Smith's Monthly #27

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  He stood and made sure his dress shirt was still tucked into his jeans. He ran a hand through his longish brown hair, wishing for the tenth time in the last few hours that he had gotten a haircut. His hair never seemed to stay in place.

  At least he had managed to shave in the airport restroom on the way.

  Across the room from the fireplace was a beautiful ornate grand staircase with polished mahogany rails and dark-stained pine stairs covered with a carpet runner up the middle. He moved over to it and ran his hand along the railing, feeling the polished smoothness of the wood.

  The archway into what must have been a formal dining room in the past was partially blocked by a large wooden desk from the same period. Even the chair behind the desk fit the time period of the room. There was nothing at all on the desk.

  He couldn’t see a detail out of place. What an amazing front office for a historical institute.

  He stood there by the staircase, not really knowing what to do with himself at this point. He had left his travel bag near the front door and it looked tempting to just pick up and head back to Southern California.

  But he knew if he did that, he would always regret not seeing this through.

  He forced himself to take some deep breaths to try to calm down some. He had no idea why he was so nervous. He had more than enough money to do his own research on his own pace, so the institute financial help didn’t matter. But there was just something about the institute and its reputation for only accepting the best that challenged him.

  At twenty-nine, he had grown tired of teaching and wanted a break. Actually, he needed a break. He had liked Southern California. Clearly different from his hometown of Boulder, Colorado. And he had liked the sun and the excitement of living there, even though he seldom got out or down to the beach or anywhere else for that matter.

  And his former fiancée, Jean, had finally gotten tired of waiting for him and his strange ways of staying up all night lost in medical records in old books from western towns. She had met another humanities professor from Berkeley and had moved there in May to be with her new love.

  Wade had no doubt he would be hearing that they were married at some point this winter. Jean hated waiting for him and really, really had a desire to be married. Pathological desire, at times, as far as he was concerned.

  He had loved the fact that they fit together, loved that they both loved to surf, loved her passion for politics and her passion in bed. But as time went on, he had realized he didn’t really love her as a person.

  After a few months now since she had left him all alone in their condo, he realized that his hesitation on getting married to her had been his subconscious telling him it wouldn’t be right.

  At that moment a man about Wade’s height and age entered the room from the back, followed by a short, black-haired woman wearing a wide floppy blue hat. Both of them wore jeans and light shirts and the woman had on a light blue thin jacket as well that covered her arms and neck.

  “Dr. Wade?” the man said as he came forward, extending his hand. “I’m Director Parks.”

  Wade shook the director’s strong hand, smiling. “Great meeting you and thanks for allowing me to interview.”

  Parks laughed. “Our pleasure, I assure you.”

  Parks turned and said, “Dr. Wade, this is Professor Silverman.”

  At that moment Professor Silverman looked up and into Wade’s eyes and Wade damn near froze as he extended his hand.

  She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

  And when they touched, he never wanted to let go.

  And clearly as they held each other’s gaze, she was surprised at meeting him as well.

  “Nice meeting you,” he finally managed to say.

  He didn’t want to let go of her wonderful hand, but he did.

  She nodded and just kept staring at him.

  Director Parks didn’t seem to notice their interaction, thankfully, as he said, “Let’s sit and talk for a moment. And I hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long.”

  “Not at all,” Wade said, desperately trying to gather his wits about him like they were lost marbles scattering across the hardwood floor. This was an important interview. He really, really needed to get it together.

  And fast.

  Real fast.

  FOUR

  August 3rd, 2018

  Boise, Idaho

  SOPHIE SOMEHOW MANAGED to take a breath as Dr. Wade turned to follow the director to the couch and chairs. She wanted to just sit down at the desk on the chair there because her legs were feeling strange, like she had had too much sun.

  But she knew she hadn’t. She knew the reaction was to meeting Dr. Wade.

  And watching him walk toward the couch and chairs didn’t help. He was built like an athlete, with narrow hips and wide shoulders.

  The man was the most attractive man she had ever seen. He was as tall as Director Parks and had the most wonderful green eyes and tanned skin. His brown hair looked like it needed to be cut and combed, but she had a hunch it always looked like that, giving him a boyish charm that she would never suggest he change.

  And his touch had been heavenly. She had wanted to just hold onto his hand for a lot, lot longer, but she had a hunch Director Parks would have frowned on that with a new recruit to the institute. The director had asked her to help, not tackle Dr. Wade.

  She had had her share of boyfriends along the way. A couple had pretended to get serious, but both of them had moved on to others, calling her remote and unavailable. She had only shrugged at that. It was saying something when she liked her research work more than the man she was dating.

  It had been seven months since her last fling, and after a few lackluster attempts in bed, she had moved on from that guy, not even giving him the chance to do so first.

