The Future Falls (22 page)

Jack shook his head. “It's October.”

“Some of it's Allie. Her touch is . . .”

“Damp.”

He was grinning when she glanced over at him. Impossible not to grin back. “I was going to say unmistakable.”

“Right. Oh, and cool distraction with the issues thing.”

When they weren't gold, his eyes really were absurdly warm. “Issues thing?”

“That you used to distract her. So she wouldn't ask
why
you were off to see Auntie Catherine. Although . . .” Golden brows drew down. “. . . if you'd time-slipped back, you could've been and gone without saying anything.”

“Allie knows when the way to the Wood is opened. It's why Auntie
Catherine can't sneak back into Calgary.” Not through the shrubbery. Not through the mirrors. Not without Allie knowing. “And even if I could deflect her questions, which—let's face it—I could, I don't want to time slip if I don't have to.”

“Why not?”

She shrugged. Looked past him at their reflections standing side-by-side in the mirror. She was five seven, he was at least five ten and still growing. Which had nothing to do with the question, but now that she had the evidence in front of her, she couldn't stop wondering how tall he'd eventually get. Then she considered his question and thought about lying. About tossing out a smart-ass remark that meant nothing but would make Jack laugh. Didn't. Didn't have to deflect away from feelings anymore, not now they were telling each other the truth. “It makes me older. You stay out of this!” Her reflection, beginning to age, shed years so fast it ended up in grade school, front teeth missing, a plastic recorder in one pudgy hand. Jack's reflection patted her head. “Every time I slip back, I've lived more time than you have.” She'd added a few more hours to the total by taking Gary to Nova Scotia.

A snort and a medium-sized puff of white smoke. “I thought after seven years, it didn't matter.”

“It doesn't. I just . . .” It didn't matter. There were no qualifiers attached to
not going to happen,
but she hated feeling the distance between them widening. Although maybe if it got wide enough, it would solve the whole problem. She could complain about his music, tell him to pull up his jeans, and bake him cookies. Okay, maybe not the cookies. He'd have to really piss her off to deserve that. And she complained about his music now. Electro? Seriously? There was distance
enough
between them.

“You just?” When she shook her head, unsure of what he was asking, he gave an exaggerated sigh. “They say memory's the first to go.”

It took Charlie a moment, almost long enough Jack had begun to look unsure, then she laughed and the distance between them closed again. “I can't remember what it is I like about you right now.”

He shrugged, a dimple flashing. “You keep saying size matters.”

“Only when trying and failing to drag your enormous dragon ass through the Wood.”

“Only then?”

“Bite me.”

“In a just world.”

Charlie heard Truth and she was pretty sure, given Jack's senses, he could hear her heart pounding, once again, in time with his as the universe said,
you're meant to be together, except for that thirteen-year thing. Oops
. As good as the truth felt, running away, misunderstandings, and hurt feelings were a hell of a lot less dangerous than spending time with Jack without the barricade of ignorance between them. Talk to each other? After due consideration, she was going to kick David right in his white-tailed ass. She took a step back. Jack took a step forward.

The mirror showed no reflection at all. It would keep their secrets. Great. What she needed was someone shouting
this is wrong
at her, or offering pity rather than tacit acceptance.

Then Joe stuck his head out into the hallway from the store. “Jack, I need . . .” Jack spun around toward him, teeth bared. Charlie made a noise that might have been a growl although she planned on denying it later. Joe blushed so vigorously, his freckles vanished—which Charlie had to admit was fairly impressive since he'd been knocking boots with Auntie Gwen for four years. “Never mind.” Gaze locked on the floor, he waved a hand in their general direction. “Later.”

They took a step apart when the door to the store closed. As Charlie had already been backing up, her butt hit the window.

Jack's eyes flashed gold. “I should . . .”

“Thank Joe for his timing?” Not that he'd interrupted anything. Much. They'd been flirting with the line, not crossing it. If Jack had kept advancing, Charlie would have stopped him. She wouldn't have wanted to—she was self-aware enough to admit that—but she would have put on her big girl panties and stopped him. And possibly, putting on her big girl panties might not be the best bit of phrasing under the circumstances.

