“That was four years...well four Earth years ago...and I’ve never looked back. Eva just turned three and this one is due any minute.” She rubbed her belly affectionately, giggling again. She asked, “How long have you two been together, then?”
“Uh...we...” I stuttered.
“We’re not together,” Darrios answered, his voice gathering an edge. “She’s leaving. She wants to go back.”
“Oh...I’m sorry. I just assumed,” Sandra said, embarrassed.
“How are you going to...?” Evan started to ask.
Sandra lightly placed her hand on his arm and he stopped in mid-sentence. He looked at her, then back at me, clearly making the realization that not only had Darrios and I slept together, but he’d obviously gotten me to Avascon. How else would I be able to go home? He smiled and nodded. I looked at the floor. God, could this get any more uncomfortable?
Evan asked Darrios to join him in the shed so he could show him his latest project. They left, eager, I’m sure, to bail on the weirdness. Sandra told Eva she could go next door and see if her friend could come over for lunch. Eva cheered and ran out the door leaving Sandra and I alone. Terrific. She didn’t waste any time.
“It’s just that...you two seem so in love.”
I gasped and nearly choked. “
In love
? We just met! I mean...we had to...you know...the wish and all.”
I heard myself babbling, but I couldn’t seem to stop. Luckily, Sandra interrupted. “I get it,” she said, “but don’t you have any feelings for him at all?”
I softened. “Of course I do. He’s been wonderful to me. Jesus, he saved my life on several occasions, and he’s been so...nice...and warm and affectionate. A part of me wishes I could stay.”
Sandra nodded, expecting me to continue. Suddenly, I found myself spilling thoughts and feelings to her that I didn’t even know I had.
“He makes me feel so good, and I’m comfortable with him. I don’t have to censor what I say or worry how I look. He doesn’t care. I mean, at first he was kind of gruff, but now he’s sweet and loving no matter what.” I stood up and paced back and forth next to the couch. “But I have a boyfriend...or at least I had one. I think it’s safe to say that’s past tense.”
Sandra wrinkled her brow and gave me a sort of half nod. I sat back down.
“After being with Darrios, I find myself questioning my whole relationship. I know I don’t love Gregg. I mean, how could I be having feelings for Darrios if I did? And what Darrios and I shared? I don’t have the words to describe it.”
“I knew there was chemistry,” Sandra said triumphantly.
I paused for a moment, afraid I might start crying. “I had no idea two people could share such intimacy or how much I’d like it.”
“Maggie, there’s nothing wrong for caring for two people.”
“It doesn’t matter, because even though I know Gregg and I are through, I can’t just not go back. I have my brother and my Aunt Gin, who are both probably sick with worry by now.”
I rubbed my hands over my thighs as though I were cold or nervous, but really, I just had pent up animosity toward Gregg and no Gregg to release it on. “As much as I’d like to avoid a scene with Gregg, I can’t simply vanish, especially after the row we had in Hollywood. I have to go back. I mean...I don’t know what will happen once I get home...”
Sandra took my hand, looking me in the eye. “You have to understand, Maggie. This whole experience will have changed you...and it’s none of my business, but even though you have your suspicions about...Gregg, is it? Are you going to tell him that you slept with another man? Will he believe you had no other choice? Will he believe...any of this? Can you handle it if he doesn’t? Does it matter to you? If you choose to be ‘selective’ in your recollection of events when you talk to him, can you handle not telling him the truth?”
I leaned back and blew out a breath. “I have a lot to think about...but yes, I’ll tell him everything that’s happened, because unlike him, I am not a lying, cheating weasel. But, honestly, Sandra, I don’t give a shit whether he believes me or not.”
Sandra leaned back a little and cocked an eyebrow, but she didn’t press for more information. “I respect your decision, Maggie, but I have to tell you, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. It would’ve been nice to have a girl friend, and to have Darrios around more often.”
“What do you mean?”
“He and Evan used to work together, you know, killing monsters and helping people escape the outer rim to get to Inland. Evan had been working with a guy named Bernie before Darrios fell in. Bernie hooked Evan up with Darrios. Said they needed one another. They clicked immediately and they’ve been best friends ever since.”
