by Lisa Daniels
Ryland sat up and leaned forward, “No, he isn’t. He resigned from the board almost seven months ago. His only day job is being a professor.”
“How did you know about his company?” Cora was watching Serenity now, and it made her uncomfortable.
“Um, we have been in contact for almost a year. Getting to be his student is the whole reason I chose Deep River over a few other places.”
“Is he really that renowned that he would attract that kind of attention?” Cora looked baffled.
Silas waved away her question, “Forget about that. He actually talked to someone on the other side of the country about school? Why? That’s doesn’t make any sense.”
Serenity was having a difficult time following the conversation. It was beginning to dawn on her that the people of the town really didn’t have any idea just who Professor Cedrus was. She had to wonder if he really knew these people at all.
“Yes, he knows us very well,” Ryland was looking at her, and she felt a shiver at his words. “He’s just got more than one focus, and he tends to keep his lives separated into different compartments.”
“Well, that certainly makes me want to question him the next time I see him,” Cora said, a slight pout on her mouth.
Silas tapped Serenity on the shoulder. “So, why you?”
She blinked at him a couple of times. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you are asking.”
“Drop it, Silas,” Ryland said, sitting back. “She’ll talk when she wants to. If you try to pressure her into confiding, you aren’t going to get the results you want.”
On the one hand, Serenity wanted to contradict him and tell the others whatever it was they were trying to ask in a very roundabout way. On the other hand, it meant talking about her former school, and that would mean a whole other round of explanations and things she didn’t want to talk about. It might also annoy her professor because her friends had already showed her how normal people reacted to her decision. It would give them too much information on who Professor Cedrus was after he had spent so much time trying to keep that out of his relationship with the group.
With a sigh, she managed, “I don’t think it was anything special about me. I just had questions for him. I was planning on moving over this way, and it was his advice and willingness to help that made me decide to come here.”
“That’s it?” Silas sounded relieved. “Doesn’t sound like you are love-struck then.”
“I’m still interested in learning more about Alaric. Obviously there’s more to him than we realized.”
“Oh, tell me you aren’t still hoping to change his mind about you,” Ryland said in a tone that Serenity recognized from her discussions with him. He was goading Cora.
“Of course not!” She was blushing a little. “I got over him ages ago. You know that. I just wish that he was more open like you.”
Ryland shrugged.
“What about me?” Silas seemed to take a bit of offense that Cora was ignoring him.
“If Ryland is an open book, you are an open picture book. There’s no depth or interest because it takes no time at all to get to know you.”
“Hey!” He was frowning.
Serenity put her hand over his. She gave him a smile, “I think your approach to living is very refreshing. If you are a picture book, that means that you can be read and enjoyed more often.”
“Exactly!” He beamed at Cora as if to say that he had won the debate.
“You’ve lived here your whole life, just like me. That’s boring. Ryland has been all over the place and–”
“Oh ho!” Silas spoke up. “So your attention has turned to Ryland, has it?” His eyes gleamed.
“That isn’t what I was saying at all!” Cora’s cheeks were pinker than earlier.
Ryland stood up. “It sounds like the planning portion is over. If you guys are just going to argue and bicker, I have better things to do.”
“I’m sorry, Ryland,” Cora looked up at him. “Please don’t leave yet.”
“I have a long day tomorrow, so if there really isn’t anything else pressing, I should be heading out.”
“Alright.” Cora seemed to deflate, and Serenity couldn’t help but wonder if Silas had been right about Cora being interested in Ryland. “I know you have a long drive tomorrow, and I wouldn’t want to cut in on your sleep. See you next weekend.”
Ryland dropped some money on the table, even though all he had was water. He walked around the table before stopping. “Serenity, would you like me to walk you home?”
Shocked, Serenity turned to look up at the unexpected offer. Silas answered, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she gets home safely.”
Ryland smiled, “Thanks Silas, but I wasn’t asking you. You live in the opposite direction.”
Serenity was going to refuse, but hearing that it would be out of Silas’s way to get her home, she wondered for a moment if she should head out. Finally, she answered, “Alright. I need to do some studying anyway.”
Cora laughed, “You take school so seriously, don’t you? Be careful about that, or you may end up regretting missing out on other things.”
“Oh, I don’t think she needs to worry about that.” Ryland was smiling at Cora. “She’s got you guys now.”
“Hey, before you go,” Silas held out his hand, “let me add my number to your phone. If you get bored or want to hang out, all you have to do is text.”
Serenity smiled, unlocked her phone, and handed it to him. “Thanks, Silas. I will be taking you up on that soon.”
His smile was gorgeous as he handed her phone back. “I’m glad to hear it.”
“Bye, everyone. It was a pleasure to meet you.” There was a chorus of goodbyes as Serenity moved next to Ryland. He merely nodded at them before heading to the door.
