Terraformed Skies

by Anna Lewis

  “I don’t need to. You’re doing a fine job for me.”

  His hand moved from around her waist, dropping and giving her ass cheek a squeeze just before the elevator door opened.

  Adam was standing in the lobby, ready to board the elevator.

  “Oh, there y’all are. I was starting to think that you left without me.”

  “No,” Lilly said. “Somebody took forever to get dressed.”

  “It would have gone faster if Detective Bruce wasn’t undressing me with her eyes the entire time.”

  Adam looked at the two of them and shook his head.

  “Oh, you two have got it bad.”

  “Got what?” Lilly asked.

  “Nothing,” both men said in unison.

  “Whatever,” she said.

  She checked out Adam’s handiwork in the back of her car.

  “It definitely looks like there might be a football player under there.”

  “I’m glad it’s convincing. It just looks like a pile of blankets to me.”

  “They’ll fall for it,” Lilly said. “It’s early and half of them are still nursing their first cup of coffee.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Adam said.

  Lilly climbed into the passenger seat of the truck.

  “Why aren’t you driving?” Adam asked.

  “They’ll expect me to be driving. A man in a cowboy hat driving a truck won’t get a second glance.”

  “You’re a genius,” Adam said. “I’ll tell Sarge that you’re taking some of your vacation time.”

  “Good idea,” she said. If I come back at all, she thought silently.

  ***

  Lilly stopped her car in front of the Marner house beside the truck and got out. She went to Jason, worried for an instant when he grimaced with his first step.

  “Don’t look at me like that, Lilly. I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look fine.”

  “I was just a little stiff sitting in the truck for that long, that’s all.”

  The door on the porch swung open, and a jovial, weathered man stepped out onto the porch with his arms flung open and a huge smile on his face.

  “So glad yer home, Son. Can’t believe what I saw on the news.”

  Jason reached out, shaking the man’s hand before Silas pulled him in for a quick hug. Hattie Marner came out the door behind Silas, her smile just as wide.

  “As I live and breathe, Jason Hathaway, you’ve grown into quite a handsome man. Y’all come inside now. Dinner is ready.”

  Lilly looked at Jason, her expression unsure.

  “Dinner is lunch and supper is dinner,” he whispered.

  “I know that. I’ve been a Texan all my life. But do you know them? Why are they just inviting us to lunch?”

  Jason shrugged.

  “Are you going to tell them no?”

  “I guess not.”

  The inside of the house was cozy, the decorations more for comfort than style. Hattie led them into the dining room, where there was already a full meal set out on the table, along with place settings for four.

  “I called ahead,” Jason said. “I didn’t want to be rude.”

  He pulled a chair out for Lilly, who sat down slowly. This wasn’t something she was accustomed to. Even growing up in Texas, she’d always lived in the city and had never really been around the more laid back, southern hospitality way of life. An outsider, she felt a little out of place when Hattie handed her the first serving bowl and asked her what type of tea she wanted.

  Despite her reticence, the Marners had her feeling right at home within minutes. The conversation steered easily towards Jason’s childhood, giving her a rare look into the past that had helped shaped this wonderful man.

  “So wait. You’re saying you came around the corner just in time to see him pee too close to an electric fence?” Lilly asked, already laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face.

  “Yep. He couldn’t have been more than six or seven at the time. You should’ve heard him squeal, poor thing,” Silas said.

  He laughed as he regaled her with story after harrowing story of Jason’s childhood. By all accounts, Jason had been a little hellion.

  “But he was the sweetest little thing,” Hattie chimed in. “He would bring me flowers every day.”

  “They were from your planter, Hattie,” Silas reminded her. “And he would trample the other flowers in the process, just to get that perfect little one in the back.”

  Jason laughed along with them. He added details as he remembered them, but most of the stories were from twenty years before and his memory of them was vague at best.

  The mood turned somber when Silas recounted the day that the elder Hathaway had saved his life.

  “You must have been so scared,” Lilly said.

  “I was more scared for my Hattie. With a fresh baby and all alone, how was she going to manage?” He looked at Hattie and Lilly could see the overwhelming love for her in the old man’s eyes. “I wasn’t gonna die and leave my sweet Hattie alone.”

  Throat feeling thick with emotions, Lilly struggled to swallow the lump in her throat. She’d wanted a love like the one Hattie and Silas had since she was a little girl. When it became apparent that she wasn’t going to find that just anywhere, Lilly had given up on love and switched to more carnal desires. Her no strings attached style to love and life had worked out for her.

  Until now.

  She looked at Jason and she saw something that scared her. This wasn’t infatuation, or a long-term booty call. This was something much more.

  Jason leaned over, hand on her thigh, whispering softly in her ear.

  “Are you alright? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

  “I think I might have.”

  “Are you going to explain yourself, or am I supposed to guess what that means?”

  She shrugged, smiling at him before taking her last bite of food and savoring it.

  Jason stood and began clearing the table, waving Hattie off when she protested.

