Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy (3 page)

The next five minutes was spent making idle conversation; Alison obviously ignoring Steven's contribution, and myself trying to make up for her rudeness. The waitress arrived with the food, and Steven tucked in to his greasy burger. We were making plans for a movie night at Jenny's place, when Alison kicked me in the shin, and leaned over the table.

"Don't look," she said, hiding her words with an obvious hand to the side of her mouth, "but there is a drop dead gorgeous guy staring at you from that table over there!"

I was about to turn in the direction of the table across the aisle from ours, but she stopped me with her hand over mine. "I said don't look!" she whispered loudly. "Be cool!"

I leaned closer to her. "If I can't look, then why'd you tell me about it!" I hissed.

Jenny turned and looked straight at him. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped down into an 'O' shape. "Wow!" was all she said.

Seeing her reaction, I just had to turn to look for myself. When I saw him I caught my breath. He was more than a 'wow'. He sat in the booth across the aisle from us, propped against the wall, as he fiddled slowly with a teaspoon. His hair, long enough to graze his collar, fell carelessly in an unpretentious style. It was the color of sunlit wheat. He was looking at me from under a wayward lock of golden hair, his eyes the most amazing azure color - like the reflection of a clear sky on a deep tropical lagoon. Alison was right - he
was
gorgeous, but his appeal was more than that, he held an aura of... what? I couldn't describe it. I felt drawn to him, fascinated, and I knew I would gape open mouthed at him all day like an idiot if I didn't snap out of it.

There was something else about him, besides his good looks... I felt as though there was some sort of recognition between us. It confused me. Surely I'd have remembered a guy who oozed... what was it? Charisma? A presence? An aura of... something. I couldn't get my head around it.

Steven looked over at him, and looked back to see the three of us sneaking surreptitious glances at the stranger. "How'd he get in here? I didn't see him come in, and the bell didn't ring at the door either."

"I don't know," said Alison. "Who cares?" She leaned in closer to me again. "Lucy, he's still staring at you!"

I sneaked a peek at him out the corner of my eye. He was, indeed, looking straight at me, his captivating eyes attentive but unreadable. I blushed.

"Staring at someone like that is creepy," Steven said, shoveling a handful of fries into his mouth.

"No doubt you're an expert on the subject," said Alison dryly. "If you're ugly, it's creepy, if you're hot, it's not."

The stranger continued to stare at me. Steven was right, the guy was either incredibly confident or just lacking in social skills. I was mildly irritated by his blatant observation of me, as well as strangely pleased he found me interesting at all.

Jenny leaned toward me. "He likes you! Do something!" she whispered.

I was clueless in these kind of situations. "Do what?"

Jenny and Alison leaned in and we huddled together to discuss a plan of action. We must have looked incredibly un-cool. Lacking any appropriate knowledge on the subject, Steven just listened in while he continued to devour his food.

"Get his phone number. Or leave him yours." Jenny suggested. I gulped nervously. I'd never asked a guy for his number before.

"I don't know..."

"You can do it!" Alison whispered confidently. She stole a glance at the table, sat up straight, and gasped. "What the-?! Where'd he go?!?"

The booth the stranger had been sitting at was empty. We looked up and down the cafe. There was only the one exit - the one with the bell which chimed when the door was opened, and we hadn't heard it jingling.

"Okay, that was weird," said Jenny. "We should have seen him go past when he left."

Steven swallowed the last of his burger and wiped his greasy hands on a napkin. "Maybe he was a ghost."

Alison threw him a look of disdain and proceeded to ignore him.

"Damn, that was a missed opportunity if ever I've seen one," she said. "Maybe we can find him outside." She jumped up, collected her bag, and we quickly followed her to the door. She stopped and turned to us. "Remember, if he's out there, be cool okay? You kind of acted like an idiot back there Luce, you probably scared him off."

"Me?!" I said incredulously. I wasn't the only one acting like a dork at the table. Three blushing, giggling seventeen year old girls. We'd probably put him off his food.

