by Lisa Daniels
“You can’t tell as much about a person as you think just by looking at them.”
“I find no humor in that. It is merely a statement of fact for most people.”
“This is me.” Serenity was glad that they had reached her home because the conversation was taking another plunge into uncomfortable territory. Something about Ryland just set her a little on edge, although why that was she was not willing to admit.
“Could you do me a favor?”
Serenity turned to look at him. “Depends on what it is.”
“If you are going to go walking, don’t go any further than where we’ve encountered each other. Anything beyond that is… risky for someone who is not familiar with the area.”
“I can’t get familiar with the area if I don’t explore, so that is a favor I cannot agree to.”
Ryland sighed and looked toward the woods that were visible from her place. She watched as a couple of expressions passed over his face before he finally closed his eyes. When he opened them, the crystal clear blue bore into her. “Then would you please call me so that I can make sure nothing happens?”
“I really don’t think–”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You think often, just not about your own safety.”
She gave him a look of annoyance. “That was not what I was going to say.”
“I know, but it was what you should have said. We don’t have to talk. I just am concerned that something will happen to you in the woods.”
“Why do you care? We don’t know each other.”
An amused look spread across his face. “I have a soft spot for fools.”
“Um, that is not a way to convince me to–”
“I’m kidding. Let’s just say it’s a premonition. It happens from time to time, and there’s something about you that sets me on edge.”
The words took her by surprise as it was the same thing she had thought about him, and she was not able to properly express it. “I’ll think about it.”
Ryland watched her for a moment. “I guess that is good enough for now. Until you make up your mind, please avoid the trail. Here’s my number.” He pulled a card out of a pocket and handed it to her.
“That’s very old-school, isn’t it?”
She watched his shoulders move up and down, and the movement reminded her of a large cat stretching. “Everyone in the industry has them.”
She took the proffered card and decided to press her luck. “Still not going to talk about what that industry is?”
“It’s still as boring now as it was ten, fifteen minutes ago.”
“I’ll tell you what, if you will tell me about it, I will call you the next time I want to walk the trail.”
The moon came out from behind some clouds and Ryland’s eyes shone as he looked down at her. “Alright, I am not available for the next couple of days. Hopefully you can wait until Friday.”
“That’s fine. There are some things I’ve been putting off, so I should probably just get them over with. The frequent walks have been a distraction.”
“Glad I could help then.”
“Yeah.” Serenity found that as she looked at him, she didn’t know what to say. There was something about Ryland that drew her in and made her feel very unsure of herself. Maybe that’s why I’m so defensive around him? Clearing her throat, she said, “Thanks for walking me home. Have a good night.”
“You too.” He turned and began to walk down the sidewalk. She turned toward her door when his voice caused her to turn back to look at him.
“I actually have one more thing to ask you.” His words sounded very measured, almost like he was uncertain whether he should ask.
“You don’t have to ask my permission. If it isn’t something I want to answer, then I’ll let you know.”
He walked back to her and stopped just a couple of steps from her. “Would it be alright if I kissed you?”
Serenity thought that she had prepared herself for anything that he could possible ask, but clearly she hadn’t. Everything he had said and done suggested that he was not interested in her. “Um, what?”
A hand reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. His hand brushed against her cheek as he repeated himself, his voice much lower than before, “May I kiss you?”
She blinked and said the first thing that came to mind. “Why?”
His eyes widened and a smile spread across his face, and for a moment she thought he was going to laugh. “Because I am curious. If you will allow it, I will answer the question that’s clearly been bothering you.”
“Which one?” Her mouth was speaking without consulting her brain because she knew what she should have said was No, and then stepped back.
“I will tell you if we’ve met before. If I wanted to make you feel guilty, I would say that I am hurt that you don’t know. I’m better at honesty though, and it actually makes me glad that you don’t remember.”
“So I do know you from somewhere?” Serenity was trying to figure out how she knew him because now he had all but confirmed that they had met.
“I can’t answer that until you answer me.”
Serenity’s eyes darted to the side, almost as if she was checking to see if anyone was watching. Then she looked up at Ryland and gave a little nod. Her heart skipped a beat as he took a step forward and leaned down. She closed her eyes, wondering why she was letting some guy she barely knew touch her. Usually she made guys wait several dates before kissing her. All she knew about Ryland was his name, that he was from the area, and that he lived in California for a decade. Then she felt a light pressure on her cheek and her eyes flew open. Serenity looked directly into Ryland’s eyes, which gleamed right in front of her before he pressed his lips to hers.
He did that on purpose! She wanted to get mad, but found that the only thing she could think about was the feel of his lips on hers. He was very gentle and his lips were surprisingly soft. After his lips touched hers, he had closed his eyes. A moment later, so did Serenity. His hand stroked her hair, then he pulled back.
“We hadn’t met before that day up at Willowdown Peak.”
