As I Close My Eyes Read Online Free Page B

hair, so dark brown it was almost black, was pulled back into a small ponytail at the bottom of his neck. I normally wasn’t attracted to men with longer hair, but he had a mysterious way about him - somewhat like a European college professor mixed with boy-next-door good looks. The candle on the table lit up his bright green eyes and I watched him pull his phone out of the gray vest he wore and set it on the table. Something was oddly familiar about him.
    My attraction to this stranger felt stronger than anything I had ever experienced before. When I took a moment to take my eyes away from him, I saw a beautiful brunette, who was just as stunning, sitting across from him.
    Everyone in the restaurant seemed to know him and a few guests stopped to make small talk. The glances between the beautiful couple seemed a little awkward. They were too new to be husband and wife or even boyfriend and girlfriend. Maybe this was a first date?
    “ Dani. Dani.”
    “ Oh, sorry. Do you see that guy who just came in?”
    “ Yeah. So?”
    “ There’s somethin’ about him.”
    “ What are you talking about?” asked Shannon. “He looks ten years older than us.”
    I was overcome with irrational jealousy. Why was he with her? That should be me. A whispered voice in my head told me our paths had crossed sometime ago, but not just in passing. We had been something once. I knew it, yet quickly dismissed the odd feelings I had towards this stranger.
    Shannon and I finished our meals in silence because I couldn’t stop watching him. Watching his knife cut a piece of steak, then following the path of the fork to his mouth. Chewing. Chewing. Drinking the dark beer he ordered and wiping his upper lip with the cloth napkin on his lap. I know those lips. I’ve looked into those eyes. How did I know him? The room stood still for the entire dinner with flashes of black passing by as waiters and waitresses hurried to their assigned tables.
    I desperately wanted to go over and say something to him, but I knew I’d appear completely insane with my face the way it looked and the obvious - I really had no idea who he was. What would I say?
    “ Let’s go,” said Shannon as she signed the check. I got the feeling she had said that more than once and I hadn’t been paying attention. Our entire dinner had come and gone while I sat, having only eaten a small bite of my food.
    “ Geez, where are you tonight?” she asked.
    “ I’m here. I’m just - I don’t know. I have to find out who he is.” Shannon was at a loss for words.
    As we began to drive away, I stared out the passenger window, trying to get one last glimpse of the mystery man through the candlelit windows.
    We got back to cabin #10 without saying one word. After we put our pajamas on, we crawled into our respective beds in silence. It felt like hours before I actually closed my eyes. My mind raced with images of his perfect face while desperately trying to place us together in some previous scene in my life, almost like when detectives on television ran through images of perpetrators on a computer looking for a match to a killer.
     
    *  *  *
     
    A man in a small wooden boat approached us with the distant fire in the background. Rowing faster and faster to reach us as quickly as he could. With every stroke of the oars, his face became more recognizable. He was the same man I had seen in the restaurant tonight, only oddly dressed. Wait - h is attire looked like ours. Some sort of Victorian-era dark suit. And he had a mustache, unlike the man at dinner. But I couldn’t mistake those eyes. Or those lips. Was I dreaming about the man I saw in the restaurant? I was acutely aware of my surroundings and all of my senses were heightened. I couldn’t ever remember being able to smell or touch things in my dreams before, but in this dream I could. Like it was more than just a dream. I ran my fingers along the boat’s edge and felt splinters of wood sticking up in some spots. Taking a deep