Four

The next morning when Owen comes down stairs to enter the office to relieve Samuel, the over night shift clerk, he bumps into a tall, slender woman. He was turning the corner in a hurry, not expecting anyone to be there and he ran right into her.

He reaches out a hand to her arm to steady her, since the full weight of him plowing directly into her was enough to knock her backwards. Her arms flailed as she was knocked off balance. His hands wrap around her slender upper arms and he tugs her forward, until she is standing balanced on her feet once more. He is glad that he was able to stop her from falling, otherwise he would have felt horrible.

“Woah, there. I am so sorry..” He begins, but she cuts him off.

“No, it was my fault.. I was not paying attention to where I was going.”

The woman lifts her head and their eyes meet for the first time. Owen feels his heart skip a beat. Hot damn, but she is beautiful! Tall and thin, but curvy in all the right places to make a man stop and notice her. She has long blonde hair that comes all the way down to her tiny waist. It is so light colored that it could almost be considered white. 

She has a perfect face, with slightly plump lips and a cute little nose. Her eyes are a greenish blue that almost looks like a teal color. They are so unique, that they almost do not look real. 

“Do you wear colored contacts?”

Owen has blurted the question out before he even thinks it through and he is not sure which one of them is more surprised by his sudden random outburst. She gives him a look as if she is not completely sure that he has not lost his mind.

“Excuse me?”

Of course the woman would be shocked and confused by his question. Normal people do not go interrogating people about their appearance within the first minute of meeting them.

“I, uh. I'm sorry. That was rude. And weird..” Owen scrubs a hand down his face, embarrassed by his erratic behavior. “Um, enjoy your stay here.” He says quickly before walking away quickly from her. He shakes his head at how stupid he just acted. He made a fool of himself in front of the prettiest woman that he has ever seen in person.

Enjoy your stay here?

That is the best that he could come up with? That old, tired cliché line? She must thing that he is a complete and total idiot. Hell, at this point he is thinking the same dang thing. He is clearly dumb as a box of rocks. He sees a pretty woman and he blurts out stupidity. Smooth of him. Real smooth.

“Hey! Wait a sec!”

Owen hears the voice behind him and he turns around, to find the woman still standing where he had left her, watching after him. She gives him a smile. “Thanks for catching me.” She points to her eyes with her pointer finger of her right hand. “No contacts. Real eye color.” She moves the finger to point at her hair. “Real hair color.” She gestures to the rest of her body. “Real everything.”

Owen nods his head, his breath hitching in his chest as his eyes follow the path which her hand travled. As his eyes roam her body, he begins to feel an uncomfortable tightening in his lower regions.

“Good to know.” He tells her with a nod, before he walks away once more. This time not as quickly, since he has a rather unfortunate predicament in his jeans at the moment that hinders his escape. He really should not have let his eyes follow her hand.

As he makes his way into the office, he finds Samuel sitting behind the desk with his feet propped up on the counter and a machanics magazine in his hands. Sammy is going to school to be a mechanic so the guy lives and breathes all things vehicle. He works midnights at the motel to support himself, his young girlfriend and their newborn baby.

“Good morning, Sam.” Owen greets him politely.

“Mornin', boss man.” Sam sits up, letting his feet drop to the floor with a thud. “I was just reading-”

“You're fine, man.” Owen tells him, before the kid launches into apologies for having his feet on the furniture or for reading on the job. He is fairly new to the job and still in that period where he is not completely comfortable around Owen, despite the fact that Owen had repeatedly tried to convery to him that he is not the ogre that the town seems to think that he is.

“How are Nina and baby Sophie?” Owen asks the man. He makes it a habit to try and get to know his employees. It is his way of trying to show them that he values them as people and not just as employees who work for him. He has no interest in playing Lord of the manor or acting better than them. He wants them to see him as a friend.

“They are doing really good. The baby has started to sleep through the night, which makes life easier on Nina. When life is easier for Nina then it is easier for me.” Sam says with a grin and Owen chuckles at his words.

“I imagine that it is.”

Owen walks over to check the computer to see if there has been any more check-ins since yesterday. He is not surprised to find that he had another two rooms occupied.

“We had three more calls about rooms at Christmas time. Everyone wants to be here for the anniversary-” Sam begins, but then stops mid sentence.

He must be afraid to broach the subject, much like everyone else is. Owen figures that people think that if they talk about it, he will reenact it or something. It gets a little annoying how people tip toe around the subject but he has long since grown use to it. Everyone walks on egg shells around him for fear that he is a psychopath like the rest of his family.

“Did you tell them that the motel would be closed at Christmas time?” Owen asks him.

“I told them that there were no reservations at that time. I didn't really want to mention the whole 'closed' thing, in case they were reporters or something. They could read a little more into it and write about it. The last thing you need is some journalist making a mountain out of a molehill.” Sam tells him.

“That is actualy really good thinking. Thanks for looking out for me, Sam.”

“Sure. Anytime, boss man.”