Chapter 5
A Favor and a Deal
The pair walked out of the diner without saying a word to each other. Serenity wasn’t about to start the conversation considering Ryland had made the request. If he had something to say, she figured he would say it. If not, it was not a problem for her to walk in silence, and if that got annoying, she could always part ways. Usually, she would have been a bit unnerved by walking home with a guy she didn’t know, but something about Ryland made her feel that he was not dangerous to her. He may have been incredibly offensive when he spoke, but Serenity had to agree with what the others had said about him – he was very open and honest. She wasn’t certain of his motives for wanting to walk her home, but she certainly wasn’t worried about ulterior motives. He had already had several better opportunities if he had wanted to do anything to her, and he had walked away both times.
The silence stretched on as they walked down the street. She had begun to consider saying goodnight when he caught her attention by turning around and looking behind them. The streets were well lit, but they were between lamps, so the shadows were long across his face. What she could tell was that his smile was gone.
He looked around them one more time before finally saying, “That was incredibly reckless of you.”
Serenity frowned, “You didn’t have to offer to walk me home. I am perfectly–”
“I’m not talking about you letting me walk you home. That was the first smart thing I’ve seen you do since meeting you.”
“You know, if you are just going to–”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “There are a lot of wild animals up there, and they aren’t going to care what you look like or who you are. They will kill you.”
Her voice dripping with sarcasm, she said, “Your concern is very noble, thank you.”
“There’s no need for that. But that isn’t the biggest concern out there. We’ve recently had trouble with poachers, and if they find you, they aren’t going to be any more merciful than the other creatures out there. And it is unlikely that anyone will ever find your body if they find you first.”
“This isn’t Africa. Poachers–”
“Oh, you know tha
t much about this area, do you? Amazing that you have had that kind of time on your hands given you’ve moved and spent nearly every other waking hour on your coding.”
Serenity stopped walking. “How could you possibly know about what I do?”
Ryland had walked a few paces past her. He stopped and looked back at her. “I spend a good bit of time with Alaric. While I’m not a programmer, I know enough to understand the kind of time it takes to do what you’ve been doing for the last year.”
“He talks about me?” Serenity just stared at the man in front of her.
“Really? That’s what you got out of that? I didn’t take you for that kind of woman, but maybe those two were right about you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She began walking and passed Ryland.
“You were at the top of your class in one of the most well-known tech schools in the world. Of course he talked about you. It was almost like a personal mission of his to poach you from MIT because it would prove something.”
“Exactly what would that prove?” Serenity was confused, and not entirely sure that she should believe what Ryland was saying.
“He didn’t leave his company because he wanted to. Alaric left because he had to. Do you really think that he could be happy as a professor at a small university? He’s trying to build it up so that he can work with similar minds here. That will create the same problems that he left behind, as well as a couple of other far more concerning issues. Not that he will listen to me about it. That’s the problem with you intellectuals – you can solve the most obscure and difficult problems, but you completely lack common sense.”
Serenity walked along beside him, pondering what Ryland had said. He remained silent, giving her time to consider what he had told her, including the backhanded insult.
“Is this your roundabout way of trying to get me to talk to him? To try to get him to listen to your reason?”
“What good would it do for you to try to talk sense into the man?”
She quickly retorted, “What good does it do to tell me about it if you don’t think that I can do anything?”
Ryland stopped walking. “You took that the wrong way. I wasn’t asking to put you down. It was an honest question. I had not considered having you try to talk to him because you clearly lack common sense. I didn’t need more than 2 minutes with you to see that you are your own worst enemy. You can easily thrive in cities because you learned how to deal with people. None of that applies here. So the idea of you talking to him never occurred to me. Now that you mention it, I am actually curious what good you think you could do. Believe me, if there is something you can do to keep this from getting out of control, I am all for it.”
Serenity blinked a few times, wondering what Ryland’s expression was. His voice sounded just as unemotional as it had been earlier, and she couldn’t tell if he was smirking at her. Deciding to take him at his word, she finally responded, “I would have to think about it. When I decided to come here, having to talk sense into the man I admired was not something I would have anticipated being part of the experience. He seems so incredibly intelligent that I didn’t think that I could impart knowledge to him.”
“I do apologize. I did not mean to place more of a burden on you. It was simple curiosity at a new option to an old problem.”
Serenity was curious about whatever he was alluding too, but that was not the most pressing question. “Then why did you tell me? If you didn’t think I could do anything, there really wasn’t a reason to bring it up.”
“Because you know him in a way that no one else I know can understand him. You’ve seen most of our friends. They are still young and relatively carefree. Even the ones who should have some idea of the problem can’t fully grasp it. Sometimes youth is annoying.” The last sentence Ryland seemed to mutter almost imperceptibly.
Serenity folded her arms across her chest. “So you decide to talk about his personal business with someone you don’t know? That isn’t something you are supposed to do to a friend.”