Serenity blinked a couple of times trying to get her mind to focus on what he was talking about. When it finally got through her other thoughts, she frowned. “So why are you so familiar?”
He smiled down at her, “That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Two kisses weren’t part of the deal either. You owe me for one of them.”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “I suppose that is true, but talking about that means talking about work. I’ve already agreed to talk about that when we go walking. What else would you like to know as payment for the second kiss?”
Serenity looked at him, but only one other thing came to mind. Without a word, she stood on her toes and gave him a peck on the lips. “I think that will do it.” She smiled at the look of surprise on his face. Suddenly, she knew she wanted a lot more from him than just a kiss. Afraid that she would do something she would regret later, Serenity quickly turned and put her key in the lock. “Well, goodnight.”
She couldn’t even turn to look at him as she hurried inside and closed the door. Fighting the urge to turn and watch him through the peephole (mostly because she was afraid that she would end up inviting him inside), Serenity hurried down the hall and into her bathroom. Her mind refused to stop imagining what could have happened as she undressed and slipped into a cold shower.
Chapter 6
The Disappointing Week
Serenity was drying her hair when a sudden noise startled her. Turning to look in her bedroom, she realized that her phone was ringing. She hurried around her bed and was surprised to see that Eva was calling her. Glancing at the clock, Serenity was a little concerned. It was after 10 pm, which meant it was after 1 am for Eva.
“What are you still doing up?” It wasn’t exactly the way she had meant to word it, but the surprise caused Serenity to say the first thing that came to mind when she answered.
“Hello to you, too.” Eva’s familiar voice was tinged with reproach, but that had completely disappeared as she got to the point. “You should be the first to know, I just bought my ticket out there. You’ll have to wait just a little over six months, though. So you are going to need to make a few friends if you don’t want to get too lonely. Just a few because I’ll want you almost all to myself once I get there.” She laughed, her voice reverberating.
Serenity imagined the happy look on her friend’s face. “It’s so good to hear from you, although admittedly unexpected at this hour. Go ahead and forward me the details and I’ll make sure to plan an amazing trip. Might convince you to join me out here yet.”
“Yeah, I don’t see that happening. I’m not the outdoorsy type like you. Having my choice of cities nearby makes my life exciting. Being out in the middle of nowhere,” Eva made a sound into the phone as if she were freezing, “don’t see that happening. It would drive me crazy.”
“I think you will find you don’t need the cities because the people here are incredibly nice. You would get over your shyness in no time, and then you can start having fun without having to take a long car trip to enjoy yourself.”
“We’ll see.” Eva did not sound convinced. “I mean, I’ve never been west of Pennsylvania. This is going to be all kinds of fun, but making it a permanent change seems pretty unlikely. If I would have joined you for the move I guess I could have found out for myself. Kept you from trying to get me to join you in this insanity.”
Serenity sighed, “You’ll see when you get here. And you would have been distracted the entire time we were trying to move stuff. It would have gotten in the way of your personality.”
“Hey,” Eva tried to sound offended. “Alright, I know. I wouldn’t have been anything more than a distraction. But a fun one.”
“Absolutely. And I had enough time built in that having a slow start to the unpacking wouldn’t have been such a problem. It would have kept me from starting to feel so…” Serenity wasn’t quite sure how to express what she had started feeling over the last few days. Admitting to being lonely would have been against everything she wanted to convey to her best friend. It would have made Eva feel guilty. She finally settled for “restless.”
“That doesn’t sound like you. I thought there was a lot of stuff to do outdoors.”
“Yes, that’s true, but it’s not quite the same as what I’m accustomed to. You know.”
“Are you saying you are homesick?” From Eva’s tone, Serenity knew that she was getting her hopes up.
“Not even a little bit. There has been so much to do that I haven’t really taken the time to settle down. I mean, the unpacking and stuff is done, I just haven’t…” her voice trailed off.
“You need to make friends. That’s what it means. You have always needed someone to drag you out and make you have fun, and now that you don’t have that, you are starting to get antsy. Just come back here and you won’t have to worry about it.”
“There isn’t a single chance of that happening. Besides,” Serenity bit her lip because talking about that evening was going to be incredibly tricky, “I may have a lead on friends.”
“Oh, really.” There was a taunting tone coming through the line. Eva was waiting to hear about any potential men who had caught Serenity’s attention.
Serenity rolled her eyes, knowing exactly where the conversation was going. No matter how little interest she showed toward dating, Eva kept hoping that would change. “Yeah, the professor that I’ve been talking to knew a group that goes out and does stuff, so he helped me get in contact with them.”
“Oh, and what kind of things do they do?”
“To be honest, I don’t really know. We are going whitewater rafting next weekend, but we didn’t really discuss the things they’ve done in the past. They were more interested in asking me questions.”
“Oh ho. Then it was a bunch of guys. Good.”
“What? No.” Serenity rolled her eyes again.
