by Sable Hunter
Clare giggled. “I’m sure she’s as mortified as I am.”
“I’m so sorry.” He wanted to take her in his arms, but he didn’t want to push his luck. “Can we just forget this ever happened and go on with our day?”
“Yea. We can.” She gave him a gentle push on the chest. “Just give me a few minutes to change.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Nathan assured her as she shut the door between them.
…Downstairs, Nathan found the Connelly brothers and Sandy Peterson in the kitchen sampling some of Ms. Robbins’s cookies. When he approached them, Mad stood up to greet him. “I apologize, Nathan. I should have talked to you first.”
He nodded toward the pink cheeked woman who was trying to hide behind her drink. “No harm done. Your sister is still talking to me.”
“Well, good.” Storm pointed to the bar. “Do you want a drink?”
“No.” Nathan pointed to the coffee pot. “I’m driving. Romy and I are heading out for the day.”
“Where to?” Storm asked.
“A museum, the UFO watchtower, a drive through the sand dunes, and her favorite restaurant.”
“Sounds fun,” Sandy spoke up. “I hope you have an enjoyable time.”
“We will.”
“Just take it slow,” Storm suggested. “She gets tired awfully easy.”
Nathan watched Storm and Mad share a glance. He could normally pick up on their thoughts unless they were about Romy. Right now, he wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to listen in. She was a puzzle he was anxious to solve. “I’ll take care of her. She told me about her condition.”
“She told you?” Mad look stunned. “So…you know?”
“Yea, I know,” Nathan answered slowly, not sure why the man seemed so shock.
“Know what?” Romy asked as she came up behind them.
Sandy, sensing a family discussion, excused herself. “I’m just going to unpack and freshen up.”
Ms. Robbins followed her out of the room with an offer of fresh towels.
“Nathan tells us you’ve shared with him about your…” Mad tapped his chest.
“Yes. No. Stop.” Clare held up her hands, her eyes widening. “No need to say anything more. You know how undue attention makes me feel.”
Storm folded his arms over his chest. “Yes, we do. In fact, I remember our discussion very well. I think it all boiled down to trust. Right?”
Nathan looked from sibling to sibling. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” Clare grabbed his arm. “We’re late leaving. Let’s go.”
“We’ll talk later. Right Sis?” Storm called from behind them.
“Count on it!” she shouted back.
“There seems to be a bit of tension in the air,” Nathan observed as he led her to his Mustang, opening the passenger door.
“There always is with those guys. They enjoy getting on my nerves way too much.”
Nathan came around the car to get behind the wheel. “I know the feeling. I have five brothers, remember? And five sister in laws.”
“Right.” Clare fastened her seat belt. “Well, we’re off. Florence first, right?”
“Yea.” He reached behind him to pull a small picnic basket from between the seats. “I have refreshments for the road.”
“Courtesy of Ms. Robbins?”
“Nope.” Nathan gave her a wink. “These are all me. So, don’t blame Ms. Robbins if it’s not worth eating.”
As he cranked up and began their journey, she rummaged through the snacks he’d made for them. “Oh, my word! Ham and prosciutto. Grapes and cheese. Brownies!”
“Libby’s recipe.”
“Wow.” She unscrewed the thermos and took a whiff. “You made hot chocolate!”
“Yea, I learned from the best.”
Clare met his gaze. He was trying so hard. “Thank you for everything.”
“Even making you mad?”
“It wasn’t you. Storm and Mad love me. They just go a little overboard at times.”
“Interfering. Making decisions for you. Thinking they know what’s best.” He placed a hand on her knee. “I’ve lived that scenario myself.”
“Yea.” She looked down at his broad strong hand. Maybe she should move it, but she didn’t want to. Instead, she covered it with her own. After receiving the go ahead for the transplant evaluation, her optimism was flying high. “What route shall we take?”
“My phone suggested we go north on 149, then cut east on 50 at Gunnison. Got a better suggestion?”