“This Bernie’s name keeps coming up. I really would’ve liked to have met him.”
“Yeah, he’s quite a guy.” She chuckled. “Very flamboyant. Larger than life, even.”
I thought of Bonnie and smiled to myself. “Yeah, I know...or knew someone like that.”
“After Evan and I got together, every time Evan went to work, I sat around on pins and needles, worrying, scared to death he’d get eaten by one of those awful things, and believe me, the moltergs aren’t the worst things out there. Over the years, I’ve heard stories...trust me, you don’t want to know.”
“Believe me, based on what I’ve seen between the Outer Rim and here alone, I don’t want to know.”
“To this day I still don’t understand how either of...any of them get up and go into the Outer Rim. Who does that? Who stays with a job, even embraces it, where there’s a very real possibility you’ll die a terrible gruesome death at any given moment? Definitely not me.”
“Me either, I can’t imagine.”
“Anyway, I wasn’t about to sit around and wait for one of those things to kill him and eat him. I couldn’t live with the stress and the worry. It was too much.”
I shivered, remembering my all too recent experience with said monsters. Sandra continued.
“I told him I wouldn’t marry him unless he gave all of that up. I wasn’t trying to tell him what to do or give him an ultimatum, but it was all too scary. He didn’t mind giving up hunting, but he didn’t want to abandon Darrios. Darrios tried to convince him he wasn’t abandoning him, but it was Bernie who finally convinced Evan he should quit.”
“I understand completely. I couldn’t imagine having to spend every day wondering if my husband was going to come home or not. It’s a good thing you had Bernie as the voice of reason.”
“You got that right, Maggie.”
“Well, that was one good thing about having a boyfriend who was a pharmaceutical salesman. Nothing too dangerous.”
We laughed, then Sandra became serious. “I hope you’re making the right choice, Maggie, because I don’t know if you can ever get back here once you leave.”
****
Darrios came back in and suggested we get going. We said our goodbyes then we left. We headed out of town into a heavily wooded area. The tall, lush trees created just enough shade, but still allowed fingers of sunlight to poke through.
Several different varieties of forest animals scurried curiously about. Darrios assured me they were all harmless. He told me what all of their names were, but I couldn’t remember which one was which.
A short while later, we came upon a small bridge. The gentle flow of the stream below bubbled over the rocks, creating the most soothing melody. I stopped on the little wooden bridge and peered over the railing into the crystal clear water. Darrios told me the stream opened up later into our journey and that the pond was even prettier there.
“If the water isn’t too cold, we can go skinny-dipping,” he promised, waggling his eyebrows up and down.
I snickered. Heat flashed through me when I thought of Darrios naked, but I kept my thoughts to myself. We came out of the forest into a sunny, flower-filled meadow. I held out my arms, spinning around in awe. I’d never seen so many different varieties of flowers in my life, just growing wild.
I closed my eyes and inhaled, taking in the combination of the floral scents blending together; lavender and hyacinth melding with jasmine and white lilacs. I opened my eyes, allowing my sights to feast on my surroundings again. The smell in the air and the vast assortment of color delightfully treated my senses.
I turned, meeting Darrios’ gaze. He was smiling broadly. “I knew you’d love this part,” he said assuredly. “Beautiful things go well together.”
I twirled around again, laughing. He took my hand and he kissed it.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. There are so many different flowers. It’s so pretty.”
“I told you,” he reminded me as we started walking again.
I hated to leave the meadow, but was excited to see what came next. Darrios did not disappoint. The slope in the terrain began to increase as we climbed a rather large hill. We stopped at the top to appreciate the view.
Beyond the spot where we were standing there was nothing but rolling hills of emerald-green that seemed to go on infinitely.
“It’s breathtaking!” I practically shouted.
The hills led right up to the mountains, which seemed to touch the bottom of the Celio sun. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, just purple snow-tipped peaks against a background of pure azure-blue, the color of the Caribbean Sea.
The cooler temperatures up in the hills caused me to shiver. Darrios stepped closer and put his arm around me. “Are you cold?”
