by Lisa Daniels
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 Professor 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.”
Serenity did not wait for him as the perfume smell was starting to make her feel queasy, too. She had made it a ways down the hall when someone called her name. “Serenity, wait up!”
She turned and saw Professor Cedrus hurrying to catch up with her. “Oh, sorry, Professor. I thought you were going to end up trapped in the room again.”
He shook his head as a shiver went up his spine. “I can never stay around people with that much scent on them.”
Serenity tilted her head to the side as she thought about what he said. She certainly agreed, but the wording seemed a bit strange.
“Anyway,” he continued, “I would like to take some time to talk to you, if you have the time to spare.”
“Oh, sure. This is my only class today and I don’t have anything pressing to get to.”
“Good. My office is just upstairs.” He led her as they talked about the class. Once they reached his office, Professor Cedrus closed the door. “Now that I have you, I wanted to talk about a project I’ve been working on.”
“Really?” Serenity looked at him, unable to hide her curiosity and enthusiasm.
“Yes. I’ve been working on a new program that will track a user’s location without a satellite or other external factor that can get interrupted.”
“That sounds impossible. I love it!”
He pointed toward a chair and launched into the discussion. Two hours passed without either of them noticing. His phone ringing was the first time either of them took their heads out of the work.
“Hold on,” he said as he answered the phone. “Cedrus speaking. Sure. No, that’s not–” He paused for a few minutes. “Alright, yes, you are right. I’ll take care of it. Of course, don’t worry about it. Things happen and I know that you wouldn’t be asking unless you had no other choice. Of course. Take care.”
Serenity had started checking her email while her professor talked. When he finished, she looked up. “Sorry, Serenity, I have some unexpected business to attend to.”
She stood up, “It’s quite alright. You have given me more than enough to think about over the weekend. I’ll see what I can do, Professor.”
“Oh, please, call me Alaric.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.” He smiled at her, “I’m not your professor while we work on this project.”
“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.” Ryland’s words replayed in her head, and it made her feel flattered and a little uncomfortable. It seemed like he was trying to make her into a partner in whatever he was trying to do, and he was already making a move after only two classes.
Even if she didn’t feel she was anywhere near Alaric’s level, it was an opportunity that Serenity knew she would never get again. “Alright, Alaric. I am looking forward to it. I’ll do some research and see what can be done to broadcast directly from phone to phone.”
He winked at her, “I knew you’d be interested. Don’t let yourself get too distracted by other stuff.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Don’t worry, I won’t let classes get in the way. Yours is the only one that’s going to pose a challenge.”
His smile widened, “Right, don’t let those distract you either. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go run a few errands.”
She picked up her bag and was going to ask him a question, but he disappeared before she could ask what he meant.
Chapter 7
More Questions Than Answers
On her way home, Serenity felt a desire to go for a lo
ng walk. There was so much to think about, she really needed to get her thoughts organized. Pulling out her wallet and phone, she entered Ryland’s number into her phone. It rang a few times before a woman answered.
“Ryland’s phone.”
Serenity frowned, “Um, could I speak to Ryland?”
“I’m sorry, madam, but he’s working right now. Would you like to leave a message?”
“What? Oh no, it’s fine.” The woman on the other side hung up. “Goodbye to you, too,” Serenity frowned at her phone as she hung up. The exchange bothered her, mostly because she had no idea who the woman was.
She had been walking for a few minutes when her phone rang. Looking at it, Serenity did not recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Serenity, sorry.” Even though he did not say it, Serenity instantly recognized the cool tones of Ryland’s voice. “I told Glades to let you know that I won’t be back for a few more days. Things are not going as smoothly as they had promised, so I am stuck here for now.”
“That’s alright. You don’t have to explain things to me.”
There was a pause. “Actually, I was thinking you were calling to say you wanted to walk.”
“Oh, yes, I was.”
“I won’t be able to do it, but I don’t want you to go alone, either. As much as I hate to ask,” he fell silent for a second, and Serenity could imagine him trying to control his expression as he tried to word his request in an inoffensive way, “please ask Silas to join you.”
Serenity stopped walking and her brows drew together. “You really want me to walk with him?” As well as they had gotten along, she wasn’t sure she was up for being hit on for the entire walk.