After a little more conversation, Owen sends Sam home and takes his spot behind the desk. He has just opened his battered copy of East Of Eden by John Steinbeck and propped his feet up on a filing cabinet to settle in for a boring few hours, when the stunning woman from before enters the office.

“Oh, it's you..” She looks surprised to see him there behind the desk.

Owen looks up at her and smiles in welcome. “Can I help you?”

“You work here?” She blurt out before she flushes an attractive shade of pink. He finds her pink cheeks riveting.

“I actually own the place.” He tells her, smiling even more at her embarrassment. Clearly he is not the only one who speaks without thinking sometimes.

“Oh! That's cool! Not that it was any of my business or anything. I should not have even asked.” The woman tells him with a slight shake of her head that sends her loose hair swinging behind her back.

“I guess that makes us even, since I asked a pretty personal, and dumb, question myself just a bit earlier.”

“That's right! You did! So, see, you started all of this.. now I feel so much better!” She teases him and he chuckles, appreciating the banter.

“Wow.. just going to put all of the blame on me like that, huh?” He asks her, sounding way more flirtier than he had intended. He grimaces internally.

“But of course!”

They both chuckle for a few seconds before he remember that she came in here for a reason. “So, um, what was it that you needed?”

“What?” She gives him a blank look, as if she has no idea what he is talking about.

“When you came in here.. I assume that it was for a reason. Right?”

“Oh yeah! Um, I needed some extra towels in my room, if that is possible.”

Owen stands up, nodding his head. “Yeah, of course. The housekeeper does not come in for another hour or so. Let me flip the busy sign on the door and then I will get them for you.” Owen moves over to the door, turning the sign.

“My name is Olivia. Jordan. But all of my friend's call me Liv.” She says from behind him and he peaks at her over his shoulder, surprised but happy that she is giving him her name.

“Well, how about strangers that you meet at a motel in the middle of nowhere? Do they call you Liv, Olivia or Miss Jordan?”

“Any other motel stranger would have to call me Miss Jordan, but you? You can call me Liv.” She tell him with a grin and he nods.

Owen gets the feeling that Miss Olivia Jordan is flirting with him. He can not be sure, since it has been a while. Not wanting to make a fool of himself, he shakes it off and let's it go. She was probably just being friendly and he is reading far too much into it.

“So what's your name?” She asks him and he turns to face her.

“Owen. Owen Matthews.”

“Well, it is nice to meet you, Owen Matthews.” She tells him and he grins at her.

“It is nice to meet you as well, Olivia Jordan.”

She follows him into the hallway, as he walks to the closet to grab out the towels that she needs. He want to make conversation because he likes talking to her but he has no idea what to say. He does not want to make an even bigger fool of himself than he already has.

Owen has just decided to ask her about her career when his cellphone rings. He was glad to see that he had remembered it and shoved it in his pocket this morning as he was leaving his room. Fishing it out of his pocket, he sees the caller information and smiles.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Ugly.” Marnie's voice sounds in his ear and he can not hide the huge smile on his face.

“Hey Beautiful!” Those were their nick name for each other, which are based on her favorite game that she use to play with him. The princess and the ogre.

She use to pretend that she was a beautiful princess and that he was the hideous ogre that tries to steal her from the handsome prince. Hence, she calls him 'Ugly' but he has to call her 'beautiful'. Not exactly fair but there is no arguing with Marnie, even back when she was only four years old. He had hoped that she would grow out of the names, but no such luck.

“I miss you!”

“I miss you too, honey. But I will see you soon!” He tell the little girl. He can not wait to see her again in a few weeks.

“I know. Mom said that we are coming down there in a few weeks. I was going to ask a big favor of you.” Marnie is using her favor voice, which is extra sweet and slightly pleading. He, like the others, knows it well.

“And what would that be?” Owen asks her.

“My best friend Millie's birthday is the week after we come to see you. I was going to see if you would make me a music box for me to give her for her birthday. It doesn't have to be big like mine.. just something-”

“Say no more, baby. I will do it.” Owen tells her with a smile. She squeals in his ear.

“Thank you! Thank you! I love you!” Marnie tells him, excited.

“I love you, too, beautiful.” Owen tells the girl. He hears Lacey calling for her in the background and she tells him that she has to go.

“I will call you tonight! Okay? Don't forget me. Keep your phone on you because I am going to call you tonight.” Marnie tells him, sounding completely serious. "I love you, ugly!"

“Tonight. I will remember, I promise. Love you! Bye!” He waits until she hangs up to put his phone back in his pocket. For a moment there he had forgotten that Liv was there, until she speaks from behind him.

“Girlfriend or wife?”

He turns to face her, surprised. “What?” Then her words register and he shakes his head. “Oh, no. Neither. My little sister. She's nine.”

“Oh.”

Since the conversation had taken a weird turn, he tries to steer the conversation to a more neutral topic. “So, Liv.. what is it that you do you do for work?”

Her words stop him in his tracks.

“I'm a journalist.”