“No, that’s perfect. Highway 149 is one of the premier scenic routes in the state.”
In no time Nathan realized how right she was, they traveled through some incredible mountain passes and over the Continental Divide. “This is damn impressive scenery. Makes me think the Texas Hill Country made our mountains out of mole hills.”
“Not too high, huh?”
“Hardly. Gobbler’s Knob on the YO Ranch just west of town rises to only 2200 feet or so.”
“Gobbler’s Knob?” She giggled. “I love that name.” Clare pointed to a beautiful mountain ahead of them. “This is Slumgullion Pass coming up and we’ll have an amazing view of Uncompahgre Peak, one of the fourteeners. I think there’s a place we can pull over.”
“Fourteener?”
“One of the Colorado peaks over fourteen thousand feet tall.”
“Wow. That’s seven Gobbler Knobs. Good thing the weather’s nice. Driving in the snow through here would be impossible.”
“True,” she observed. “At least we’re not sharing the road with big trucks. I’d hate to try to outrun a brakeless one on this winding highway.”
“Amen. I swear that goes down as one of the moments in my life when I officially lost my shit.”
Clare laughed. “What were some others?”
“The high dive off the river bridge when I drowned, of course.”
“Yea, I figured that.” She closed her eyes imagining how scared he felt when he was falling toward the water. “Any others?”
“Yea, I got cornered by a rattlesnake a few years back. I was putting some tools away in one of the sheds and I didn’t know I had company. Damn six-footer got between me and the door.”
“What did you do?”
“Aron saw me go in and when I didn’t come out after he yelled for me a couple of times, he came to check on me.”
“Saved by your big brother.”
“This was huge for him, Aron hates snakes. He swore he’d rather fight a grizzly bear than face a snake.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.” She touched his thigh lightly, her breath hitching in her throat when she saw him close his eyes in pleasure. “Tell me a secret, Nathan.” Her request was made before she thought. He would expect her to tell him one in return.
“Oh, okay.” Nathan thought a minute. “I won’t hang my feet off the bed at night.”
“Why?”
“I feel the same as Stephen King. If you keep your feet under the covers, the thing under the bed can’t grab your ankles.”
“Is there anything under the bed?”
“Sometimes.”
“Don’t tell me more.” Clare shuddered. “I don’t want to know.”
“Now, you tell me a secret.”
“I was afraid you were going to ask me that.”
“Turnabout is fair play.”
“Yea, I guess.” She tapped her chin. “Hmmm. A secret. I’m so boring.”
“Please…” he muttered in a disbelieving tone. “Come on, buttercup. Spill the beans. Surprise me.”
“Okay. Here goes. M&M’s are one of my favorite candies. When I indulge in a bag I have to separate them by color before I eat them. Then, I eat one color until it’s gone, beginning with my least favorite and ending with my favorite.”
“Neat. What color do you think tastes better?”
“Brown. I think it’s more chocolatey.”
He chuckled. “I think they all taste the same.”
“Your tu
rn,” she touched his arm. “Tell me something weird.”
“Weird?” He wrinkled his nose. “Uh, I can’t snap my fingers and they make a noise.” He demonstrated the movement which made no sound. “I do this instead.” He snapped his fingers and made a clicking sound with his tongue.
“So cute. But I can top it for weirdness. I rotate my dinner plates in the cabinet so none of them feel like I’m playing favorites.”
“Awww, you’re sweet.”
“I guess that’s one way to look at it.” She glanced out the window. “Oh, there’s the pass. Stop if you can. This view will take your breath away.”
“I’m already looking at something that takes my breath away.”
Clare could see he was watching her closely.
“Eyes on the road, buddy. You can look at me later.”
“Oh, I plan to.”
He pulled off the road and they stood side by side, admiring the incredible vista. “Makes you feel small, doesn’t it?”
“Insignificant, yea.”
“Oh, you’re not insignificant, Romy.” He slid his arm around to pull her close. “You’re the most important person in the world to me.”
