“Who?” I sit back, not understanding her words.
Clem clutches my bedsheet in her fists, and it takes a bit of force for her to force the words from her dry mouth. “My friend, Emilia. I told you about her. Remember?”
“Em is for Emilia?” In a wild frenzy, I grab my marriage certificate that I’d just placed on the bed and show it to Clementine.
She blinks at me with terrified eyes, before bringing the pages closer to her face. “Melanie Emilia Adams.” Her hands shake as she places it back on the bed.
“Em looks similar to Melanie?” I can barely hear my hoarse voice over the loud ringing in my ears. My mind incoherent.
Clem regards the pictures on the walls again. “I don’t think similar covers it, Keith. These pictures capture her every moment, every expression, and all I see is Em.”
Taking her phone out of her jeans pocket, she dials someone. When the phone doesn’t connect, she redials. Again, and then again.
Her frustrated fingers dig on the touch screen. “I don’t understand. I just talked to her, and now the number is out of network area.”
“You talked to her…today? Can I see the number?” I ask, words hard to form as my throat closes in panic.
She hands me her phone, before peering at me with those fear-stricken eyes.
Fucking coincidences again!
My hands shake as I read the number, plastered in my brain from a decade before. This can’t be happening!
With trembling hands, I grab my phone from the nightstand and feed the number in the app. The software finishes the search and the name John flashes as the owner of this number. I show it to Clem.
“This can’t be true. I just talked to her. Check my call history.” Clementine’s voice rises in disbelief, and she shows me the same number in her recent calls.
I place a call from my phone and put it on speaker. Clem’s eyes widen at the sound of the dial tone and my own heartbeat escalates. I feel fucking scared, not knowing what to expect and who to expect on the other side when someone picks up after the call.
I’m surprised by the relief that hits me when a male voice says, “Rendezvous bar. How can I help you?”
“That’s where Em works,” Clem whispers, her fingers clutching my forearm holding the phone between us.
“Hi, I’m looking for an employee of yours, Em…Emilia?”
“Sorry, man, there’s no Emilia here.”
“Are you sure? She’s medium height, brunette.” Clem leans forward, her mouth close to my phone. “I’ve met her a couple of times, outside the bar when her shift was over.”
“Did you ever meet her inside, lady?” John asks the obvious question and I dread Clem’s answer.
“No.” She shakes her head before glancing back at me.
“Thank you for your help, John.” My hands shake as I end the call, I don’t know what to think. Is Clem having some sort of meltdown seeing my room and imagining things that are not there? Or is there really a connection between her friend and my dead wife? “Where else did you guys meet?” I rise and ramble back and forth along the bed.
“We almost always met by the lake.” Clem scrunches her face. “But sometimes outside Rendezvous bar or outside Gram’s café.”
“Did your gram ever meet her?” I stop before her and her panicky eyes give me her answer, even before she shakes her head in a no.
“I know it looks crazy, Keith. But she is…was real.” Clem’s eyes turn glassy, her forehead puckering in disbelief.
“Tell me how you met her?” I perch next to her, grabbing her cold, trembling hands in mine. Hoping they will ground me and stop this crazy buzz in my head.
“I had just finished my online degree at the fashion school. It was spring and the lake was always so pretty at that time of the year, with the cherry blossoms in full bloom. I was sitting on a bench thinking about my future. All my classmates were taking jobs or going for further studies, but I was so uncertain.” Under my fingers, her pulse races as fast as my own.
“Out of nowhere it started raining. I was so happy when a girl sat next to me and offered me her umbrella. After we shared our names and where we worked, she said, ‘Rain has always brought wonderful things in my life and you, Clementine, are going to be a great thing.’”
My heart tears out, hearing her words.