by Gabi Moore
But this was something different. I unfolded the letter and skimmed it through. It was an offer. The university had partnered with a research facility on Mars and they wanted her to join them. She had made such headway with her new hybrids and the techniques she was using with her fermentation tanks that they wanted her to oversee a new grow project there, as soon as she was finished with her degree. Then my eyes stuck on one phrase, like a thorn in the words. It was the name of a Mars mission. My old Mars mission. I tossed the paper aside and tried to think.
“What is it…?” said Becky and took the page herself. “Oh my god…”
I looked at Becky and she looked at me.
“I always knew Em was destined to go and do awesome things,” she said a little sadly.
I snatched the paper back and tried to hunt out the important details. It was a strange letter – full of praise and commendation, not unlike the letters I had received once, a lifetime ago. It was so different in tone from the usual college correspondence. It was plain as day. The university wanted her. The mission wanted her. I read those words again and again. There was no other way to cut it: what I held in my hands was what people usually call an opportunity of a lifetime.
Emily had spoken often about this new project, about how she admired the staff there, about the amazing work they did. It turns out, the admiration went both ways. Word of the things we were doing in this humble little café had reached our local news stations, but I never imagined this. I felt numb. I was overjoyed that Emily was finally getting all the good things in life that she deserved… but petrified that everything was about to change for us. With a lump in my throat I folded the letter and quietly put it back in its envelope. And just like that the whole day was different.
Becky looked miserable, but I forced a smile at her and squeezed her arm.
“Hey, don’t be like that, we must be happy for Em, this is like, her dream,” I said, mostly convincing myself.
“Do you think she’ll accept the position? Do you think she’ll just go to Mars now?” Becky said.
I sighed. “Well, she should. I hope she does.”
“But what about us? What about the bakery? What about you?”
I thought back to that night I had broken up with Emily. The night I had told her that I had a dream life to pursue, and that she didn’t have a place in it. I remembered the pain in her eyes, the way she had begged me to stay, the way she had eventually agreed that if I wanted to go she wouldn’t want to keep me anyway. Dreams and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities are rare, it’s true. You need to grab them with both hands when one comes along. But I had also learnt that real love is also rare, maybe even more so. I was lucky. I had found my second chance with her. And now, there was nothing that would take priority over her place in my life ever again.
“I don’t know what will happen,” I said simply. It was the truth. “But if she wants to go, I won’t stop her. We can sell the bakery. Maybe I can find another post up there. We’ll make something work” I said. Becky frowned and walked off, and was sullen for a while. I sat with my thoughts as well, occasionally glancing at the letter again, just in case I had missed something important the first time around.
Then she came in. Emily flew into the bakery and plonked her bag behind the counter.
“Ta da! Done and dusted, ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at a lady who’s basically almost technically kind of done with her degree! All of it!” she said, then did a triumphant little twirl and bounded over to Becky and I. She paused.
“Oh my god, guys, who died?” she said, big smile on her face as she found a seat.
I went over to her, gave her a big hug and handed her the letter.
“You big showoff, just take a look at this” I said and pecked her cheek. She tore the letter out of the envelope and read it quickly, mouth hanging open. Becky and I stared at her for a few moments, waiting for it all to sink in.
When she was done, she dropped the folded sheet to her knees, looked at us in shock and then all at once started squealing and laughing. She bounced off her chair and threw her hands to her mouth, then skipped around hysterically like a kid on Christmas morning. She ran into me and I grabbed her and laughed with her, kissing her hair and releasing her for another victory lap. Some customers looked up from their coffee to see what the commotion was about, but she barely even noticed them.
Then she started to cry. I held her again, then she hugged Becky, then me again. It was beautiful, seeing her so happy. It felt strange. It hurt, but in a good way. Emily had put her dreams on hold for so long already. It was her time now. And I felt a weird, possessive sense of pride as I watched her excitement. The letter, now crumpled and stained with tears, was set down on the table and she began to talk, suddenly serious.
“I’m sorry, I got carried away there, obviously I …ugh there’s just no way, it’s on Mars,” she said with a sniff.
“Hey, what are you saying sorry for? It’s on Mars…so you go to Mars!” I said and smiled at her.
“Felix! There’s no way in hell I’m going!” she said immediately. It broke my heart. Not to see how ready she was to think of me, but because I knew I hadn’t been able to do the same for her when it mattered. I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a serious look.
“Em, listen to me, this is a very serious opportunity you have here, you need to think very carefully about what they’re offering.”
“I can’t go,” she said plainly. She was quick to wipe away her tears with the back of her hand. The look on Becky’s face was priceless. I didn’t know what to say.
“How could I leave you guys? Look, I’m really flattered that they’ve made the offer. In fact, it makes me really hopeful about how far we can take what we’ve learnt here in the bakery. If they want it on Mars, just think of how many people would be interested in it down here.”
I shook my head.
“Em, don’t be ridiculous. You should go. We’ll be OK without you. We’ll look out for the bakery, and when you come back…”
Becky burst into tears. I couldn’t finish. We all knew what the chances of that were.
