Lost in Miami

Chapter 3

I opened my eyes as the air hostess announced the landing of the flight. Finally I’m in Miami. As the plane landed I took my handbag in one hand and the mobile phone in other and walked out. I collected my suitcase from the baggage claim and outside hailed a taxi to go to Greta’s house, my friend from University of Miami. The driver took the SW 8th Street and soon I reached her house. Her house was just as big as ours in Chicago but with a beautiful beach view in front. It was a two story bungalow with garden in front and a pool at the back. I reached the door and knocked the door. The door was opened by a maid and she asked me who I’m looking for. I told her I’m a friend of Greta’s and she welcomed me inside. The maid went upstairs probably to call Greta. I waited sitting on the white colored L-shaped sofa. An elegant figure came from inside of the kitchen and was pleasantly surprised to see me.

“Oh my God Rachel! It’s been like years. How are you? How is everyone at home?”

“Hello Mrs. Perez. I’m fine. And may I say how good you are looking. Maybe even younger than before. Nobody would say you are Greta’s mother, rather you are looking like her sister.”

“Oh you sweet talker, you flatter me a lot” Mrs. Perez took a seat beside me and we were talking about stuff happened after I moved back to Chicago completing my degree.

“RACHEL DAVIS IS IN TOWN! This calls for a party! Woohoo” this could only be Greta. I looked upstairs and there she was in her night pajamas running down towards me. She grabbed me in big tight hug that almost took the life out of me. “OMG! It’s been so long that I saw you. Tell me how are you?  How’s everyone doing in Chicago we have so much to talk about com’on I’ll show you to your room.” As soon as we came to the room before I could even talk to Greta the maid entered into the room with some fruits and French toast and Mrs. Perez followed the maid into the room and sat beside me. We got into talking and I told them about everything that happened to me in Chicago. Hearing this Mrs. Perez was shocked and also pitied me. She said,

“Oh honey, you are like my own child. Don’t worry you can stay here as long as you want”

“Oh no! Mrs. Perez please. I’m just here as long as I find a place for myself and I’ll search for a job till I figure things out with my parents.”

“In that case, I’ll ask Greta’s father to help you out. But remember this is also your home. If you are tired you always have a place to turn to.”

Hearing Mrs. Perez made me realized how I never had such maternal love from my own mother. Not that I would want to change her for someone else. It’s just different. It felt more normal and more loved. She left after saying that. I spent some more time with Greta and then she went back giving me some privacy as she saw I was totally jetlagged. I took a shower, changed into something comfortable and as soon as I hit the bed I fell into deep slumber.

I opened my eyes and realized it was evening, almost time for dinner. Wow I slept more than I thought I would. Maybe I was very tired with all the chaos going on in my life. I went downstairs and I saw Mr. and Mrs. Perez sitting in the drawing room. I greeted Mr. Perez who was equally happy to see me as Greta and Mrs. Perez was.

“Hello Mr. Perez. How are you?”

“I’m fine Rachel. Thank you. I heard you are looking for a job and place for yourself?”

“Yes, I want to start working and earn for myself now. I guess it’s high time.”

Mr. Perez laughed, as if my life wasn’t laughing at me enough, but gave me a business card of an estate agent telling me that this agent was a business colleague and would show me some good houses. Then he asked me about my major and I told him I did my major in fashion designing. He told me that one of his friends is a marketing director in Mytheresa one of the finest edit in luxury fashion in Florida. He asked me when do I want to go for an interview. I told him that day after tomorrow would be perfect and tomorrow I would go for apartment hunt.

We had our dinner together on the dining table. The maids served the food accordingly. Everyone was talking and laughing and they made sure I did not feel secluded. This really made me wonder how different my family was. We never had such dinners before where we were all sitting together, chatting the evening away about stuff that happened with on that day. This thing never occurred to me that my parents neglected me before but looking at this scene in front of me I really envied Greta for having such a great family. I wanted such a normal family.

We finished our dinner, chatted a bit more before going off to bed. I checked my phone as I was sprawled on the bed. I haven’t checked my phone since I came here there were 17 missed calls two from Kylie and the rest from my parents. Oh s**t! I totally forgot to call Kylie. I figured it was late so I texted her briefly about what was going on and why I was in Miami and then I kept the phone on the bedside table. I closed my eyes trying to sleep but instead I found myself staring into a pair of two smoldering grey eyes. I snapped my eyes open. Why am I thinking about that man? I tried to sleep again but those grey eyes and sexy smirk were still haunting me. This went for a while until I was exhausted and literally fell asleep.