“But . . .”

“No buts,” Charlie snapped, trying not to think of why she might have taken off her big girl panties. “And you probably want to go and convince Joe that he didn't see what he thought he saw.”

“But,” Jack repeated, folding his arms, “Joe didn't seem to care about our ages. To hear you tell it, he should have called you a hag and chased you away from me with a broom.”

“Hag?”

“Crone?” His eyes twinkled. Literally twinkled.

Charlie shook her head. She could feel the condensation on the window soaking through her jeans. “He's full-blood Fey, you're a Dragon Prince, and you growled . . .”

“You growled.”

“That wasn't me.” And there was the denial, as planned. “His instincts took over and he ran. I heard it in his voice,” she added. “He said
‘Never mind. Later.'
but I heard,
‘Don't eat me.'
”

“Oh.” Jack considered that for a moment. “So I guess I should apologize to him?”

“If you're asking my advice, you guys should definitely square up before he talks to Auntie Gwen and she puts two and two together and comes up with thirteen years. Auntie math,” she added when Jack rolled his eyes.

“So I guess I should apologize to him.” Not a question this time. He turned to follow Joe. Turned back to the hall. “Be careful.”

Her soundtrack played Hedley's “Young and Stupid.”

“You'd better be referring to Jack,” Charlie muttered, jerking open the back door. Six strides took her through the shrubbery. Six more took her through the Wood. The last six took her from between two Rocky Mountain junipers out onto the main drive leading up to Caesar's Palace where she answered her phone and was almost hit by a cab.

And a limo.

And an SUV.

And another cab.

Although in fairness, it wasn't entirely the second cabbie's fault as she'd become even more distracted.

“
How
many baths?” Charlie stepped in under the portico and leaned against a pillar, appreciating the warmth after the damp cold of Calgary.

On the other end of the phone, Auntie Carmen sniffed. “Seventeen. Not that we're complaining, the smell has faded significantly.”

“So what's the problem?”

“He's monopolizing the bathroom. We've had to charm it to try and keep him out.”

“So?”

“It's not working. Whatever tune you have playing in his head is blocking the charm.”

“Really?” That was unexpected.

“Why on earth would I make that up, Charlotte? We need you to come and talk to him.”

“You need me? You and Auntie Bea can't handle a man who's been naked and wet for most of the time he's been in your house?”

“Well, he's slippery, dear, we can't get him out of the bathroom.”

They could. They just didn't want to. “I'm a little busy. Get hold of Jack and have him do it.”

“Isn't Jack with you?”

“No, he's with Joe in the Emporium.”

“But he's always with you.”

“Auntie Carmen, I'm not in Calgary.” Charlie watched a very hungover bridal party tetris themselves and their luggage into a van and head for the airport. “If you can't reach Jack . . .” Dragon fire had turned out to be the one thing Gale phones couldn't survive. Charlie was fully aware that this made her inability to get rid of her phone total bullshit. “. . . have Roland talk to Dan.”

“I'd like to leave my grandson out of this. He's your stray, Charlotte.”

“It's your bathtub, Auntie Carmen.” Charlie hung up and caught a sympathetic look from one of the valet parking guys. “Family.”

He nodded. “Claro que si.”

Out of Town Girl led her to the 41st floor of the Augustus Tower where she found a member of the hotel staff backing out of Auntie Catherine's room with a room service trolley, a disheveled uniform, and a sappy expression. He had gorgeous dark eyes, broad shoulders, and was in shouting distance of his early twenties which explained the Rihanna now playing in the background at least. When he caught sight of Charlie, he blushed up to the roots of his sweat-damp hair.

Charlie patted him on the shoulder as she went past him into the room.

“Charlotte.”

“Auntie Catherine.” There might have been a plaintive
call me
from the hall as the door shut behind her. Charlie chose to ignore it. “We need to talk.”