“Stop rolling your eyes,” Eva said. “If you would just go out with someone you would quickly find that you don’t have time to be restless.”
“You know that is not the way it has worked for me in the past. I really do not feel like dealing with jealousy or having a guy constantly checking up on me.”
“Serenity, you cannot let a few bad experiences get in the way.”
“I’m not going to let base instincts get in my way. I’m not you. Living without dating for the last three years has helped me do so much better in all of the areas where I want to do well.”
“Someday that’s going to change.”
A smiling face popped into Serenity’s mind. Quickly trying to shake it out of her head, she responded to her friend, “Maybe. But not right now. This is going to be a difficult year if I want to get my degree by the end of it.” Realizing that she had a way of changing subjects, she jumped at the chance before she mentioned a certain man who had walked her home and had occupied her thoughts ever since. “Speaking of no distractions, I’m nearly done with the app.”
“Are you sure? You’ve been saying that for a few months now. Besides, it’s not like it’s a priority. Whenever you have time for it is perfectly fine by me.”
“I know, but I really wanted to have it done before you got back to class. If it takes much longer, you won’t have much use for it.”
“I’m sure I will have a use for it.”
“You are graduating soon. What use could a homework slash project app be for someone not in school?”
“I don’t know. That’s not my area. Just focus on getting rid of your restlessness.” She emphasized the last word. Then almost as an afterthought, she added, “And school, of course. I can’t believe that it would be more difficult than what you did while you were here.”
“There is only one class that is going to be a challenge, but it’s really going to be rough.”
“Is that with the professor who got you to go out there?”
“Yeah. On the first day he had us create something from scratch.”
“I’m sure your work was perfect.”
“No, he said it was a B+.”
“Oh no,” the sarcasm came through loud and clear as Eva enunciated every syllable, “you didn’t get an A. You are really slipping.”
“Oh, shut up. It should have been an easy assignment, so even though I was tired, clearly he’s going to be difficult to impress. I mean, how many Bs have I gotten over the years? And that was the first assignment. Fortunately, it wasn’t an actual grade, so I can really get to work to make sure I can do better going forward.”
“You sound so stiff and boring. Come on! B+ is outstanding after spending a summer moving and adjusting to a different time zone. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” There was a sound in the background. “Oh, looks like I have a visitor.”
“I though you said you weren’t dating tonight.”
“It’s not a date. Jeremy is here for the week.”
Serenity smiled, “Tell your brother I said hi.”
“Will do. Take care out there.”
“You too. And make sure you get some sleep tonight.”
“It’s fine. I don’t have any classes until the afternoon.”
“You are impossible.”
“That’s why you love me.”
“Yes, that’s true. Goodnight.”
“Nite!”
Serenity shook her head as she put the phone down and finished getting ready for bed. Deciding that it was best to take the rest of the evening off instead of working on the app, she sat down and watched Arsenic and Old Lace. By the time it ended, she had fallen asleep.
The next few days went by relatively quickly with little worth noting. Serenity busied herself with her class work and trying to develop the app for her friend. She had two classes that proved to be as easy she had anticipated, mostly because it was stuff that she had already taught herself. When Friday rolled around, she felt better prepared for whatever Pro
fessor Cedrus threw at them. Most of the class ended up being a discussion on one of the newest app languages, one that no one else in the class had heard of, so it was less of a discussion than a session of questioning him about the potential.
After class, Serenity was again the last to leave, mostly because she was researching the new language.
“So, I heard you will be joining the group for the whitewater rafting.”
She looked up. “Oh, yes. Thank you very much. They are a very lively and gregarious bunch.”
Professor Cedrus raised his eyebrows as he finished packing up. “I admit to being quite surprised just how friendly they all were.”
Frowning, she stood up and pulled her book bag straps over her shoulders. “I wouldn’t think that their being friendly should come as a surprise.”
“Most of them are quite affable. I’m more surprised by one person in particular.” Judging by the look he was giving her, the professor was hinting at Ryland.
“Ah,” she cleared her throat, unsure how much her professor had heard of the walk home. “Yes, even Ryland was nice. As far as his personality will allow.”
“No, he’s always nice. As long as you don’t take what he says the wrong way.” Serenity laughed at that. Professor Cedrus gave her a look, but kept talking, “He just usually doesn’t take to looking after people he doesn’t know.”
They headed for the door together. The other professor was entering, and Serenity realized that she had done a good bit with her hair since the last time. The smell of the professor’s perfume was strong as well, causing Serenity to feel a little light-headed as she tried to walk around her. The female professor cut between the two of them and looked like she was about to stop Professor Cedrus for another talk. He smiled at her, and Serenity figured that their talk was over. She heard a little of their conversation on her way out of the classroom. “Good day, Professor Tilton. You’ll have to excuse me. I have a meeting to get to.”
“Of course.” The disappointment was obvious for a second, but the woman hid it quickly. “Have a good day.”