  So Dr. Wade’s touch had certainly set off something inside of her she had kept sort of under control over the summer since arriving here. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But she sure wanted to find out.

  Dr. Wade sat on the couch and Director Parks took the chair closest to the fireplace and turned it toward the couch. Sophie took the other chair, also turning it toward the couch.

  Dr. Wade looked at her and smiled as she sat down.

  Her breath caught with that. His smile was as good as the rest of him.

  Thankfully, he turned his attention to the director and gave her another chance to gather herself. She could never remember having a reaction like this to any man before. And now certainly wasn’t the best time to start.

  “Thanks for applying to the institute, Dr. Wade,” Director Parks said, getting this all started.

  “Thanks for taking my application,” Dr. Wade said. “And please just call me Wade. Everyone does.”

  The Director nodded and Wade turned to Sophie and she nodded.

  “I just go by Sophie.”

  Wade again nodded and smiled at her and then turned back to the director.

  And once again she was glad he gave her the time to catch her breath again. She really, really needed to pull herself together very quickly.

  “The board here at the institute has looked over your credentials,” Park said.

  “Anything I can fill in?” Wade asked.

  The director shook his head. “No, I think we’re satisfied and would like to offer you a research position here starting today.”

  Sophie watched as Wade opened his mouth, then closed it. Clearly he was shocked, as shocked as she had been thinking she was coming for an interview and being offered a position instead. It seemed the institute and directors did a very complete job of researching perspective candidates.

  “A research position comes with a nice condo down along the river,” the director said. “All food and supplies are furnished, plus you have use of a car any time you need one.”

  “Wow,” Wade managed to say.

  Sophie smiled at that. She hadn’t even gotten that much out for the first two minutes.
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  “The institute will also cover any travel you need to do,” Parks said, “and a five-thousand-dollar-a-month stipend you can do anything you would like with.”

  Wade only nodded to that, but Sophie bet he was barely holding it together.

  “We ask for no credit at all in your research or any papers you write while here. However, we do ask that you sign a nondisclosure agreement as to anything you see here or the terms of our agreement.”

  Wade again nodded.

  The director went on. “You can stay as long as you need for your research. No limits and no hurry and we do not ask to check your work in any fashion.”

  Sophie nodded to that. In the last few months, she had met a few researchers who basically were just living here and publishing books and had been for years. She certainly was in no hurry to leave, and her $5,000 per month was already building up into a pretty good reserve fund for when she did move on.

  “Are you interested in our offer?” Director Parks asked.

  Wade nodded for a moment before he managed to say, “Yes, I am honored.”

  “Actually,” Director Parks said, “We are honored to have you here.”

  With that, the director stood and shook Wade’s hand as Wade stood.

  “Welcome aboard,” Director Parks said. “I’ll have the paperwork drawn up over the next few hours. Sophie has generously offered to show you around in the meantime. Her area of research is similar to yours, so I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about.”

  Sophie stood and smiled at Wade, who looked completely shocked.

  Director Parks went to the clean wooden desk and punched a hidden button on the side. A computer screen lifted up and Parks quickly typed in a code, then turned to a hidden printer in a cabinet behind the desk.

  A moment later he turned back and handed Wade a couple of plastic cards. “These are your pass keys into the buildings, library, and your condo. Sophie will show you how they work.”

  “Which condo is Wade in?” Sophie asked.

  Parks glanced at the screen, then said, “10-19.”

  “Great,” Sophie said, smiling at Wade. “I’m in 9-12 in the complex next to yours. It’s beautiful there. You will be amazed.”

  “Any furniture or supplies you need,” the director said, “feel free to just buy them using that card.”

  Wade looked at the cards in his hand with a puzzled look. They looked like simple hotel keys with nothing at all written on them. But Sophie knew around Boise those white cards were better than the top charge cards in existence.

  “I’ll explain it all,” she said, letting Wade and Director Parks off the hook.

  Wade nodded and then smiled. “Thanks.”

  Sophie smiled back at him. She understood exactly what he was thinking and the confusion he was feeling.

  She just wished she understood what she was thinking, and why she couldn’t get the idea of getting him naked out of her mind.

  FIVE

  August 3rd, 2018

  Boise, Idaho

  THE FIRST HOUR with Sophie was like a dream.

  A wonderful dream.

  She had to be the most beautiful and alluring woman he had ever met. And when she had taken off that large, floppy-brimmed sunhat when she sat down in the meeting, he had almost melted. He had been attracted to his share of women over the years, and had been in lust with a lot more.

  But never had he felt such sudden attraction and lust at the same time with another person, let alone another historian and professor. Before today he would have bet that wasn’t even possible.

  As Director Parks had gone up the stairs, she had asked him if he minded a half-mile walk along the river in the warm afternoon sun.

  “Might clear my head some,” he said, laughing.

