Chapter Two

Naomi Murray carried a box of things that were just cluttering up her room down to the basement. It was cold, dark, unorganized, and dusty. As she looked around and witnessed her packrat tendencies she also realized how horrible the room looked. That urge deep inside her, that urge to have everything organized, perfectly...figured out. The logical part of her mind. When it kicked in over the creative side, she got strange urges to do things that were somewhat out of character for her; but then arguably one could say her quote 'odd' behavior wasn't odd at all. Merely another facet of her personality.

She never really cared to delve deep within her logical or philosophical aspects of her mind now a days. She preffered to try and keep herself in the here and now. It kept the painful memories where they belonged; in the past. The unexpected hurtles that she had been expected to jump hadn't been easy for her, and she ended up tripping over them and recieving a few scars. Those scars were not something that could be decreased with some type of over the counter ointment that you merely rubbed on it and most of what was left, was just a fading memory.

Before a scar can be decreased or vanish completely it has to heal to some extent. Something has to occur in your skin cells, or in Naomi's case, her mind and life, to heal. That hadn't happened yet and she didn't know if it ever would. It was a deep dark hole that she didn't feel like exploring.

Putting down the box of items that she couldn't bear to throw away, she began to look at the tops of the boxes that littered the large open room that was her basement. There was no organization to anything and it made her shiver. How have I been able to live with this down here? Naomi thought, the situation still sinking into her logical mind.

Knowing what she must do to settle that part of her mind she quickly ran up the stairs, skipping two at a time, to reach the front desk. Anna Bernam,a teenagerthat lived on the island, was there reading a fashion magazine until she was needed for some type of work. She looked up when Naomi opened the door to the basement a look in her eyes that she recognized. For thethree years that Naomi had been on the island running the inn, Ann had been there too. She knew when she was about to get into another project when she got a sort of wide-eyed, childish look about her. It was so different than what normal thirty year old's felt or looked like.

"Ann," Naomi said calmly with an underlying tone of excitement in her voice, "I'm going to be organizing the basement."

Ann raised her eyebrows at her employer. She was getting excited about cleaning the basement? "Okay, I'll take care of most of the requests from the customers and if I need you I will come get you from down in the deep dark pit." A small smile curved Naomi's lips, something very rare for the inn keeper. The smile dissapeared quickly and Naomi went back down to the basement, leaving Ann to her musings.

Ann knew that her employer had not always been like she was now. Naomi was quiet, never saying more than she needed to and managing to get her point across in only a few words. She always had a sad, faraway look in her eyes, like she had been hurt more than once, and certainly more than just a simple heartbreak. There were a few times that she caught a glimpse of what she might have been like before she was hurt so badly it caused her to retreat into her shell. In those times she would do something strange or silly.Like on New Years Eve one year when she won the chugging contest against the reigning champion. She had laughed, really laughed for the first time anyone had been on the island. After she was done she belched so loud and long that everyone was shocked.

Everyone on the island had their own theories on what happened to her before she opened The Mermaid. Some of them were that she had an abusive husband or boyfriend and she came here to get away from him. Others concluded that she had been in jail and came here to get a knew start. Some thought she was in the witness protection, others thought she had been raped. Ann didn't believe any of these. She didn't show the signs that she'd had an abusive husband or boyfriend, Ann knew first hand what those where. Her sister had recently managed to obtain a divorce from her husband because he was abusive. And Naomi was too gentle to have commited any sort of crime, and there was a hint of innocence that someone who had been in jail couldn't have retained. Witness protection seemed unlikely, as did rape, even if Naomi was beautiful. Ann's theory was that she had experienced a loss, a loss so great that she'd had to come here to escape the memories of that person. Little did Ann know, however, that she was very, very close to the real reason why Naomi came to the beach.

As Ann continued to read her magazine a little old man with dentures came to the front desk asking for another pillow. He looked around the lobby at the beautiful works of art, all revolving around fish, mermaids, and the deep blue sea. "Where's that gorgeous red head the checked us in?" He asked in a shaky voice.

"Naomi?" Ann asked smiling at the man.

"I guess so," He said looking around again.

"She's down in the basement organizing her boxes." Ann said as she handed him the pillow.

"Oh." The man said and walked slowly back to his room. He reminded Ann of a turtle. She chuckled to herself and continued to read her magazine. She was waiting for the man that had reserved a room for three months to get to the hotel. Naomi had mentioned that she wanted him to get a good first impression of the place instead of changing his mind. Ann had noticed a bit of nevousness in her tone when she had talked to her that morning. It was the same thing every time that a man was visiting. Something about the way Naomi always reacted when men were mentioned was curious, but she didn't want to pry and open up healing wounds.

When the bell dinged on the door Ann closed her magazine and looked up at the stranger that had just walked in. He was tall, broad shouldered, with dark hair, and a killer smile. Ann could not believe who he was.

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed it! Don't hold anything back!

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