Hearing him echo her sentiments made Clare feel off-balance. “You’ve known me for such a fleeting time.”
“I wish I could explain to you the depth of the dream I had, it was so detailed. If I were to tell you how much time passed, it was years. Decades. We lived a lifetime in just a few hours. I woke up with an intimate knowledge of you.” He placed his hands on her cheeks and looked into her eyes. “Your face is as familiar to me as my own. I know you heart, soul, and body.”
She wanted to tell him she felt the same way, that she’d recognized him from the first. If only the transplant evaluation was behind her, and she knew for sure she had a fighting chance. Since she couldn’t say those things yet, Clare placed her lips to his and kissed him gently. “We probably should get on the road.”
“Yea, we should.”
Nathan made the drive joyful, and his good mood was catching. They shared family stories, childhood memories, and anything else that came to mind. As they neared Florence, he was regaling her with another tale of his teenage antics.
“Are you serious, Nathan? You brought a skunk in the house?”
“I did. Petunia was a pet. She ate dogfood out of Lucky’s bowl.” He chuckled at the memory. “I didn’t intend for her to get out of my room, but she did. She made it all the way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Folks were scattering like crazy. Poor Noah couldn’t get away from her, she chased him all through the house. What he didn’t realize was that she wasn’t interested in him, she could smell the blueberry Pop-tart he was toting around.”
“I can just see it. Did anyone get sprayed?”
“No, but it’s a wonder. Once Noah bolted outside, she wandered back upstairs. By this time I was up and looking for her, but she eluded me. I didn’t know where she’d gotten to until Aron came barreling out of his bedroom in just a towel. Hunting a drink of water, she’d climbed into the shower with him.”
“Stop. Stop.” Clare held her stomach. She couldn’t remember laughing so much in her life.
As Nathan found a parking spot at the Pioneer Museum, he looked over at Romy. “I love your laugh. You’re so beautiful.”
“Thank you. You are too.” She smiled. “Handsome, I mean. I’ve always thought so.”
“Always?”
“I saw pictures.”
“Tamara and Joseph, I bet. I wish I’d seen photographs of you before the dream. You’ll never know how I felt when I woke up and thought I’d lost you forever. I didn’t know who you were, where to find you, or if you existed at all. Not until I saw those photos on your brothers’ wall. My entire world changed in that one moment.”
She touched his arm. “We’re here now. Together. Let’s just enjoy the day.”
He nodded, but Nathan wanted more. Hell, he wanted guarantees. Affidavits. He wanted as much time with her as he could get. “Okay, let’s go check out some arrowheads.”
To his surprise, there was a ton of other intriguing stuff in the museum, everything from relics of the old mining camps to artifacts from the early pioneers. Since their time was limited, Clare led him to the area of their greatest interest.
“Just take a look at this collection. I think you’ll like it.” Knowing she was right, Clare stood to one side as he checked out the large display.
“This is wild.” He pointed out a couple that drew his attention. “Here is an Indiana dovetail point. I have a couple of these but mine aren’t this big.”
Clare made a mental note…for later. “I think there’s a few fluted paleo points in that second case. Really nice ones.”
“Oh, yea. Fascinating.” He looked around for a sign as he held up his phone. “Can I take pictures?”
“Yes, you can.” This answer came from a curator who joined them. “Rodney Clifton. Glad you stopped by.”
“Thanks, I’m Nathan McCoy and this is…”
When Mr. Clifton turned to speak to Clare, his mouth dropped open. “Ms. Connelly. How nice to see you. How are you?” Coming forward, he gave her a courtly little bow. “The last time you were here, you were asking about a Clovis…”
Clare hastily cut him off. “Clovis art dealer, yes. In New Mexico. I located them. Thank you so much.” Her wink and hard stare communicated to Mr. Clifton to drop the subject.
Nathan, however, keyed on the familiar word. “Speaking of Clovis, I just received an amazing Clovis point for my birthday.”
