one sip. I was sad. Who was I kidding? I lived alone in an old house with a cat. I was destined to become The Cat Lady.

  I belted out a laugh. I began to laugh so hard, that tears started to drip from the corners of my eyes. I slid down so far in the chair to the kitchen table, I nearly hit the floor. I was laughing at myself—at my empty semblance of a life. It was hilarious. Staring at Luke’s telephone number again, I pressed the paper to my nose. It smelled sweet like delicious cologne and Luke, not like the cigarette aroma I’d expected.

  I finished the bottle of wine and sat spread eagle in the chair with the small piece of paper stuck to my face, inhaling it, until I fell off to sleep.

  Luke

  I knew I couldn’t stay long. Old man Mr. Vasquez across the street was known to carry a rifle. Tonight, I spotted Evie through her kitchen window. There was a nearly empty bottle of wine in front of her, that she’d clearly been drinking, since now from what I could see, the bottle was now empty.

  Evie let her hair down after pulling out the pins with her tiny fingers. Her hair was thick and long and fell to the middle of her back. She was staring at the piece of paper I’d left with my phone number on it. At least she was thinking of me. Maybe even considering calling me. I desperately wanted her to call me. I stealthily scanned each corner of the house, taking in what I could see.

  Evie appeared to live alone with a cat. I could see her tiny bare feet on the kitchen floor. She kneaded the balls of them into the linoleum as if the action provided them some relief. Evie looked tired and was eating some type of microwavable dinner, out of a Styrofoam container while taking more sips of wine from the glass in her hand.

  The house was comfortably decorated with basic furniture. It wasn’t fancy.

  Evie began to laugh, which surprised me. I wondered if someone had come to visit her in the last few minutes. Was she talking to someone? The laughter became louder and louder. I peered closer through the window to get a better look. She was still alone. I began to chuckle quietly to myself watching her. What was she laughing at?

  Evie slid further down into the chair and stuck the piece of paper with my phone number on it to her face, while she tilted her head so far, that her neck was uncomfortably stretched over the back of the chair. What was she doing? This comical spectacle amused me.

  Evie rested there for a while with the paper still stuck to the front of her face. I leaned against the wall of her house for a few minutes and watched as she fell off to sleep in the chair.

  Before I left, I approached cautiously and turned the latch on her front door, which was unlocked. I opened the door and slipped into the kitchen quietly, shutting the light off. I gazed into Evie’s pretty face. She was definitely passed out. I clicked the lock on the door from the inside, locking it behind me and checking it again. I would remind Evie about the potential danger of unlocked doors very soon.

  Evie

  “Evie, have you been drinking?” Ariana asked, eyeing me over suspiciously.

  I remained silent, only massaging the soreness in my neck and groaned.

  Ariana laughed. “What on earth is wrong with you?”

  I let out a long sigh. “I downed a bottle of wine last night and had the worst sleep ever.”

  “Well, well.” Ariana giggled. “Why didn’t you give me a call? I would have come over and joined you.”

  I was quite sure that Ariana had spent last night with Karl. I wasn’t going to interrupt their couple time together.

  “It was nothing, Ariana. I just needed a night cap.”

  Ariana narrowed her brown eyes at me. “Sooooo, you remember that thing I told you about, right? This weekend?” Ariana asked, while grinning stupidly.

  “Karl got us two rooms at the Cosmopolitan on the Strip. It was a really hip hotel. It’s young and vibrant. It’s full of hot guys, Evie. I mean, please consider coming with us.

  “A few of Karl’s friends from school are going to be in Vegas for the weekend, so you can meet them too. If you don’t walk away with long-term man candy. You can still at least get laid. You’re far from bad-looking, Evie. Karl’s friends would pounce all over you!”

  I exhaled loudly. “Ariana, my idea of a relaxing weekend, when I do finally get to take the weekend off, is not a weekend of drinking until I vomit or pass out around a bunch of obnoxious guys, who only want to grope me.”

  “Evie.” She stepped closer to me, making a sad face. “I think you do want to go but you’re afraid you will actually have some fun. You need to get that asshole Stevie out of your system.