I leaned into him. “Not anymore.”
He kissed the top of my head. We stood there enjoying the scenery for quite awhile. Finally, Darrios asked me if I was hungry. I nodded and asked him if we could go back to the meadow to have our picnic. He agreed.
As we enjoyed our lunch, I said, “Last night...I really liked sleeping like that.”
Darrios looked at me, puzzled. I could see he wasn’t entirely sure what I meant so I tried to explain.
“With you...with me wrapped up in your arms. When I woke up and felt you right up against me...with your arms around me, I felt very...close to you. It was nice.”
He smiled and his voice dropped an octave lower. “I can’t imagine sleeping any other way with you. I felt like it didn’t matter how close to you I got, it wasn’t close enough.”
I felt that flash, like lightning, shoot through me. How did he do that? He looked at me and wrinkled his brow. “Are you telling me you and Gregg don’t spoon?”
I sighed. “He doesn’t like to be touched when he’s asleep. Come to think of it, he’s not really a touchy person at all. I guess I’d just gotten used to it.”
“Wow,” Darrios said, “I think that is one of the saddest things I’ve heard you say. Why are you settling for a man who doesn’t do the things you clearly need a man to do?”
I shook my head, but didn’t answer. I already knew I didn’t love Gregg. I didn’t want to explain or be put in a position where I had to defend him right now.
“Why won’t you answer me?” he asked.
“Why won’t you tell me why it’s been three years since you’ve had sex?”
He was thrown by the question, but quickly recovered. “All right,” he said. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed heavily. “I had this friend awhile back, Yvonne. I met her a short time after I arrived here. She’d been here since she was a child and we were about the same age. She showed me the ropes, you know? I mean around the Outer Rim and Midland.”
“Was there a...romantic connection?”
He waved one hand over the other in front of him, making, I guess, the “no way” gesture.
“No, never. She was a true warrior. She taught me about the monsters and how to kill them. We worked well together and became quite the team.” He paused a moment, as if remembering. “It wasn’t long until we did everything together, but we were just friends. We had other separate dalliances, but never anything between us. There was never any attraction to each other for either of us.”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with sex.”
He leaned back on his elbows. I remained where I was.
“One day we rescued an entire family, a young boy and his parents. It had been one helluva week. Getting them to safety felt really good. All they wanted was to go home. Jezbah told them about Avascon. Neither Yvonne nor I had known about the wishes before that.”
I still failed to see the connection.
Darrios sat back up, leaning in toward me. “We kept the boy occupied while his parents...so his parents could make sure they got their wish. Anyway, it worked. They managed to reach Avascon. After they returned home, Yvonne and I decided to celebrate. We brought out the Mulsket and drank every drop we had. Of course, by then we were good and drunk.”
“So you had sex.”
“No, not like you’re thinking. We started talking about Avascon and the wishes. We decided it was a good idea to...try it. Our reasoning at the time was because then we could get more Mulsket...and she wanted pizza. We definitely weren’t thinking clearly.”
“I guess. Pizza?”
“We had sex that night...but we never did reach...it doesn’t matter, we crossed a line and took our relationship to a place it was never intended to go.”
“What happened? Did things get weird between you two?”
Darrios stood up, abruptly, startling me a little. I glanced around, checking for danger. He kicked the dirt. Oh, the tenseness came from within. I got it.
“Well yeah, in a way,” he answered. “I was okay, but her feelings changed. All of a sudden we had a different kind of bond than we’d had before. She became...possessive, overly concerned for my well-being.”
“She cared about you.”
Darrios began to pace. “Yeah, well, we’d been a team before. We worked together and trusted the other to do their part. All of a sudden it seemed she was taking on too much in order to make things easier for me. I spoke to her about it, but it didn't do any good.”
“Why? Because she didn’t follow your orders?”
He stopped and stared at me, stricken. “No, one day, out in the field...instead of being professional and trusting her judgment, and working with me as part of a team, she let her personal feelings get in the way. She became too protective of me and it got her killed.”
I gasped. He stared at the ground, shaking his head.