“Oh, really?” Rodney Clifton raised one eyebrow. “They’re very rare and very valuable. Someone must really be fond of you.” When he cut a glance over to Clare, she drilled him with a glare, and he pressed his lips together as if to hide an amused smile.
“Yea, it’s a mystery. Probably a cousin. My family has grown exponentially lately.”
Clare was relieved beyond measure when the curator finally left them alone. She walked alongside Nathan and listened to him expound on the different arrowheads and what people might’ve used them. ‘It’s just amazing when you think about it. My dad told me once that it’s like holding history in the palm of your hand.” He met her gaze. “Thanks for bringing me.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, but you brought me. Remember?”
“Not exactly the most romantic date destination, but tonight will make up for it,” he promised.
They looked a bit more, then hit the road south to make a quick visit to Sand Dunes National Park and the UFO Watchtower. As they traveled, they munched on goodies from the picnic basket and sipped on hot chocolate.
“Do you want me to turn on some music?” Nathan asked, anxious to do whatever it took to make her trip enjoyable.
“I’d rather talk,” she answered honestly. “When you’re alone. What do you think about?”
“You.”
She scoffed, smiling. “Before me.”
Nathan raked his hand through his hair. “Why I am the way that I am.”
“What do you mean?” Clare asked, very interested.
He held the steering wheel with one hand and pushed his Stetson back on his head a little with the other. “I know every person is different. All of my brothers have their quirks, Lord knows Noah is strange as hell – but I seem to be the odd man out in many ways.” Cutting his gaze to Romy, he could see she was listening intently. “Other than my weird personality and having died once upon a time, I think I told you I’m dyslexic.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I think those things have worked together to make my brain function a little differently than other people’s.”
“In what way?”
“In the way I see things, interpret things. My school was very accommodating and with Jessie and Libby’s help, I learned how to cope – almost normally.” He gave her a mischievous look.
“You function just fine,” she told him dryly, causing Nathan to laugh.
�
��Anyway, I found some research that gave me a bit of insight and helped me to understand myself better.”
“Like what?”
“For example, non-dyslexic brains usually are good at applying existing rules in an efficient manner while dyslexic brains excel at impromptu problem solving. Also, non-dyslexic people do well at spotting differences while dyslexic folk are better at recognizing similarities. Simply put, non-dyslexic brains work like well-organized filing cabinets while dyslexic brains store their information like pictures on a tapestry or stained glass.”
“Huh. Interesting. It almost sounds like the left brain/right brain distinction.”
“Exactly!” Nathan got a bit excited. “Dyslexics have more right hemisphere skills and fewer left-brain skills. So more creativity and less logic.” He shrugged. “I guess that’s why I seldom take no for an answer.”
Clare smiled. “I recognize that particular trait in you, yes.”
“And…those characteristics coupled with whatever strange things happened to my brain when I died has made me more sensitive.” At her tiny smirk, he clarified. “I mean the kind of sensitive where I am more aware of other people’s thoughts and feelings. To what I can’t see with my naked eye. The trauma a person’s brain goes through when it dies may trigger those abilities. That doesn’t mean the abilities are paranormal, they’re just abnormal. Extra and uncommon. The same idea applies to a person with autism who can play any song on the piano after hearing it once or learn a language in a day or two.”
“Like the guy in Rainman, a savant.”
“Yea, I guess so. Although, I’m certainly no Dustin Hoffman.”
“No, you’re more of a Tom Cruise. Definitely.” Clare giggled. “But I agree with what you’re saying. Science doesn’t know the full extent of the brain’s capabilities. They’re learning more all the time about intelligence, consciousness, even death.” The last word tasted bitter on her tongue.
“Right. I believe one day scientists will discover that the supernatural is just what the word says – natural with an added oomph.”
“Hmmm.” Clare turned slightly to face him. “You know, Nathan. You don’t have to be anybody’s definition of normal. You’re perfect just the way you are.”