The main street was fairly busy as it was a Saturday morning, and the locals were out and about on their weekend off. We looked up and down the street, peering into store windows, but there was no sign of the guy. My heart sank - talk about a 'missed opportunity'. I couldn't shake off the feeling I'd met him before and I was eager to find out where and when.

The rest of the day was spent shopping. Alison managed to run off Steve, and Jenny stuck around seeing as she didn't have a job to go to. We all kept our eyes peeled for the stranger, but by three o'clock, we were all shopped out. I was exhausted and grumpy, and resigned to the fact he'd disappeared from town.

Jenny offered to give me a lift home. She was the only one in our group of friends with her driver's license. She had saved up enough to buy a temperamental car which was broken down more often than it was on the roads. Today though the car was having a good day, and Jenny bravely decided to risk being stuck in the middle of the countryside by driving me home. We were just heading to the car park, when we heard the toot of a horn. It was Uncle Tom. He never drove after a drinking session, so he mustn't have made it to the Junction. He motioned to the car park and pulled up next to Jenny's old bomb. It looked like I wouldn't need a lift with Jenny after all.

Uncle Tom got out, and I caught my breath as I realized he had a passenger with him. It was the stranger from the cafe. My uncle motioned to him and he got out of the car and moved toward us. I felt as though I was going to hyperventilate. "Be cool" - Alison's words stuck in my head, and Jenny and I both looked at each other quickly. She looked as if she were going to pass out with excitement at the return of my good fortune.

"This is Aric Brennan. Aric, this is my niece Lucy, and her friend Jenny."

Aric nodded and smiled at us. My heart skipped a beat - his smile was slightly lop-sided, which made him seem all the more adorable. I made a silent plea to my face not to become too red.

"Aric's been looking for a job. I met him at the tool shop and we headed on over to the Junction to have a chat. It seems he'll do nicely as Gus's replacement, so I've offered him a job."

"Oh! Good..." was all I managed to say. Jenny nudged my shoulder.

"We saw you in the cafe this morning, and we were going to say hello - but you... disappeared," she blurted out, speaking a little too quickly.

Aric turned his attention to Jenny, and she blushed under the full force of his gaze. "I remember you. Nice to meet you. Better late than never, I guess." He flashed her an enchanting smile.

Uncle Tom pretended not to notice our blushing.

"Aric's got a truck here. I've, er... not got started at the Junction and I'm going back, so I've asked him to take you home. You can show him around for me, introduce him to Janet and the boys."

I'm sure Jenny was biting back a squeal. Be cool, I told myself again. "Sure." I said.

Uncle Tom looked at my shopping bags and winked. "I see you've bought yourself something."

"Yeah, well, Alison is contagious. I got caught up in the moment."

He smiled approvingly and turned to Aric. "Well, I'll see you later tonight. Lucy here will look after you." He gave me parting instructions to get the portable bed out in the tack room in the barn. It wasn't much, but it would have to do until Gus and Nell vacated their cabin.

After saying goodbye to Jenny and my uncle, Aric and I were left alone in the car park. We looked at each other silently for a moment, his expression unreadable. My face probably had 'AWKWARD' written all over it. His mouth twitched into a smile, and he gestured to my shopping.

"Here, let me take those for you." My heart fluttered a little, no guy had ever offered to carry my bags for me. It was kind of old fashioned, but nice.

"My truck's over there," he said.

His pick-up truck was big and black and looked brand new. Spotless and shiny, even the tires looked new - blackened and un-scuffed. I wondered how someone in need of a job had scored himself a brand new car. His clothes seemed new and rather expensive too. It didn't quite add up. Why would someone as apparently well-heeled as Aric want to work as a farm hand, with long hard hours and basic wages?

He opened the car door for me and closed it when I was comfortably seated.

I pointed him in the direction of our ranch.

After what seemed an eternity of uncomfortable silence, I decided to break the ice. I wracked my brains to think of something to say.

"Haven't we met before?" I didn't mean to blurt that out.

"Well, in the cafe, this morning..."

"No, not then. I feel as though I know you from somewhere."

"Maybe I have a common face?" He tapped on the steering wheel as though he were listening to an imaginary song.

Heck, not common at all
I thought to myself, but said "maybe..." out loud.

