Seeing Is Believing: Book 1

By L. M. Finley

THE TELLING OF THE BOOK
LISA BENSON
On her way home from Longtree and Associates, her place of employment, Lisa Benson stops at the Estate Saleof the missing multibillionaire Miles King. While there, she spies a beautiful mirror... an enchanted mirror. Little did she know what changes the enchanted mirror would have on her life.
MILES KING
For two years, Miles King has been missing. Then he meets Lisa Benson, they dont hit it off at first. Then as he spends time with her, his life changes forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477278994

L. M. Finley

L.M.Finley had always wanted to be a writer of books. Her children told her to follow her dream, she did. Seeing Is Believing will be her first novel. Don’t miss the sequel, Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover. She has many more books to come. One of her wishes is to be able to go to England. She has five children, one handsome son, who lives in Florida and four beautiful daughters, who live in Missouri with her, only two live in the home with her. She also has two beautiful grandchildren, a boy, and a girl. She and her children are a close-knit family, they look out for each other.

Book preview

© 2012 by L. M. Finley. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   10/26/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-7900-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-7899-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012919097

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Biography About The Author

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

The Telling Of The Book

BIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

L.M. Finley had always wanted to be a writer of books. Her children told her to follow her dream, she did. Seeing Is Believing will be her first novel. Don’t miss the sequel, Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover. She has many more books to come. One of her wishes is to be able to go to England. She has five children, one handsome son, who lives in Florida and four beautiful daughters, who live in Missouri with her, only two live in the home with her. She also has two beautiful grandchildren, a boy, and a girl. She and her children are a close-knit family, they look out for each other.

Prologue

Making her way home from Longtree and Associates, her place of employment, Lisa Benson spied an Estate Sale sign. On impulse, she pulled into the gates that had been left open for the purpose of the sale.

Parking her car, Lisa climbed out locking the doors behind her. She walked over to one of the tables set up to hold all the knick knacks. Picking up a glass globe, that when you shook it, snow fell upon a small village, Lisa glanced at the price. Wincing, she set it back on the table. She wandered over to another table. Looking at the price of another object, Lisa saw that it also cost more than she was able to afford.

She was turning to leave, when she spied a mirror. Lisa walked over to it as if being pulled by a magnet. The mirror was like nothing she had ever seen before. It was breathtaking, Gilt edged, oval in shape, thirty-six inches in length, twenty-four in width. The mirror had vines of gold outlining it, Fleur-de-lis etched into the four corners. Lisa didn’t even look at the price, she just knew she had to have it. Picking it up very carefully, she carried it to where a pretty woman with raven black hair sat.

Sitting the mirror upon the table, Lisa got her checkbook out of her purse. Opening the checkbook to the next available check, she started filling it out, when she heard the woman say, Isn’t it beautiful?

Looking up, Lisa smiled, saying, Yes. It’s very beautiful. I couldn’t resist, I had to have it. She handed the check to the woman. That’s when she saw the sad look upon her face.

The woman cleared her throat. Reaching up, she wiped a tear from her cheek, saying, It had belonged to my brother. I see you love it as much as he did. I feel better knowing someone bought it, which will cherish it as he did.

Lisa heard the woman refer to her brother in the past tense. In a low tone she asked, Did your brother die?

The woman shrugged her shoulders saying, That’s just it, no one knows where he went. He and his brother just disappeared two years ago, without a trace.

Sadness crept over Lisa. Reaching out her hand she took the other woman’s hand saying, I’m sorry. I’ll take very good care of the mirror, I promise. Giving the woman’s hand a light squeeze, Lisa picked up the mirror, heading to her car. Unlocking the door, she set the mirror onto the passenger seat. Slipping her key into the ignition, Lisa headed to her home.

Chapter One

Lisa lay down on her bed. She picked up the book she was reading, even though she had already read it twice before, it being one of her favorites.

As she sat reading the pages, Lisa imagined herself as the heroine in the book. As her imagination escalated from one scene after another, ‘Lisa was coming up to the part of her imagination that she liked the best, where the heroine got the Knight-in-Shining-Armor, or whoever,’ an image popped into her mind, a man. He had hair so black; it had a blue sheen to it. His eyes were a cobalt blue. The smile on his face could only be described as, arrogant; there was even an arrogant look to his eyebrows. His whole demeanor screamed . . . arrogance. Lisa came back to the present with a jolt. Breathing heavily, she asked herself out loud, What was that? Or should I say who was that?

