Andy's Nightmare

8. Back in Her Room

The restaurant was almost cleared out when Andy and Kim left. They had been there for over 2 hours, talking and getting to know each other. She felt more like Kim was an old friend that she had just lost touch with instead of someone she had just met this evening. She felt very comfortable with her and looked forward to meeting Kyle because of things that Kim had said about him.

Kim had told her how he had stood by her when she had to have her hysterectomy. How patient he was when she was up late at night studying for exams, even when he had his own classes to study for. She talked about their late-night study sessions together. Kim would quiz Kyle on things he might have on a test the following day, and he would do the same for her. Each of them could probably have taken tests for each other, but they knew what their chosen field of studies were going to be. They knew their own interests. And although they were not interested in studying the same things, they helped each other to graduate with honors.

As they walked to Kim’s car, they decided to meet for lunch at their home on Saturday.

"Are you sure that you don't want a ride back to the hotel?" Kim asked, concerned about Andy walking in an area that she wasn't familiar with.

"I'm fine, Kim. But thank you for the offer. I appreciate your thoughtfulness." She answered with a smile. "I'll see you on Saturday."

As she walked back to the hotel, Andy enjoyed the crisp evening air. She missed going out for walked at home and it was nice to be able to do that here. She still looked over her shoulder and stiffened if she saw a man walking on the street that she felt may be following her, but she didn't feel the paralyzing fear that she did at home.

She smiled as she passed the coffee shop, thinking of her chance meeting with Linc there earlier. She wondered when or if she would see him again.

After passing the coffee shop, Andy walked past a group of four giggling teenage girls. She smiled, wondering what it would be like to grow up in a small town. She wondered how her child would like it compared to living in larger cities. Would he or she be happy here?

Small towns had the advantage of almost everyone knowing everyone else. But in the city, you get lost in the hustle and bustle of life. Some people don't even take the time to say hi, which she didn't like.

Andy had always felt like she belonged in a smaller town. She used to like talking with her neighbors at the apartment complex, and she missed them. But she couldn't go back there to see them. She said her goodbyes when she told management that she was moving out. Her neighbors cried, but they understood. They gave her their phone numbers and said to keep in touch. She had only called each of them once. It felt awkward and strained.

Even at the grocery store, she knew the employees and regular customers. She would talk to the customers as if they were old friends, but she also kept it professional. She would high-five the younger kids at times because it made them smile. She knew what parents were having issues with their kids, which customers were having health issues. If someone didn't show up when they normally would, she knew who to ask if they were ok.

When Andy got back to the hotel, her mind was racing again. She had so many ideas going through her brain. Would they be all in one story or multiple stories? Would it be a novel? Or a set of short stories?

She decided to try to write some before going to sleep. She hadn’t felt up to writing earlier today, and wasn’t entirely sure what her first story was going to be about. She needed to write down some of these ideas that were going through her mind so that she wouldn’t forget them. Andy had told herself that once she got settled in, she was going to try to write five to ten pages each day on average, even if they never got used. She was at least going to work on her craft.

Even when in her creative writing class, they taught her that even though ideas may not seem connected when you have them, they may come together at a later time.

Tonight she would just all of those thoughts down and would sort them out as she continued to work on her stories.

Andy had one story that she had been working on even when working at the store, but didn't spend much time working on it. She also had ideas for others, so she needed to sort out her thoughts and make notes for other stories.

She had gotten a part-time job writing a column for an online magazine. The magazine was always getting lots of emails with questions and about future topics. She was looking forward to starting this new venture, but she was out of practice writing. She would be taking one email that the magazine received each month and writing an article on that subject and would also have a page where she answered up to five questions that came in to the magazine each month. Not really an advice column, but she would be answering questions readers sent in. Some topics may need some research, or she might be able to use information from personal life experience.

Andy woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed and yet starving. She always seemed to be hungry now that she got over the nauseating morning sickness. But with the baby growing, she was unable to eat much at a time, so she had started eating small meals and trying to have healthy snacks throughout the day. She felt like she was eating almost all the time. She tried to bring fruit and yogurt back to the room after breakfast so that shw would have a mid-morning snack.

She decided that she may have to look for a grocery store and maybe get some salad fixings and fruit to keep in the room.

Today, she decided she would have breakfast at the hotel and go back to her room to work on her novel. She got a couple of pages written before going to the hotel restaurant, but wasn’t sure if that was the direction she wanted her story to go. She figured that she would save them just in case.

Andy took her notebook and pen with her when she went to the small restaurant in the hotel down the hall from the lobby. She had an orange juice, a ham and cheese omelet with whole wheat toast and a side of fresh fruit.

While eating breakfast, Andy was writing ideas for some short stories. She was going to work on a couple of short stories for the magazine while also working on her novel.

When she was done eating, she went back to her room and started writing, with the words just flowing out of her. She had been so lost in her writing that she hadn’t even looked at the clock. It was almost noon when she took a break to walk around the room and she hadn't eaten since around 7 am.

She decided to go to the small diner that she saw on her walk to the restaurant last night. It was a warm day out so Andy opted to wear a simple sundress. She knew she would have to make a trip to a maternity store soon. She didn’t have any pants, shorts or jeans that would fit her anymore, but she preferred wearing dresses anyway with how often she had to relieve her bladder. She had looked at some maternity clothing before coming here, but opted to wear some larger clothes until they were really needed.

The diner had a simple menu. She had a club sandwich with some fruit with a glass of milk. She didn’t want anything too heavy for lunch.