I took a deep breath and tried to focus. This wasn’t about me. Or about the damn bakery.
“Ok, just think carefully about this, Em. You deserve this. You’ve earned it. It’s your time now, you should--”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said again and stood, letter still on the table. She looked down at me and gave me a loaded look, then smiled at the people in the bakery. I know life doesn’t always pan out the way you expect it to, and I’m OK with that. Mars is a great idea for some, but there’s enough work down on Earth here for me.”
Becky stood, hugged Em again and left, sensing that I wanted to speak to her alone. But once she had gone I found myself struggling to say anything at all. Of course I didn’t want her to go anywhere. I wanted her to stay here with me, forever… I had so much more I wanted to do with her. Being posted on Mars was like a death sentence – a happy, lucky death sentence, sure, but one that would take her away from me all the same. I knew that. I knew that if she left now I would never be the same again.
But I had no right to ask her to stay. Not after the choice I made, all those years ago.
We had built a life together, but I had nearly thrown that all away once before. It wasn’t for me, now, to stand in her way if she needed to go and find something better. She looked down at me and frowned.
“Hey! Are you going to make a big deal out of this?” she said in lighthearted voice. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t taking any of this more seriously. She reached out her hand and pulled me up, then led me out the back of the shop and into the courtyard, completely renovated except for the old wooden storeroom we never used anymore.
“What… where are we going?” I asked.
She dragged me along and into the storeroom, locking the door behind her. It was dark and cool inside, and I could make out tiny dust motes drifting to the floor as she looked at me and started whisp
ering.
“Do you remember what we did in here once?” she said, naughty glint in her eye.
I laughed and looked at my feet. It was one of my fondest memories.
“I know we had a rough start, Felix. Maybe we both needed to have that time away from each other, to grow up a bit, I don’t know. I blamed you for a long time, for everything that happened. But I can also blame you for everything that’s happened since. It’s your fault that I still even have this bakery. It’s your fault that I went back to school, and I blame you for pushing me to pursue all my nutty professor experiments and forcing you and Becky to pick up the slack at the shop…”
She had both her hands propped lightly on my chest, stroking the way you would stroke a large beast if you wanted it to calm down. She was still so, so beautiful. Like her hair had a few secret filaments of gold woven into it that you could only pick out in certain lights.
“Long story short, I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long time now how thankful I am that you came back, that you stuck around.”
“Eventually,” I said, a little sheepish.
She laughed, quietly. This was our secret place.
“If you’re sure you don’t want to go, I’ll support whatever decision you make, I swear that I won’t live with myself if you turn it down and--”
Her she kissed me to stop me from speaking.
“I belong here, with you, in this ramshackle old storage room on boring old earth,” she said between kisses.
“You should really let me tear this thing down and build you something new,” I said, leaning in to kiss back.
“Of course, but do it later… for now, you have other work to do…”
- THE END -
PS: You’ll find additional steamy bonus books and the complete Bad Boys After Dark series in the table of contents!
- Gabi Moore
PARANORMAL/URBAN FANTASY:
Part I
Manipulator of Elements - A Young Adult Urban Fantasy
EARTH
Chapter 1
The Fromatius Mall stood at the edge of the parking lot and dominated the countryside around it.
No one seemed to know where the mall had come from; it just showed up one day in the field and sat there empty until the stores began to open. After six months, the mall’s owners held a “Grand Opening” celebration and employed the local marching band and trade guilds to help in the celebration.
Since the trades anticipated a profitable relationship with the mall, they were glad to help out. The schools were thrilled to have a place where the high-schoolers could work during the evenings and weekends. It would be a much better place for them to hang out in than the local Drive-In or bowling alley.
A few people down at the township hall talked among themselves about how quickly the mall had appeared and were stunned it showed up so fast. Although the building plans were submitted and the proper forms filled out, it seemed strange everything went as smoothly as it did when the mall was constructed.
Some of the local firms were hired to do the finishing work and pour the concrete for the sidewalks around the structure, but no one could recall ever seeing the construction firms who were hired to build the mall in town before. And before any of the trade guilds could complain about a lack of their involvement, it was there. As soon as it was constructed, the other trades were contracted and given lucrative contracts to maintain it.
Granted, some of the stores in place seemed a little odd for a suburban shopping mall, but there were enough major retailers in it to defer any bad thoughts from the local suburban moms. Besides, it was spring and people were getting ready for the summer. The big auto plant in the nearby town of Scipio was planning to shut down for two weeks of inventory. This would allow them the chance to make certain they had everything they needed for next year’s models and allow the employees to take vacations. Some employees had additional time in based on years of service and could take as much as two more weeks of vacation. Therefore, if your father or mother were one of the lucky ones to have started working there right after the Korean War, you could spend an entire month at some pleasure dome in Florida.