“Please, he's twenty-six and this is not the first time he's offered his services to a woman traveling alone. Although,” she added thoughtfully, braiding her hair, silver bracelets chiming, “it's the first time he didn't expect to be compensated for his effort.”

“We don't need to talk about that.”

“Pity. It was worth commenting on.” End of the braid tied off, Auntie Catherine locked a serious gaze on Charlie's face. “Go ahead, child. Talk.”

“He's twenty-six?” Okay. That wasn't what she'd intended to say.

“It's not about age, Charlotte, it's about power imbalance.”

“Imbalance? What power did the boy-toy have?”

“Oh, we were talking about Kevin? My mistake.” She leaned in toward the mirror, licked her fingertip and ran it over her eyebrows, then turned back to Charlie. “Never underestimate the power of abs so defined you can open a Corona on them. Now then, get to the point. I'm due in the spa in forty minutes.”

“You may want to cancel because that asteroid you Saw . . . NASA won't be able to stop it.”

“And why would that be a reason to cancel my spa appointment?”

“Oh, I don't know . . .” Charlie picked the box of mixed nuts off the dresser and frowned at the exposed flashing lights. “Asteroid? Impact? Extinction event?”

“That seems like an excellent reason to get a massage.” Auntie Catherine plucked the nuts from Charlie's hand and put them back on the sensors. “You told me they'd have years to come up with a solution. What happened?”

“It turns out that as an astrophysicist, I'm a great musician.” The bathroom was definitely big enough for a tiger and she could see the Bellagio fountain from the window. Of the room. Not the bathroom. Although there was a television by the toilet. Having paced out the dimensions of the room, Charlie flipped the duvet back into place before dropping onto the rumpled bed. “There's a heavy metal asteroid blocking the rock you Saw—an asteroid heavy in metals, not a head-banging asteroid. Although there
will
be some head banging . . .”

One silver brow rose. “Charlotte.”

“Right. Because the asteroid that's going to impact has been blocked from sensors and telescopes and science stuff, it's gotten too close. We've got a maximum of six months before the blocking asteroid has moved far enough out of the way that the falling asteroid is spotted and all over the news. And, news flash, no one I talked to thinks we'll get the whole six. All told, twenty-two months to impact.”

“I see.” Auntie Catherine tightened the belt on the hotel bathrobe, the
plush fabric dipping in around her waist. “It seems we're the dinosaurs after all. I assume there's a reason you've come back to tell me this before telling the rest of the family.”

“How do you know I haven't told . . . No one's called you.” Obvious really. “I need to know if you've Seen anything else.”

“I've Seen many things. I've seen next year's Oscars—no real surprises. I think Peter Jackson was in Armani again. I've Seen a white tiger cub born in Kiev. I've Seen a bridge fall in Chunox. Or perhaps it was Consejo. I've Seen you embarrassing yourself mooning over . . .”

“Yeah, you've seen fire and you've seen rain. Anything else that might
help?
” When both Auntie Catherine's brows rose, Charlie sighed. “Help us survive.”

“No.”

“That's it?” Charlie asked after a long moment. “Just no?”

“Just no.” The bed dipped as she sat.

Across the road and forty-one stories down, the Bellagio fountains thumped out a few thousand gallons of water. Charlie stared at the back of Auntie Catherine's head, at the slope of her shoulders, at the bow of her spine, and realized she'd never seen an auntie look
undone
before. She sat up so that her right arm touched Auntie Catherine's left and her boots sank into the plush, cream-colored carpet beside Auntie Catherine's bare feet. It looked like she'd gotten a pedicure recently, her toenails were a bright sapphire blue. “They're pretty sure that impact'll be just south of Hudson Bay. Darsden East goes early, but the rock's big enough that the rest of us, where us means pretty much everyone, goes a little later.”

“Yes, well, it is a
very
large rock.” After a moment she added, “You should say dies, Charlotte. Everyone
dies
, not everyone goes. Euphemisms are for the childish and the weak, and you're neither.”

“Thanks.”

“It was the truth, not a compliment.”