“I do not agree. Who wouldn’t do almost anything within their power to help a friend? Besides, I was just going with the flow of the conversation, and that seemed like the path least likely to make you try to argue with me. You are an incredibly defensive woman. At least you are when you are talking to me. You don’t seem to demonstrate the same level of contrariness with the others.”
“Well, they don’t insult or belittle me with every other sentence.”
“It was never my intention to do that.”
“You may want to work on how to talk with others, then.”
“It is precisely why I tend to avoid talking with others.”
Serenity pursed her lips. “Don’t over-exert yourself on my account.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not.”
“I wasn’t worried.”
“There you go being incredibly defensive. Why is that? What did I say just then that was so offensive?”
Serenity was about to say something when she realized he was right. She closed her mouth before trying again. “You are right. I apologize. I will try not to take offense at what you say. You will need to be patient though – I’m not accustomed to people being so… blunt and unintentionally condescending.”
“I am not known for my patience, but I will try.” He continued to stand there looking at her.
“What are you waiting for?” She tilted her head to the side, trying to figure out what they were doing.
“I know we are probably close to your home, but I don’t have the address. I am waiting for you to lead the way.”
“Oh, right. Sorry. It’s this way.”
Serenity turned and began walking toward home. Ryland fell into step beside her, and she couldn’t help but notice how tall he was compared to her. It made her a little more self-conscious, but not at all nervous.
She turned her head to look at him. “How tall are you?”
“Six foot four.”
“Oh. And what do you do?”
“Nothing as interesting as what you do.”
“That’s evasive.”
“My job is one of necessity, not something I love doing or find worth talking about.”
“That’s sad.”
“Are you pitying me?” There was a note of amusement in his voice.
“A little, yes. People should never end up having to do something they don’t love, or at least enjoy. When you spend that much time working every week, you should at least find something about it to enjoy.”
“I quite agree with you. Maybe it’s time for me to retire.”
“Could you tell me at least what you would do with yourself if you did retire?”
“I would focus solely on what’s important and protect the people I care about.” There was a gravitas to Ryland’s words that Serenity did not understand, nor did she feel that she should prod too much to find out.
Instead, she settled for a safe response. “That is certainly one of the noblest future plans I’ve ever heard. I could see you as a firefighter running in where others run out.”
Ryland let out a loud laugh that almost sounded like a roar. Serenity was startled, but soon found herself smiling as the man found his voice. “You are the second person to tell me that in my life. I suppose I should have listened the first time and done that instead of going along with my parents’ plans. What we learn once we are out on our own, huh?”
“I don’t know. My parents were always supportive of me when they were alive. I guess I learned lessons a bit younger than most.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up such a personal topic.”
Ryland’s reaction surprised her a little. Not only was he apologizing for something that he really didn’t have to apologize for, there was emotion in his voice. “No, it’s alright. It’s been a few years now, so it doesn’t hurt so badly. My parents weren’t in careers that were very tech-savvy, so when I came home expressing an interest in tech, they were more than happ
y to encourage that. I was like their own personal IT support.”
“So you are basically self-taught?”
“Until I got to college. Got into trouble a few times in high school for hacking things I shouldn’t have. My aunt and uncle tried, but they never wanted kids. Ending up with a kid who is 14 years old is a rough introduction to parenting. We get along well now, but those first few years were a bit rough. They started taking me more seriously when the police came knocking after I hacked into some government stuff.”
There was a chuckle from beside her. “I would not have pegged you for a delinquent.”
“Can’t recognize one of your own?” She smirked as she looked at him under the lamp.
“I can easily recognize my own, and you certainly don’t fall into many of those categories.”
“Oh, I cannot believe that you were not a troublemaker. Your entire appearance oozes self-confidence and coolness. It’s the kind of look that so many people try to attain.”
“Sorry to break it to you, but I have never had a run-in with the law.”
“You’ve never even gotten a ticket for a moving violation?” She thought she had him with that one.
“Never been pulled over. Never gotten a parking ticket. Never got in trouble in school either. My appearance has nothing to do with who I am, any more than yours does.”
Serenity could feel herself blushing. She had just done to him what she hated others doing to her. “I’m sorry, I really should have thought that one through before saying something so stupid.”
“It’s alright. I’m accustomed to it.”
“Doesn’t make it right.”
“I didn’t say it did.” He paused and Serenity could feel the frustration rising as the conversation seemed to take a negative turn. Then Ryland added, “I know that you were just trying to find common ground and pick on me, so it doesn’t bother me. Well, not too much.”
Serenity felt a small smile flash across her face at the admission that her words did bother him a little bit. “It’s funny.”
There was silence as he waited for her to provide clarification. When she didn’t say anything, he finally prompted her, “I don’t see anything that’s funny about it.”