Lilly Arrad wasn’t one of the lucky ones. Her father ran an insurance company in Fromatius out of their house. Her mother stayed home and took care of her and her older sister when they were coming of age, but now she was looking into a job at the mall. Lilly didn’t want a job at the mall when it opened. She didn’t care for most of the kids she was stuck around all day at her high school and found a job with a catering company. However, most of the jobs her company pulled were at the mall for the various out of town dignitaries who came in to see how their store branches looked and what the sales represented. So, she might as well work at the mall. Perhaps next week’s job would take her somewhere else.
She sat on the hood of her Pinto and looked at the mall again. These things sprang up everywhere. Was the entire country turning into one big shopping mall? The 70’s surely brought with it a lot of novelties. Right now, she could look forward to attending college in the fall at Cincinnati. She had her future mapped out: international studies, find a diplomat, get married and spend the rest of her life throwing parties for foreign dignitaries.
She looked down and sighed.
Her shoes were still in the mall. She’d forgotten them and walked barefoot all the way to the car. She really needed to get beyond that, it was so childish. Now she would have to walk back in that place and get them.
Maybe she wouldn’t. She could drive home barefoot and find her spare sandals in the bedroom closet. She had the dance class tonight her sister taught.
Her sister, Rachel, had learned belly dancing in college and used it to supplement her spending money. Although Rachel married last month and left the house, it still felt as if she was around. With her older sister moved out, Lilly started to feel lonely. She still had a few good friends from the neighborhood, but everyone was headed to different places for college in the fall.
She wanted to stay close enough to come home on the weekend, but far enough to enjoy the life on campus and socialize with the right kind of people. She would be forced to stay in a dorm the first few years, but afterwards, she would find a better place to live. Somehow, the sorority life didn’t appeal to her, and Lilly doubted she would pledge one. She could see herself sharing an apartment after a year or two. Her friend Cindy started college a year early and wrote her letters about how crazy the college dorm life was in Indiana. It was one of her reasons for attending a school in Cincinnati.
The hood of her Pinto started to burn into her butt, so Lilly decided to hop off it and go home. It was early enough in the year to walk barefoot across a parking lot, but she had no desire to go back and retrieve the shoes. They were an older pair and she had more at home. She’d look for them tomorrow. The jeans, on the other hand, were precious. She’d spent the weekend fading them to just the right hue in her mother’s washing machine. They matched the light sweater she wore.
Lilly was small and, at five foot in height, didn’t expect to get much taller. She wasn’t a big eater and kept her weight at a comfortable hundred pounds. She even dieted down to ninety at one point, but didn’t like the way it made her feel. She stayed away from the pot smokers and druggies at her school, although she did enjoy her time on the literary magazine and French Club.
Lilly decided to forget the shoes and turned to open her car door when she saw something.
It was the new guy who transferred into school this year. He was sitting on the edge of the fountain at the entrance. He was staring at it and moving his hand over the water in the pool. The fountain was huge and filled up with coins every day from well-wishers who wanted to bring good luck by tossing three coins in it. But he wasn’t dropping coins in the fountain; he was busy with his eyes fixed on the pattern his hand traced through the air.
Now she was curious.
She finally remembered his name. It was Dion Bacchus. She remembered it because he was in her
homeroom. One of the strange things she noticed one day was how many of her close friends had similar names to her last name. The school was huge. Her senior class had five hundred in its enrollment. Not only did the local auto industry contribute to its size, but the regional air force base added to it as well. It wasn’t unusual for her to call a friend’s house and have a “Colonel Adams” answer the phone.
Dion started school that year as a transfer student from some place in California that year, but mostly kept to himself. She had said little more than “hello” to him since he started. It was strange to see someone start school in their senior year and he didn’t seem to interact with anyone. Dion’s locker was two sections down from her, but Lilly seldom saw him speak to anyone. He was in her biology class as well, but she couldn’t ever recall him asking a single question.
This was too bad for Dion because plenty of the girls at school were obsessed with him.
He stood almost six foot tall, had dark features and black eyes with hair that cascaded down his back to a school-acceptable length. He wore the standard jeans and t-shirt apparel, which dominated in the school, but had an intense look on his face and a tight set of chest muscles that showed through his shirt.
A few girls approached him one day and, although he was polite, he didn’t speak very long with any of them. A few of the local tough kids who were into drugs and hard rock tried to corner him in the hall one day. He took the hand of one and gently pulled it off him. The kid who placed it there walked away swearing under his breath with a look of pain in his eyes. Lilly remembered the tough one later coming to school with his hand in a cast.
Rumors abounded about Dion’s background.
He lived with his aunt and uncle in one of the nicer houses on a good street, but people seldom saw him leave the house. The rumor most people believed was that his real parents died in some kind of tragic accident and his relatives were the only ones who could take him in. Some said his family were foreign spies, others said they were extraterrestrials who were under the protection of the air base. Among other things, the base was rumored to hold the bodies of aliens who’d crashed on Earth in a flying saucer. Some people believed Dion’s family were all black magicians who sacrificed goats in the back yard, although no one had ever seen it take place. The house where he dwelled was quiet and never gave the neighbors any reason to be concerned about what happened over there.