  “You cooked, I clean. That’s how it works.”

  Lilly followed suit, carrying what was left of the dishes into the kitchen and standing beside him while he washed the dishes. He handed each one to her to dry when they were rinsed, and Lilly stacked them right into the cupboards.

  They were done quickly, and before long, they were saying their goodbyes to Hattie and Silas.

  “We’ll see you again soon,” Silas said.

  “I don’t know. I’m just grabbing what I can and I’m thinking about selling this place,” Jason said.

  “No yer not,” Silas said matter-of-factly.

  “Sir?”

  “I see it in yer eyes. You’ve never been happier. You won’t sell this place. Mark my words, this time next year, you’ll be wondering why you ever considered it.”

  Without another word, Silas walked back into the house and gently shut the door.

  Lilly got into the driver’s seat of her car and drove slowly down the easement, avoiding as many potholes as she could so she didn’t cause Jason any pain.

  She parked in front of the old farm house and sat in the car for a moment while Jason stared at his hands. She reached out and grabbed his hand.

  “We don’t have to do this if you’re not ready.”

  “No. I’m ready. I need to go inside and look around. I’ve put it off since they died, and I let a lot of things rot away that I should have salvaged years ago.”

  Lilly nodded.

  “Alright, then let’s do this.”

  ***

  Jason stepped into his home slowly, surprised by how different it looked in the light of a new day.

  “It’s weird. I was just here, yet everything looks so different.”

  “You were in survival mode. I’m sure you weren’t looking at it like you are now.”

  “You’re right.”

  “How many times did you smash that chair against the wall before it finally broke?”


  “I lost count.”

  “Is that what happened to your side?”

  “Yes. A piece of wood impaled me.”

  “That would explain all the blood.”

  Jason nodded, but he didn’t say anything. He walked through the house in a kind of daze, memories crashing into him randomly as he did. His room was on his left, the door still shut. He hadn’t gone into that room when he’d been held captive. It held nothing for him, and he hadn’t wanted to see it then.

  But now, the door beckoned to him. He was trembling as he stepped toward it and shoved it open. Lilly’s hand touched his back as the air whooshed out of him.

  The room was just as he’d left it, his bed over by the window, wall to wall shelves of football trophies and FFA ribbons.

  His parents had kept it all.

  On the bed was a sheet of paper. Jason snatched it up, reading it quickly, then handing it to Lilly. Beneath that paper was a manila envelope. Jason opened it while Lilly read the note twice, finally grasping what was going on.

  “This is a suicide note. From you.”

  “Not from me, but yes, that’s exactly what it is.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “It’s his will. Jacob left everything to his dear brother, Jason.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I do. Jacob had scopolamine.”

  Lilly sucked in a breath, and Jason knew he didn’t have to explain to her what that was.

  “He was going to force you to commit suicide and then step into your life.”

  “Exactly. He left the money to me because it was really supposed to be him.”

  “How does he even have money?”

  “It looks like his parents had a life insurance policy that left him as the sole beneficiary.”

  “But he killed them.”

  “He did. But he’d already changed his last name to Hathaway, so the insurance never put two and two together, and there was no one to sound the alarm.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “It is.”

  “It looks like it’s not the only source of money, but that’s a good chunk of it.”

  “Oh Jason. Did you see this?” Lilly said, handing the note back to Jason and pointing out a paragraph near the end.

  “I did, but I don’t get it. I thought it was pretty clear that his parents were murdered, so I don’t know what accident he could be talking about here.”

  “Your parents’ accident.”

  Jason looked at the note, going over the words several times before the words sunk in.

  “It wasn’t an accident,” he read out loud. “Oh god, Lilly. He sabotaged the farm equipment and my parents died. Why would he do that?”

  Lilly wrapped her arms around him, her head resting against his shoulder as she held him.

  “I’ve seen a lot of murder and death in my life,” she said. “To be honest, we’ll probably never know why. Maybe he came here looking for you and they wouldn’t give up your location. Or maybe he tried to become a second son for them and they didn’t take to it the way he wanted. The only person who could have possibly explained why is dead.”

  Jason sniffed, wiping his face with the back of his sleeve.

  “You’re right. I don’t want to know anyway. The way he rambled when he had me tied up; there’s no way that he would have had a coherent explanation for what he did. He was so angry all the time, and I think that ate away at him until he went insane.”

  “I think that’s a reasonable explanation in and of itself. Jacob was sick, from birth. I doubt his foster parents did anything to make him the way he was, and I don’t think your parents made him kill them. He was heartless and angry. It’s a horrible combination.”

  Jason was silent for a long time, looking around the room, back at the note and at Lilly.

  “I can’t let this place fall apart,” he blurted out. “I just, I have to do something.”

  “You’re not going to sell it, are you?”

  “I don’t think I can.”

  “Then don’t. Use the money that Jacob left you to restore what he destroyed.”

  “Is that wrong of me, to use it for something like that?”