Looking at the clock, she noticed the late hour. Lisa closed her book, when she went to put the book on her night table, she saw her hand was shaking. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, Come on Lisa, get a grip.

Standing, she headed to the bathroom to take her shower and brush her teeth. Thirty minutes later, Lisa came from the bathroom. She went to her dresser, opening the top drawer; she took out a set of black and red checkered print baby doll sleepwear, slipping them on. Lisa then went and sat in front of her new mirror. Picking up her brush, she went through her ritual of brushing her hair one hundred strokes, fifty forward, fifty back.

Lisa laid her brush on her vanity table. Reaching out her hand, she lovingly grazed the side of her beautiful mirror. The image of the mystery man flashed through her mind again, more vivid this time. The man looked too real to be a figment of her imagination, everything about him was too vivid. Lisa wondered if the mystery man was the same one that used to own the mirror.

She remembered hearing about two brothers disappearing around the same time the sad woman’s two siblings had, she wondered if the mirror she had bought had belonged to one of them.

The papers said they were multibillionaires, richer than Midas even. Rumor was, both were exceedingly good-looking, conceited, they were jerks of the worse kind. Laughing at and making fun of people that were not of their social station they were even greedy.

Lisa’s hand was still on the mirror, on impulse she laid her cheek beside her it, she ran her hand softly up and down the smooth surface. Closing her eyes, Lisa whispered, I wonder what it would have been like to have known you?

With a sigh, she removed her hand and cheek from the mirror, turning; she stood, and then walked over to her bed. Lifting the covers, she slipped between, reaching over, Lisa turned off the bedside lamp. Breathing a restive sigh, Lisa drifted off into a deep R.E.M. sleep. The mystery man invaded her dreams.

Chapter Two

It was frustrating, pure and simple. For two years Miles King was in hell. Not fire and damnation hell, but hell none the less.

Hell was a room that had a bed, a small table, one door that lead to a bathroom, there was no other door to be found, and his beloved mirror, nothing else.

Miles was like a caged lion prowling from one side of the room to the other. He was about to go stark raving mad. The only company he had was his reflection in his mirror, which was okay; Miles loved looking at himself, just not all of the time.

Thinking of his mirror had Miles glancing at it. He was looking at his reflection when something happened; his image faded, and then disappeared all together. In the place of his image was a room. Not his room, another room. Miles walked closer to the mirror, he looked into the other room, he couldn’t see anyone inside. He looked all around the room; he saw it was a bedroom, interesting. It was painted a light, light pink, a female’s room, even better, unless of course the room belonged to a teeny bopper, or a scary thought, an old lady, or scary ugly. Miles gave a shudder at the image.

Miles did not know why he could see inside the room, but as long as he could, he decided to take a look-see. There were three doors, one, Miles imagined led to other parts of the house, another, Miles had no idea, one, more than likely led to a closet. There was a bed across the room by the farther door, a flowered bedspread was on it, the top part folded down in anticipation of its owner’s arrival, a window was above it, thank whoever the room belonged to, beautiful lace curtains hanging across the window, pulled back with pretty lacy draws, Miles could see it was dark outside, now he wouldn’t have to rely on his Rolex all the time, not that he wouldn’t still use it though.

Miles was still examining the room when he heard a voice, a female voice asking a question she had whispered. The question was, I wonder what it would have been like to have known you? Miles was running the question through his head, when he noticed, he could no longer see inside the room. It was as if something had been draped over the view. What had happened? Miles hadn’t seen anything be put over the view. Yet, he was sure he could see an obstruction of some sort. He could still see the light from the other side through whatever was hanging in the way. Then whatever was blocking the view moved. As Miles watched, he saw the draping was hair, long blond hair. Whoever lived on the other side of his mirror had long blond hair. The person was pressed up against their mirror, or window, or whatever it was that was making Miles able to see inside the other room.

Miles heard a sigh. Then whoever rose up, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets, the person was definitely of the female persuasion.

Miles thanked his lucky stars. At least she wasn’t a teenybopper, or an ugly old woman. He would have hated to turn his mirror around. She was young though, about twenty or twenty-one, not much older. Upon inspection, Miles noted that she was dressed in some sort of slinky night clothes, if he remembered right, his sister called them baby dolls. Why would anyone call nightwear baby dolls was beyond him. Baby dolls were a toy little girls played with. The woman-child, fore that’s all she was, wasn’t gorgeous, but she was pretty.