I pressed on. "So where are you from?"

"All over - I haven't settled down for a long time."

I tried to pin down his origins by his accent but he had one of those voices which have no accent. His voice was smooth and his annunciation perfect. I couldn't tell where he was from.

"Have you worked with cattle before? Can you ride?"

He grinned at me. "You sound like you're interviewing me - your uncle has already given me the third degree."

"Oh, right." I looked at the road ahead. He wasn't giving much away.

"The answer's 'yes' - to both questions, by the way."

I smiled nervously at him then looked out the window at the rolling countryside. I wanted to look at him and totally check him out, but he was so good looking I was afraid I'd just gape and come across like a country bumpkin. I kept my eyes on the countryside through my window, and tried to think of something suitably nonchalant to say.

He broke the silence first. "So you live with your uncle's family?" he asked.

I always dreaded the unanswered question behind that query. What people really wanted to know was how I came to be living with my relatives - what happened to my own family? I didn't want to talk about that.

"Yes." I answered shortly. He seemed to understand he wouldn't be getting any more information about that, and so changed the subject.

"Beautiful country here."

I was glad to have some neutral territory to talk about.

"Yes, it is - the locals call it 'God's Own Country'."

He made a small grunt, then dipped his head toward the forest clad range thrusting up from the green valley.

"And that mountain there, the biggest one - that's Shadow Mountain?"

"Yeah it is, although it's not very shadowy at the moment. You know, in the sun and all." I cringed. I was sounding like a dork.
Say something intelligent and witty, Lucy,
I admonished myself.

I blundered on. "The one to the left is 'The Wizard Hat', it's meant to look like, well, a wizard's hat - obviously..." Ugh, that was lame. Not 'intelligent and witty' at all.

He glanced at the lumpy peak, and shrugged slightly, then threw me a quick smile. "Hmm... I can't see a wizard hat."

I smiled back at him and caught my breath at his handsome profile. I looked away quickly. Maybe he was too polite, or too cool, to be bothered by my dorkiness. "Neither can I!" I mumbled.

He scanned the mountain range as he drove. I guessed he was admiring the view - it was looking quite pretty bathed in an orange hue in the pre-twilight sun. The same afternoon sunlight burnished his fair hair to a gilded gold. I tried to ignore it and concentrate on the scenery.

"The one on the right of Shadow Mountain - that's High Hill. Its nickname is 'The Saddle', and I can totally see why they call it that."

"Yeah, definitely a saddle shape."

The conversation petered out again, and we drove in silence for a while. I wanted to ask him so many questions - was he married? (No wedding ring, and no tell-tale pale mark on his tanned finger indicating the recent removal of one either), did he have a girlfriend? How old was he? I held my tongue though - I didn't want him to think I was interested in
that
way... it would come across as totally un-cool, and I'd die of embarrassment.

"When you round this curve, you'll see a big white and black letterbox in the shape of a cow... well, it's supposed to be a cow. The head fell off. That's the entrance to Shadow Bend."

We bumped along the rutted track that ran adjacent to the bend of Carson's Creek. The suspension in Aric's new truck was way more effective than the suspension in Uncle Tom's beat up old car, and I was able to explain the use of the various paddocks, fields and stock as we went past without bumping around and biting my tongue.

Aunt Janet was watering the flowerpots on the front veranda when we pulled up outside the house. I could see her tidying herself as she came down the steps to meet us.

"You must be the new man, 'Aric', right? Tom called to say he hired someone." She held out her hand to him. I couldn't believe she was blushing too. He obviously had a strange affect on all women - not just giggly teenage girls.

"Nice to meet you ma'am. It's a lovely place you have here."

Aunt Janet giggled, and waved her hand. "Oh, please, do call me Janet. I'll feel ancient if you call me anything else."

I quelled the urge to roll my eyes, and pointed at the barn.

"Uncle Tom asked me to get him set up in the tack room."

"Nonsense! The barn is barely fit for the animals, let alone humans. You can have my sewing room Aric. Lord knows I don't get enough time to sew any more considering all I have to do myself." She gave me a pointed look, and took him by the arm.