Love, Inherited

Ch. 10- "whole lotta shakin goin on"

Hayden separated herself from Tye in the elevator immediately. When they got to her floor she made Tye stay in the elevator and take it immediately back down. She only hoped he would bump into Warren on the way. It looked bad. Her stumbling into an elevator with a boy much younger than she is. And she sure wasn't drunk enough to make a pass at someone younger than her that she could lose her job over no matter how cute he was.

She got inside the suite and headed for the bed only to remember her bags were all spread out across it. Instead of taking the time to move them she splashed some water in her face and flopped down on the couch closing her eyes to stop the spinning of the room. A ringing in her ears caused her to sit up and the reality hit her that the night was over and day had already begun.  As she tried to figure out the ringing it suddenly became painfully obvious the suite phone was not going to stop.

"Hello, Hayden here." Her voice sounded gruff and overused and she tried to clear her throat without it being heard on the other line.

"Hayden it's Warren. I just wanted to ask you if you've by any chance contacted the Sloan Agency?"

Hayden wished for coffee. Hot steaming coffee with French Vanilla cream. And an almond scone. She tried to think about why Warren was calling but her bladder was full and screaming much louder than Warren or his morning questioning.

"Warren, I need to shower. And take an aspirin. Can we go over this after breakfast?" 

There pause of sound on the other line made Hayden nervous.  Had she offended him?  Finally his voice broke the silence barrier.

"Hayden, it's lunchtime. Are you alright?"

Hayden glanced at the clock and saw the bright orange numbers 11:58 blaring at her. Where had the time gone? Her second day and she had already overslept and made herself look completely unreliable as a leader. She cursed her poor judgement and started to give herself the inner lecture she had spent years perfecting. And then she saw the handkerchief.

Elvis! She had an epiphany then. Right there in Dee's living room. Surrounded by boxes and odd furniture and memories of Dee. Elvis was his own person. Despite being called too risky, provocative, forward, rebellious, and a million other things that could squash a spirit, Elvis never gave up fighting to make it work.  He crushed naysayers and rode a wave of his own drama all the way to Graceland.

Her mind contradicted her quickly 'he died on the toilet. Of a drug overdose. He was insanely unhappy. He was a sham.'

But here was proof. No matter what happened at the end, people believed. They believed and loved and latched on so hard that they kept sweat soaked handkerchiefs in glass cases for decades just to keep that spirit alive. He messed up, he had a thousand mistakes and a million hang ups, but his spirit inspired people even years after his death.

"Yes, I'm doing just fine. What was it you wanted? You know what, if you're free let's just meet up. Can I have half an hour?" Hayden kept her stare on the box as she channeled Elvis strength.

"Sure. We can do that. I'll meet you in the lobby."

Hayden hung up the phone before she could say anything to mess it up or chicken out.   After a shower and a removing a thick layer of fuzz from her mouth she slipped on a pale blue sundress and ran a comb through her damp hair. She coated herself in sunscreen and headed for the lobby.