“No, but that's all the more reason. I have to apologize, don't you get it? I have to tell him I made it right. Please, Monica. It's important. He did so much for me, and I never once got to thank him,” Adele said.
Puppy dog eyes didn't work on Monica, but sad, teary eyes seemed to do the trick. The nurse glared at Adele for a moment longer, then groaned and rolled her eyes before grabbing a piece of paper.
“I am not giving out his phone number,” she snapped as she snatched up a pen. “But I will tell you where he likes to hang out.”
“You're sure?” Adele asked, twisting her head sideways, trying to see the address as it was being scribbled down. “This is somewhere he goes a lot?”
“Oh yeah. You'll find him at this restaurant, for sure. Please don't be weird, and do not mention you got it from me.”
She handed over the scrap of paper and Adele squealed as she took it.
“Thank you! Thank you, Monica, you're the best.”
“Yeah, yeah, just remember you said that when he's cursing you out for stalking him.”
Adele refused to think of it as stalking. This was more like a mission. Possibly from fate, or maybe even from god, who knew? But her soul wouldn't know any peace until it was reunited with him. So she glanced at the scrap of paper and hurried out of the hospital.
I'm coming, Jones. Please listen to me this time. Please remember me.
“YOU THINK THIS IS A good idea?”
Her brother River was ducking his head so he could stare out the windshield of his truck.
“As good an idea as anything else I've thought of lately.”
River was playing chauffeur for her that afternoon. She could've call her parents or Ocean and asked them for a ride, but they would've asked too many questions. River was quiet by nature, and generally much more understanding. She appreciated his calming presence.
“So what's the deal with this restaurant? Good tuna melts?” he asked. She shrugged and looked out the passenger window, watching as they rolled past different buildings.
“I've never been there,” she replied. The GPS unit announced that they were a thousand feet away, and that their destination would be on the right.
“You had me drive you all the way across the city to go to a restaurant you've never been to?” he checked.
“Yes. I'll fill the tank, I promise,” she assured him, waving him away as she concentrated on the building numbers. Five hundred feet to go.
“I feel like we're in hipster-ville. They better have real food at this joint – I don't like kale,” he warned her.
“We're not gonna eat here, River. I just want to see if ...” her voice trailed off as they came to a stop at a red light.
“See what? Adele? Hello, earth to Adele?”
She didn't answer him. She didn't even hear him when he started repeating her name, and barely noticed when the GPS unit cheerfully called out “you have arrived”.
Out the passenger window, maybe fifty feet away, sat the restaurant Nurse Monica had told her about. Restaurant wasn't really the right word, though, no. Adele would never call the place across from her a “restaurant”.
Diner seemed like a much more appropriate word for it.
“Let me find a parking spot so we can – Adele!” River shouted as she abruptly climbed out of the car just as the streetlight turned green.
Adele still didn't hear him, though. She was too busy traveling across time and space, going back to a place that felt more like home than anywhere else she'd ever known.
A silver rail car style diner sat in front of her. Several steps – exactly six, she knew without counting – led to the front door, and though she couldn't really see much through the windows, she knew how the interior would look.
Red vinyl topped stools and matching booths.
She climbed the stairs.
Black and white tiles on the floors.
She slowly opened the door.
Grease stains on the menus.
She stepped inside.
And at the very end of the building, an old fashioned jukebox.
“Hiya, sweetie, what can I get for you?”
Dion and The Belmonts sang in harmony from the jukebox. The afternoon sun shined on the sparkly vinyl. And as if no time had passed at all, a harried looking waitress was hurrying up to her, a plastic menu clutched in her hand.
Adele frowned. No, it wasn't the quite the same as her dream. At least, not exactly. This waitress had blonde hair, not red. And the vinyl on the seats looked old, worn, even cracked in some places. Definitely not the brand new shine she'd gotten used to seeing.
Still, it was close enough to freak her the fuck out.
“Sweetie?” the waitress asked again. Adele just stared at her. “Miss, are you alright?”
The bell above the door behind them let out a jingle, then a shadow fell over them both.
“She's fine,” River's calm voice brought her back to earth. “Can we get a booth?”
His arm fell across Adele's shoulder, and he nonchalantly led her down the length of the diner. While they took their seats, the waitress got them two waters, then dropped menus on the table before leaving.