The woman-child stood. Miles watched as she made her way over to the bed. Lifting the covers, she slipped inside. As she reached over to turn off the bed side lamp, Miles saw the silhouette of her body through the baby doll top. She was definitely a woman. The sight had Miles’ mouth start to water. Not only that, but sleep had fled him as wall. Therefore, he stood watching the mystery woman sleep.

Chapter Three

The alarm pulled Lisa from a very erotic dream. In it, she and the mystery man were making love. Lisa lay there letting her fast beating heart and heavy breathing return to normal. She raised a shaking hand to her brow, she wiped away sweat. She reached over and turned the alarm off. Tossing the covers aside, Lisa got out of bed. She headed to the bathroom to take a shower. The soothing water felt good to her feverish skin. After washing her body, then her hair, Lisa turned off the water. Pushing the shower curtain aside, she reached for her plush towel. After drying, Lisa brushed her teeth. Tossing the wet towel into the dirty hamper, she went to her bedroom to start getting ready for work.

Crossing to her dresser, Lisa opened the top drawer. She extracted a floral underwear set. She stepped into the bikini panties, and then she put on the lacy bra. She picked out a pair of floral anklets also. Lisa then went to her closet, opening the door, she reached inside, pulling out the pantsuit she was going to wear to the office, she reached down, picking up her comfortable loafers. She carried her ensemble to her bed, laying it all down.

Lisa crossed over to her vanity, she sat down in front of the mirror. She then proceeded to dry and style her hair. Lisa stood; she walked over and turned on her radio so she could hear music while she finished dressing.

Sitting back down, she opened her cosmetics bag, searching inside she found the color of shadow that would go with the outfit she chose. Bending toward her new mirror, Lisa closed her eyelid holding it while she applied the shadow to first one lid then the other. Replacing the shadow back into the cosmetic bag, she then removed black eyeliner, going through the same ritual as she did with the shadow. She then removed the mascara from the little bag. Lisa closed one eye then the other adding the mascara to her lashes. Finally she got her shiny lipstick, bending forward; Lisa started applying it to her lips. All the while she was doing this the fine hairs on the back of her neck were prickling. It felt as if someone was watching her every move. It felt as if that someone was actually eye to eye with her, besides herself.

Mesmerized, Lisa stared into her mirror. Slowly she lowered her lip wand. Not removing her eyes from the mirror, Lisa asked, If mirrors had souls, what tales they could tell. I wonder what you could tell me about your previous owner, that is, if you could talk?

Recapping her lipstick, Lisa put it back into her cosmetic bag. Standing, she walked over to her bed. Reaching out she took the pink floral blouse of her outfit from the hanger, slipping her arms through the sleeves, buttoning it. Then she got the dark blue slacks slipping them on next, tucking the tail of her blouse into the waistband, fastening the slacks closed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Lisa slipped her anklets on, and then she stepped into her loafers.

Walking back over to the vanity table, Lisa gave herself one more inspection in the mirror to make sure everything was as it should be. She reached on top of the vanity removing her purse, draping the strap over her shoulder. Before she could walk away, Lisa glanced at her mirror again, unconsciously, she reached out to caress it, just before she touched it though, Lisa noticed what she was about to do, she pulled her hand up against her chest in embarrassment.

Taking a deep breath, Lisa turned, walking across the room to her door, opening it she walked out, pulling it closed behind her.

Chapter Four

Miles did not remember going to bed. He was dreaming about a blond woman. He didn’t know who she was, yet he knew he had seen her somewhere before. Where? Every time she would open that luscious mouth of hers a terrible squawking sound would come out. It was beginning to irritate him. Miles wanted to hear her sexy, husky voice, not the screeching that was giving him a headache. She sounded more like an alarm clock than a sexy voiced woman . . . alarm clock?

Miles bolted up. His heart was beating ninety-miles to nothing, his breathing was erratic, he reached up to wipe his brow, his hand came away drenched with sweat. Why was his body reacting this way? Then Miles remembered the dream. Certain parts of his body also were remembering the dream. The squawking sound stopped.

