I Hope You Find Me by Trish Marie Dawson Page A

out there.
    He didn’t regret the rest of the day;
following them to the airport, even though he knew only the dead
were there, and that the place was most likely on fire. And he
didn’t regret inviting them back to the hotel for food and water,
and safe shelter, even though the invitation slipped out of his
mouth before his brain caught on. But he did regret lying to her,
to Riley. When she asked for his name, he froze. Everything was
different now, who he was two months ago didn’t matter, and she
obviously didn’t recognize him.
    For years he wanted his privacy back, to
feel normal again, to be seen as normal, to be treated normally, he
just didn’t think it would happen because the world died, leaving
him completely alone. He didn’t think it would happen like this. So
he lied, and gave her his last name. He could be whoever he wanted
to be now and Connor was just as good a name as any other.
    He actually felt happy with Riley around.
Like there was a purpose in even trying to make it through the day.
He could even get used to the dog slobber. It felt safer with
them…comfortable and like it was okay to laugh again. He could be
himself, his real self with Riley because she didn’t know him as
the rest of the world had.
    Plus, she was gorgeous, though a bit
careless, and she had a plan, even though he didn’t know what it
was exactly, it was better than sitting in a luxury hotel waiting
for the power to finally die out and having nowhere left to go.
    The real colors of the room were starting to
come back to life as the sun struggled to pierce through the
darkness of night and warm the land with its rays when he finally
let his eyes close. Sleep took him quickly, eagerly, and gave him
no dreams to struggle through.
     

 
     
    CHAPTER FOUR

     
    It hadn’t taken long for Zoey to fall asleep
curled up against my legs but I kept my eyes open until dawn. When
the sunlight started streaming into the room it forced away the
shadows, and I didn’t want to move until the darkness was gone. The
room was awash in pale yellows and oranges when I rolled onto my
side and buried myself under the covers. I woke two hours later
with Zoey nudging my face with her wet nose. I stumbled out of bed,
dressed quickly in my jeans, leaving my tank top on and let her out
of the room. She seemed disappointed to find the bowl on the
kitchen floor empty.
    I noticed Connor had closed his door as well
during the night, so I approached it quietly and carefully leaned
near the frame and listened for any sounds coming from the room.
Satisfied he was still asleep, I ventured into the kitchen and
hunted around the cupboards for coffee and mugs. I decided to make
a full pot and the smell alone as the coffee brewed helped me relax
and wake up a bit. I took my hot mug to the windows and looked at
the city around us. There was a partial view of the ocean that I
couldn’t see during the night and this early in the morning the
sunshine made the water look like colored glass. The glint was
almost blinding so I shifted my gaze up and down a few of the
streets. In the direction of the airport the sky was hazy, the wind
must have been blowing the smoke away from us, but it seemed there
was still some sort of fire burning in that area. Zoey allowed me
to enjoy my coffee for exactly two minutes before she sat at the
front door, whimpering to be let out. This meant walking down
twenty flights of stairs. Great .
    “Alright, alright. Give me a minute
girl.”
    I went into my room and pulled on my converse
and took Zoey’s leash from my pack, sliding it around the back of
my neck like a thin pink scarf. I grabbed the key card from the
counter where Connor had left it the night before and quietly
slipped out the door. The dog and I jogged down each flight of
stairs till we reached the main floor landing.
    The lobby was bigger than I had remembered
from the night before. There were chairs and tables scattered
around one side of the main room for socializing, and