  “I don’t think so. This place is like this because of him. It’s only fair that you use his money to fix it. If there’s money left afterwards, then you can donate it to a charity.”

  Lilly looked over the papers, pulling out her phone really quick and checking something.

  “You can’t even give the insurance money back to the company that paid it out. They went bankrupt a few years ago.”

  “So that’s it?”

  “It is. You’ll find the right thing to do with it.”

  Jason nodded.

  “It needs a lot of work.”

  “It does.”

  “And a house like this, it needs to be a home.”

  “I agree.”

  Jason looked at Lilly, cupping her face in his hands.

  “This place isn’t a home without love, and you’re the only woman I’ve ever loved like this.”

  He kissed her gently, pulling away and searching her eyes.

  “What are you saying?”

  “Lilly Bruce. Detective Lilly Bruce, will you move in with me?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “It’s better than a proposal, right? I’m not asking you to marry me, yet. Just to move out of the city and live here. With me.”

  “Now?”

  “In a few months, when it’s the way it’s meant to be.”

  He was searching her eyes again, trying to read the meaning behind the tears that had sprung up, trailing slowly down her sweet face.

  Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded instead.

  He kissed her again, this time with the passion that had been buried behind his fear that she would reject him.

  ***

  Six Months Later

  Blindfolded and giggling, Lilly stepped over a threshold and onto a hard, cement floor.

  “Where are you taking me, Jason?”

  “You’ll see,” he said.

  “Don’t let me fall,” she said.

  Her fingers held onto his arm, nails digging into his skin.

  “You have to trust me. Sometimes, you have to do something when you’re not in control.”

  “That’s not really my thing,” she said wryly.

  “You need to learn. Life is about to get really interesting for us, and I need you a little more flexible than you are now.”

  “I seem to remember yesterday that you were just fine with how flexible I am.”

  He scooped her up in his arms without warning, swinging her around and kissing her soundly. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him back, fingers plunging into his hair.

  He slipped the blindfold off and Lilly looked around in awe.

  “This is the old barn?”

  “It is.”

  “Oh Jason, it looks amazing.”

  “Tomorrow, it will be filled with farm animals. Mostly ponies and goats, but I’m thinking about a few llamas too. And maybe a pig.”

  “I can’t believe how this is all coming together.”

  “I have you to thank. If you hadn’t convinced me to use that money for something good that would heal my heart, I wouldn’t have ever thought of making this dream come true. And just wait until you see the house.”

  “Why didn’t we start at the house?” she asked, giggly.

  “Well, I remember that a certain someone said something about wanting to have sex somewhere naughty. I thought, ‘what’s naughtier than having sex in a barn where we might get caught’?”

  “I meant somewhere like a hotel,” she said.

  She suddenly felt shy. Having sex in a barn was more for uninhibited people. Lilly fell firmly on the other end of the spectrum.

  Jason set her down on her feet, pinning her against the wall and covering her mouth with his.

  “Don’t knock it till you try it,” he said.
<
br />   His hand slid down over her hip, pulling her leg up onto his hip so that her maxi skirt slipped off her thigh and hung loosely just above the new cement floor.

  Sliding his hand under her skirt, Jason’s finger found the front of her panties, cupping her sex firmly through the fabric. Heat filled his hand.

  “Your body betrays you, my love. I think this excitement is exactly what you craved.”

  He smiled at her as she blushed prettily, stroking her cheek with one hand while he massaged her with the other. Her nipples were jutting against the thin fabric of her loose blouse.

  Her foot touched the floor when Jason gently shoved her extended leg off his hip. Before she could protest, he’d slid her panties down her legs and lifted her off her feet, leaving the blue lace in a heap on the floor.

  “Jason Hathaway, I am not getting naked in this barn in broad daylight.”

  “Who says I need you naked?”

  Lilly’s eyes sparkled despite her words, and in an instant, she was off, paddock boots clicking on the cement as she ran towards the back of the barn, laughing the entire way.

  Jason caught up with her quickly, his long stride eating up the distance. His hands went around her waist and he pulled her off her feet, her back pressed against him.

  “You can’t get away from me,” he said in her ear.

  Lilly shivered with delight. Even months since the first time he’d touched her, his hand still made her tremble with need. She wanted him more today than she had yesterday, and even more than she had just a few months ago.

  She was head over heels in love with Jason, even though she still hadn’t said it.

  His hand was under her skirt again, parting the folds of her sex and finding the delicate little nub between her legs. She stopped kicking, throwing her head back onto his shoulder and closing her eyes.

  “Do you like that?” he asked.

  “You know I do,” she purred.

  “I want you, right here in this barn, with that door wide open and the neighbors home.”

  “What if we get caught?” she was breathless.

  He answered her with a kiss on her exposed throat, lowering her slowly to the ground and bending her over a tie rail that came up to her waist.

  He gathered up her skirt, unzipping his pants and pressing against her.

  “This skirt makes this so much naughtier,” he said. “You’re like an old fashioned farm wife. I love this look on you.”