  She had indicated that he grab his shoulder bag and follow her.

  She led him out the back of the old Victorian Mansion and down past three other buildings. The entire complex was shaded by massive old oak and cottonwood trees, giving it all a sense of privacy and protection.

  “Those used to be the stables,” she said as they went by the first two, “but now they house cars we can use if we want. I’ve never really checked one out, since I like walking everywhere. But I’ll show you how later.”

  He nodded. After living in LA for so long, he found it hard to imagine living without a car. And in Boulder you pretty much needed one all the time as well.

  In LA he had parked at the airport his BMW convertible. He was going to need to head back down there and either park it somewhere or bring it up here. He would decide that later.

  The warmth of the sunny afternoon felt good, slightly cooler than what he was used to. Sophie had put her hat back on the moment they stepped outside, laughing at how her fair skin didn’t do well without lotion in the sun.

  He didn’t say anything, but he found her skin frighteningly alluring, so much so that it was everything he could do to just not touch her hand at times as they walked.

  The path beside the river wound along in the shade through tall poplar and oak and cottonwood trees.

  About two blocks down from the institute, the river path ran into a street and they crossed over the bridge and took the tunnel on the other side under the road to continue to follow along the river.

  “What is all that?” he asked, trying to make sense out of the hordes of people floating past, many of them sitting in inner tubes. He didn’t even know inner tubes were still made.

  “That,” Sophie said, “is one of the many wonderful charms about this city. Seems like a summer pastime for vast numbers of people here is to float the Boise River from about six miles upstream to a park just down from us.”

  The more he stared at the people going past, the more he liked the idea, especially if the river was as clean and cool as it looked.

  “You ever done it?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Only been here since May and haven’t had a chance to yet. But it sure looks like fun, doesn’t it? I like to sit here on the grass and just watch them float by. Gives me time to think.”

  “It does look like fun,” he said.

  At that moment, he came out of his shock from the meeting and realized how little he knew about this person walking beside him. In fact, he knew nothing about her at all besides her name.

  Nothing.

  They walked for a moment in silence before he asked, “Were you on the committee that approved my application?”

  She laughed, the sound high and soft, like it belonged in the grass and trees around them.

  “I was the last person accepted here before you,” she said. “They surprised me in the same way and it was Director Parks’ secretary that showed me around. I’m guessing the director thought that since I was new at this as well, it would help you figure out stuff quicker.”

  “So you know as little about me as I do about you?”

  “Yup,” she said. Then she shrugged. “And not much more about the institute, actually. Got a hunch both of us are going to be asking questions when I realize how much I really don’t know yet about this place.”

  He laughed. “So how about we start with the important stuff in the getting to know each other area. What are you researching?”

  She laughed as well. “Family, mostly women’s lives in the Old West, specifically the women living in the old mining towns. How about you?”

  He was shocked at that. The director had been right. Their areas of research were very close.

  “I’m trying to research and dig up what medical records that exist about the health of the people living and working in the old mining towns.”

  She looked up at him from under her floppy hat. He could tell she was surprised as well.

  And he decided right there he hoped to spend hours staring into those dark eyes to find out what was behind them.

  “I ran across some old medical diaries from a mining town called Stibnite last week,” she said. “Glad to show you how to get to them.”

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nbsp; “Fantastic,” he said. “Thanks. Director Parks was right about our areas of research. They really are close.”

  She laughed. “Some day I just hope to meet Dawn Edwards, since both of us are clearly jumping off the fantastic work she has done.”

  Just the sound of that name made Wade jerk a little. Dawn Edwards had done some of the most definitive books on the people and lives of the people in old mining towns that had ever been written.

  “Is she around here?” Wade asked.

  “I think she is at times,” Sophie said. “But again, haven’t had enough time to dig into that. Just hoping is all. I wouldn’t actually recognize her if she walked past us right now.”

  “With that I agree,” Wade said. “But it would be an honor to shake her hand and tell her how much I loved her books at some point.”

  “It would at that,” Sophie said.

  SIX

  August 3rd, 2018

  Boise, Idaho

  SOPHIE DIRECTED WADE along a sidewalk away from the river and toward some two-story condos scattered in the trees. Each complex had eight or ten condos and they were staggered in such a fashion that each one had a private backyard and a view of the river.

  Sophie couldn’t even image how much these had cost to build, but no one lived in them but the researchers at the institute. And even then most were empty as far as she could tell. There were never any cars in the small parking lots, that’s for certain.

  “I live in that complex,” she said as they came to a branch in the sidewalk. “Complex number nine. From what I understand, all the condos look the same, but I have never been in more than mine.”

  “These are all for the researchers?” Wade asked, looking at the complex of buildings.

  “From what I understand,” Sophie said.

  “Wow,” Wade said.

  Now that she really looked around, that was amazing.