  “It’s over, finito, forgettaboutit,” she joked.

  “Ladies, I enjoy gossip as much as you both do but the tables are filling up. Please get to work,” Martin said shoving each of us by the shoulder out onto the diner floor.

  “Looks like Mr. Hot Suit is already here,” Ariana pointed out with a sly grin.

  There he was again, sitting at a different booth. Wearing yet another suit on a scorching hot day. This time, Luke smiled when I walked towards him.

  “Hello, Evie.”

  I sheepishly smiled, accepting how his blinding smile made my skin hot.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m good. Same?” I asked.

  Luke gave me a tired nod.

  I returned with the coffee pot and filled Luke’s cup to the rim. I placed my hand on the table for balance, leaning forward a little. Luke boldly placed his warm hand over mine. I made no attempt to move, only stared at him and the genuine smile that spread across his face.

  “You didn’t call me,” he whispered, never breaking his eye contact with me.

  “Ah, yeah. I was tired last night, long day and everything, so I just went to bed.”

  He smiled and as if he knew something I didn’t. “I understand.”

  His gaze raked over my breasts and then slowly focused back on my eyes again. I blushed when I realized that he wanted me to see that he was checking me out. I grabbed the notepad that I’d scratched his order on and went back to the counter.

  Luke

  In spite of the fact that Evie was hungover, she still looked as breathtaking as usual. This morning, I listened to Evie talk to her friend—the one that was always laughing. I couldn’t make out much but she was telling Evie that she needed to have more fun, which I agreed.

  Evie gave me her customary morning smile. I smiled back, making small talk about this and that, only trying my best to keep her at my table for as long as possible.

  I was a little concerned for her after seeing her last night. When she reached over to pour coffee in my cup, I covered her hand with mine. Instantly, I felt her skin warm and noticed that she didn’t pull away. There was no mistaking that Evie was attracted to me. I knew she was mine for the taking. I just had to make sure I didn’t miss any important steps to getting her right where I needed her.

  Evie stood back and blushed while I gazed over her ample breasts. I imagined me and her alone, naked, where I could touch and squeeze them and tease her nipples to full peaks for me to suckle on. The thought sent the blood straight to my cock and I was hard again, sitting in a public place. If I stood up, they would have me arrested.

  Evie quickly scurried away to give my order to the cook. I grabbed the newspaper and began to read the highlights to distract myself from the raging hard-on in my pants.

  Evie

  Luke was flipping through the local newspaper, when I returned with his food. Asshole Rick left one maraschino cherry on top of the eggs, which I hadn’t noticed. Luke
grimaced as I placed the food in front of him and used his fork to flick the cherry into a napkin.

  “I’m sorry,” rattled out.

  “It’s fine. I’m guessing the cook here doesn’t like the fact that I always order the same thing.”

  I laughed knowing it was true.

  “I think he just did that to annoy me.” Luke chuckled, while I gave him a funny face in response.

  “Have you ever been to Las Vegas, Evie?” he asked.

  I met Luke’s eyes again, watching him straighten his utensils, while I refilled his coffee cup.

  “When I was little once or twice with my parents. Why do you ask?”

  He buttered the rye toast in front of him and gave me a smirk. “It’s an interesting place. I think you would like it.”

  Was he eavesdropping?

  “Yeah, I hear it is,” I said in a disinterested tone. “But it’s not really my thing—too many tourists.”

  “What is your thing then, Evie?” he asked teasingly.

  “Staying home…reading, astronomy club and—”

  “Drinking?”

  I shot Luke a questioning glance, wondering if I wreaked of alcohol.

  “Don’t worry, Evie, you don’t smell,” he said in a hushed tone.

  Giving Luke a forced smile, I left to attend to the other customers that started to pour in. When I returned to his table a few minutes later, Luke was gone. The customary twenty-dollar bill that he left, remained on the table. There was another tiny note on top, which read “Apply generously.” Sliding the bill and the note off the object, I took in the sight of a tube of muscle rub.

  Luke

  The job was to observe and gather intel. Two simple words observe and intel. I wondered if I could add collect the objective as well. I could be punished for it.