“I know this place,” Adele breathed, her eyes bouncing everywhere.
The black letter board behind the counter, announcing the day's specials. The formica counter tops. Everything looked the same at first glance, then after a second look, she would realize it was just a little different. Like she'd only ever seen it through an old photograph, and was just now seeing it in person for the first time.
Oh my god.
“Anything to eat?” the waitress popped up again, a pad in hand.
“Let's see,” River made a big show of looking over the menu. “How're the Reuben sandwiches here?”
“Honey, we've got the best Reuben's this side of the L.A. River,” she informed him. “Fresh corned beef.”
“Alright, I'll take one of those, and a double bacon cheeseburger to go, and a slice of -”
Strawberry-rhubarb pie, because it's my favorite.
But of course, they didn't actually sell strawberry-rhubarb pie. Who did? No, the pie Adele'd had on the train had come from her memories – it was a favorite dessert, made by her doting grandmother. So if the pie had come from her brain, that meant the diner had come from ...
“Where's Jones?” she blurted out. Both her brother and the waitress froze, their eyes locked on her.
“I'm sorry, sweetie, what?” diner lady asked.
“Jones,” Adele said, then she shook her head, trying to clear it. “He ... he comes here a lot. He's a nurse. He's ... he's a friend of mine, and I need to talk to him.”
“Sorry, honey, but I don't know no Jones,” the waitress sighed.
“Adele,” River spoke in a low voice. “Just leave it for now, we can -”
“Johannes,” she kept going. “His name is Johannes Lund.”
“Oh, Joey! Joey baby,” the waitress laughed. “'Johannes' is such a mouthful, ain't it? Yeah, I know Joe, he practically lives here. The cook is his brother-in-law.”
He practically lives here. The diner was his memory. Jesus christ, I was dreaming my memories and his. How is this possible!?
“Has Jones – er, um, Joe been in here today?” Adele asked.
“Oh yeah, been and gone early this morning. Sent him off with breakfast and lunch in a bag.”
“Oh. Will he be back tonight?”
“Not likely, sweetie.”
“Tomorrow then. Does he have breakfast here every day?” Adele pressed. She'd sleep outside under those front steps if it came down to it.
“Most days, yeah, but he won't be in tomorrow, either,” the waitress said.
“Why not? You said he basically lives here,” Adele pointed out, getting frustrated.
“I know, but he came in today to tell ol' Clive that he wouldn't be around, he was driving outta town for the week.”
Shit.
“He left,” Adele groaned, dropping her head.
“He works at some fancy hospital, you could try to catch him there,” the waitress shrugged, clearly getting annoyed with the conversation. “Was there anything else?”
“He didn't say where he was going, did he?” Adele pressed her luck. The blonde narrowed her eyes.
“No, he didn't, but even if he had, I doubt he'd appreciate me telling some random girl. Reuben and a double bacon burger, both to go, coming right up.”
“Alright,” River hissed as soon as the waitress had stomped away. “What the hell is going on? You realize she's gonna spit in both my orders now.”
“I've been here,” Adele whispered, her eyes wandering all over the diner.
“What? I thought you said -”
She shook her head. When was she going to learn? She couldn't just blurt things out. Sure, she knew she was more than a little crazy, but she didn't need everyone else figuring it out, too. At least not yet.
“It's familiar,” she corrected herself. “I think Jones, or Nurse Lund, talked about it. I mean, he comes here a lot, right? All the time, apparently, and what do people usually talk about? Things they do and places they go to all the time.”
“Fascinating, Adele, but what's it supposed to mean?”
This was why she'd wanted River to drive her – his calm, easy going nature allowed her brain to really work. August was too loud and Ocean was too overbearing, but River operated on a level similar to her own. He asked questions not because he wanted the answers, but so she could figure them out for herself.
“What's it supposed to mean,” she mumbled, turning away from him and staring off into the distance.
Alright, she would start from the beginning. She'd been in a coma, that was a fact. And Johannes Lund, male nurse extraordinaire, had taken care of her – also a fact.
And now she was sitting in a diner she'd never been in before, yet she'd somehow known exactly what it would look like inside. She knew what half the items on the menu were without reading it, and she'd known there would be a chatty middle aged waitress. So the diner could also be classified as a fact, she supposed.