Miles remembered where he had seen the blond of his dream, she was the woman-child from the night before. The squawking sound was an alarm and it was coming from her side of the room. Miles tossed his own covers aside, jumping from his bed. He ran to his mirror. He made it just in time to see the woman-child disappear through one of her doors, the bathroom, maybe?

Taking advantage of her absence, Miles rushed to his own bathroom to relieve himself. He hurriedly did his own buisiness, washed his hands, and then ran his brush through his short hair. He ran his hand over his face, feeling the stubble. Miles debated on whether he should shave, decided against it. He rushed back out to his own mirror. Disappointment hit him, had he missed her while he was gone?

Suddenly Miles laughed, as long as he could remember, he had never rushed around just to see someone, whether it be man, woman, or child. Shrugging, Miles was about to leave the mirror, when the door he saw the woman-child enter earlier, opened. The sight that greeted Miles had him rooted to the floor, he couldn’t move even if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to, his mouth was hanging open, his eyes were opened wide. The woman didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. Miles had to reach up to make sure his tongue wasn’t hanging out of his mouth.

He watched as she made her way over to her dresser; he watched as she picked out sexy bikini panties, pulling them on, covering up the thin, neatly trimmed, patch of blond hair, just barely. Then the sinful, lacy bra that just barely covered her delectable, mouth-watering breasts, breasts that just wanted to have a man’s hands or mouth wrapped around them . . . Miles’ hands or his mouth. He let out a groan for where his thoughts were taking him.

Miles watched as she went to another door, which turned out to be a closet. He saw her remove a nice looking pantsuit, but instead of putting it on her luscious body, she carried it over to the bed where she laid it down along with a pair of socks, she then set her shoes on the floor. Mesmerized, Miles watched as she made her way over to her side of the mirror. He groaned when she sat down in just her bra and panties. Sweat anew broke out over his body when the woman-child started drying and styling all that lovely, long, blond hair, and it was quite long, at least to the middle of her back.

He watched as she reached for a small bag. Miles knew what was inside it because he had seen his sister Teri with the same kind, his niece Allyssa had just started wearing make-up just as he disappeared.

The woman-child rummaged through the little bag, then came out with a soft pinkish color eye shadow, which she applied, to the lid of her eyes. Miles was fascinated, he bent down eye level with her, her eyes were green, watching her as she went through the age old female ritual of getting spruced up for one thing or another.

As he stood watching her apply a shiny lipstick to her lips, she did a curious thing, she stopped, lowering the little stick thing, she looked Miles right in the eye, she cocked her head to the side and asked her mirror a question.

A frown came over Miles’ brow. What did she mean when she asked, If mirrors could talk what tales could they tell? Did she have a tale she wouldn’t want heard?

Miles watched as she rose up. That glorious sight had him groaning again. She walked back to the bed, this time she picked up the suit, putting it on, covering all that gloriousness. Miles did have to admit though, she did look just as good dressed as she did undressed. Too bad she had to cover that delectable body though.

After slipping her shoes on, she came back to the mirror, Miles held his breath. He saw her reach out; he followed the motion of her hand. She had picked up a dainty little purse, slipping the strap on her shoulder, but she didn’t walk away, she stood staring at the mirror. Then as if in some kind of trance the woman-child reached toward the mirror, then swiftly she pulled her hand away. A frown passed over Miles’ face. What was that all about? The way she was holding her hand to her chest Miles would have thought something had stung her, yet she didn’t act as if she was hurt. She acted more like she was embarrassed about something.

She then turned and walked away. She opened the only other door that she hadn’t used in front of Miles until now. Stepping through it and shutting it behind her, Miles was once again left alone. Heaving a deep sigh, he headed back to his own bathroom to take his own shower and brush his teeth. Heck he would even shave his stubble.

Chapter Five

When Lisa got to work, her best friend Rhonda Cable was waiting for her at her desk. The two women were as different in looks as night is from day. Lisa, with her fair skin color, blond hair, green eyes, no more than five feet in height, Rhonda, being of African American and white heritage, had the skin tone of mocha, exotic eyes that weren’t brown, but more of a champagne color, five foot five in height. Both were beautiful women though.

After each gave the other a hug, Rhonda leaned against the wall of Lisa’s cubicle, crossing her arms around her midriff, she asked, Did you hear about the huge Estate Sale? I heard the man who owned it fell off the face of the earth.

Remembering what the sad woman at the Estate Sale told her, Lisa replied, Yeah, I heard something like that too. She set her purse on the floor beside her chair, next to the wall.

Rhonda nodded, saying, They say his name was Miles King.

The image of the mystery man with the arrogant looks flashed through Lisa’s mind. Looking at Rhonda, she said, Ah, so that was his name. I heard he live like a King also. With the price of everything I bet he did.

Again, Rhonda nodded, saying, True. Giving Lisa a sharp look, she asked, How do you know how expensive everything was?

Ignoring Rhonda’s question, Lisa asked, Was he as good looking as rumor said he was?

Raising her finely plucked eyebrows, Rhonda exclaimed, "GOOD LOOKING! Honey he was beyond good looking, he was gorgeous. A six foot two tall cool drink of water; able to quench any woman’s thirst; of nothing but pure sex appeal, hair so black it had a sheen of blue to it, cobalt blue eyes. He was every female from nine to ninety’s wet dream. And get this . . . he has an identical twin brother. Having two Adonis’ walking this earth is absolutely sinful."

Smiling at her best friend, Lisa said, Yeah, but lest you forget, you just said he fell off the face of the earth. So, I guess that means there is only one Adonis walking on this earth.

Raising her hand in a halting form, Rhonda replied, Rumor has it that both of them disappeared at the same time. How ironic is that.

Again, the image of Lisa’s mystery man flashed through her mind, more vivid this time, like before. He looked just like the man Rhonda described, all the blood drained from her face, Lisa sat down before she fell.

Concern for her friend, Rhonda asked, Sugar, are you alright? Here let me go get you a drink of water. She rushed down the hall to retrieve a cup of water. Coming back she handed the cup to Lisa.

Lisa took the cup. She took a much needed gulp. Taking a few deep breaths, she went on to tell Rhonda about how she had stopped at the Estate Sale and how she had bought a mirror there. She omitted the reaction she had to it though. She told of having the dream of a man that looked spitting image to the one Rhonda had described, omitting the love making part of it, it being too embarrassing to admit to, even to one’s best friend. Just thinking about the dream was making sweat break out all over Lisa, making her breathing escalate.

Looking at Lisa oddly because of the way she was behaving, Rhonda asked, Are you sure you are alright? At her nod, Rhonda said, Maybe you seen a picture of this Miles King or his brother Christopher at the Estate Sale.

Shaking her head, Lisa said, No, I didn’t see any personal pictures. I know, I would have remembered if I had. All I bought was the mirror.

Gasping, Rhonda asked, You bought a mirror at the Estate Sale! I thought I had misheard you! How in the world did you afford a mirror from there? I heard everything was extremely expensive there.

Nodding her head, Lisa said excitedly, "It was expensive, but I just had to have it. It was so beautiful, Gilt edged, gold vines, fleur-de-lis. It was like . . . WOW!"

Rhonda laughed at Lisa’s exuberant reaction. She had never seen her best friend this excited over anything before, and she knew her since they were both five years old. Wrapping an arm around Lisa’s shoulder, Rhonda said, Girlfriend, the way you are acting someone would think you had bought the man himself.

Blushing, Lisa gushed out the breath she did not know she had been holding. Fanning her hot face, she said, Sorry. Heck, as much as I paid for the mirror, maybe I did.

Giving Lisa’s shoulder one more affectionate hug, Rhonda said, Well, I guess I best be getting to my own cubicle, those phones won’t answer themselves no matter how we wish other wise. With a wave, she left Lisa’s cubicle.

Chapter Six

When Miles stepped out of the bathroom, he could smell the tantalizing aroma of food; his breakfast had arrived. His stomach growled; he sat down to mouth watering biscuits and gravy, bacon, eggs, coffee, and orange juice.

As Miles ate, his mind went back to the woman. Who was she? Where did she live? Did she have a boyfriend? Oh God, was there a husband? She was sleeping alone. So what, maybe the husband was away on a business trip. Miles did not like where his thoughts were taking him.

After he finished eating, the dishes mysteriously vanished, as always. Stretching his arms up over his head, he went over to the bed, where he stretched out on top of the covers. As he laid there staring up at the ceiling, Miles thought of the woman-child. What was her name? Did she have any favorite foods, if so, what were they? Did she have a favorite ice cream? What flavor did she like, chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry, or was she into the exotic flavors? His favorite was the banana split with chocolate almond ice cream, nuts, and hot caramel topping with whipped cream on top. Yawning, Miles closed his eyes. The sleepless night before had taken its toll on him, before he knew it, he was sleeping.

Something was not right, there was a phone ringing somewhere, but no matter where Miles looked, he could not find it. He ran from room to room, still he couldn’t find the blasted phone. Rooms, there weren’t any rooms where he was, only a room. Miles figured he must be dreaming. He snuggled deeper into his pillow. Yet the ringing of the phone kept invading his sleep. Finally his subconscious mind let him know he wasn’t dreaming. Miles’ eyes flew open. He jumped up from the bed, stubbing his toe on the table in the process. Cursing, he noticed the ringing of the phone was coming from the woman’s room. Hobbling to the mirror, Miles was just in time to hear her voice start speaking. It was her answering machine.

A smile came to his face. One of his questions was finally answered . . . the woman-child’s name was Lisa Benson.

Chapter Seven

Bending her head from side to side to relieve some of the tension, Lisa glanced at the clock on the wall. Seeing it was four-thirty, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was time to start shutting down her computer for the day.

Lisa was ready to go home so she could relax. That was what she kept telling herself anyway. She knew the real reason she wanted to go home, sure, she wanted to relax, but she really wanted to set in front of her mirror and ask it more questions about its previous owner. The number one question she wanted to ask . . . was if the previous owner was either Miles King or his brother Christopher.

Lisa was removing the headphones from her ears, when Rhonda appeared in her cubicle door way asking, Hey girlfriend, how about you and I grab a bite to eat somewhere?

Lisa almost declined then changed her mind. This was her best friend after all. Smiling she said, Sure, sounds great.

Quashing the impulse to heave a sigh, Lisa bent down to retrieve her purse. How did one tell her best friend that what she really was looking forward to was going home and asking her mirror questions? The best friend would . . . one} be very hurt, and two} think the friend was beyond crazy, and needed to be put into a straight jacket then into a padded cell, throwing away the key in the process.

The women walked to the elevators. While waiting for one to arrive, their boss Mr. George Longtree came and stood beside them. Glancing their way, he smiled, and then nodded his head, saying, Good evening ladies.

Lisa and Rhonda smiled in return. They nodded also, answering, "Good evening to you too, Mr. Longtree.

The elevator arrived. All three stepped inside, riding down to the first floor. When the elevator opened, Mr. Longtree held out his hand motioning for the young women to precede him out. Stepping out himself, he nodded to them again, saying, You young ladies have a nice week-end. He then headed out the door going outside.

Lisa and Rhonda stepped out into the sweltering air also. They headed to Lisa’s car since it was closer. She got her key from her purse and began to unlock her car door, upon opening the door, a gust of heat assaulted them. Dreading having to close the doors, Lisa hurriedly put the key into the ignition, starting the car, turning the air conditioning on high. She was glad it was the end of July; that meant they had just one more month of this heat, and then it would start cooling down.

While setting in the car waiting for it to cool down, Lisa thought again about what she wanted to ask her mirror; catching what she was doing, actually thinking up questions, she silently groaned. Thinking maybe she did need to be put in a straight jacket, and thrown into a padded cell after all.

Putting the car in drive, she pulled out of the parking lot. She decided to head to a nearby restaurant instead of a fast food joint; she was in the mood for a nice juicy steak, not a burger.

Chapter Eight

Miles was agitated. He was pacing around his room like a caged lion again. He kept looking at his watch, then at the door across the room that belonged to the woman, whom Miles now thought of as Lisa Benson.

Ever sense Miles heard the last phone call and the message; he had a knot in his stomach. What would the woman . . . Lisa Benson do when she heard it herself? He felt sick; he knew what she would do. He dreaded her hearing that last message. If he could get to her answering machine, he would hit the delete button, to erase that blasted last message.

As he paced back and forth, he thought he heard something; he stopped, cocking his head to one side. Was that her coming? He stood like a statue, his eyes riveted to the door in her room, waiting.

When the door did not open, Miles resumed his pacing occasionally he would curse. He wondered where she could be. It was almost seven o’clock, what time did she get off work anyway, for God’s sake! Miles couldn’t believe he was agitated over a woman-child that didn’t even know he existed . . . but he was.

As he paced, the door on the other side of the mirror opened. The woman . . . Lisa Benson came