Her heart was hammering against her ribs. She got out on shaky legs and ran for her things. Snatching them up, she made a mad dash back to her car, but didn’t get inside as she waited to see if anything would follow her out. Everything was quiet within the Schoolhouse. JD looked around at the surrounding homes. There were no other visible signs of an earthquake, no smoke, no ruined buildings, no downed wires, no sirens, no one else outside. Had there even been an earthquake?
JD jumped back into her car, tossed her stuff on the passenger seat, and cranked the engine. Her imagination was running through a hundred different explanations as to what was making the noises upstairs and why the building had shuddered like it had. She pulled out of the parking lot quickly and headed back to her apartment to see if it had suffered any damage.
Back at her apartment, JD climbed out of her car and remembered that she had left her shoes at the schoolhouse. A loud crash behind her made her jump. She whirled around and saw a woman dumping a can of garbage into the dumpster next to the stairs that led up to her apartment.
“Excuse me,” JD called after her and hurried to intercept the woman. “Did you feel an earthquake just a few minutes ago?” The old woman turned and JD recognized her as the cashier from the General Store.
“No earthquake,” Liu said and shook her head, looking carefully at JD, then said “Something wanting out, maybe?” JD stepped away from her as the old woman chuckled and shuffled past. She watched her go, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rising again.
***
“Three this week,” Nathan reported holding up three fingers in front of Matthew’s face. “I intercepted them just outside of Bicknell and then I got word that the new project manager called in a trespasser at the schoolhouse. Roy checked it out and found two more.”
“Should I be surprised?” Matthew responded indifferently.
Nathan folded his arms and looked at Matthew, perplexed. “I’m just warning you. News of the project is attracting the attention of Fallens and it’s causing problems. Your job is to move fast and protect the mortals. Don’t get involved with them.”
Matthew snorted. “You mean, don’t get involved with her?”
Nathan narrowed his eyes. “Protect the mortals. That is your priority, Matthew. Don’t screw this up.”
“I know what my job is and I can only go as fast as that Project Manager allows me too. I’m waiting on approval of my bid!” Matthew responded, angrily. “So, I get it, okay? Now quit hovering over me and go do your job!” He gave his older a brother a fierce glare and shimmered in a flash of muted light.
Nathan heaved a sigh and shut his eyes. “I am doing my job.”
Chapter 9
Milkshakes made JD’s world a happier place. She found her Utopia in a fast food joint about a mile from the Schoolhouse. There was a flashing jukebox in the corner, black, round-top tables, and chairs spread out over a black and white tiled floor. Pictures of celebrities from the fifties and sixties hung around the room on stark, white walls. It wasn’t exactly authentic as it appeared to have been recently constructed. The wall next to the order counter displayed vinyl lettering that listed their impressive selection of milkshakes.
JD went right to the counter and gave the teenage girl with pigtails her order. “And can you break the brownie up and put it in the shake?” JD asked. The girl fixed her with a dull stare and shrugged.
In the corner, next to windows overlooking an outside courtyard with more tables and chairs was a table that JD had her eye on the minute she entered the place. She made a b-line to it. The only other patrons were a group of five men sitting in the other corner hunkered over their meals. All of them wore cowboy hats. They looked to be enjoying themselves; a bunch of friends just chatting and laughing about whatever made guys in cowboy hats amused. She envied them, longing to be part of their group and pretend she hadn’t been scared half out of her wits just moments before.
JD crossed her legs and bounced her foot, trying to release her pent-up nervousness. She hadn’t dared return to the site alone to retrieve her shoes, instead she came here looking for solace in something tall, dark, and chocolatey.
She had changed into her pink and white jogging suit with matching running shoes. For the amount of anxiety she was feeling, it was going to take an obscene amount of milkshake to calm her down. Then, of course, she’d have to run it off that evening.
Drumming her fingertips on the table top, JD sighed as she waited. Finding it agonizing to wait for her milkshake, she pulled out her laptop to work on the weekly report to send to Missy, Rick, and Gramps. She hated waiting. Impatient, she could almost hear Gramps chastise her.
After reporting the bid meeting, JD considered the other events that she debated reporting about, from yesterday’s discovery of the extra five feet of space, the mysterious knocking, followed by today’s building-quake. They’ll think I’m stressed out and imagining things, she thought. No, she wouldn’t mention it. It would upset Gramps if he thought she was cracking already under the pressure and the actual renovation hadn’t even started yet. JD sighed.
Someone approached her table. Without looking up, JD motioned to the space on the table above her mouse. “Just put it there,” she said. A fat, orange envelope slapped down on the table instead of a milkshake, startling her. She glanced up. Matthew stood before her with his thumbs in his front pockets and an easy grin on his face. He was missing his hat, and his long, wavy, dark-brown hair hung just above his muscled shoulders. His eyes were a startling shade of blue that she hadn’t noticed before and could hardly keep from staring at. A little tickle shot through her.
“Do you mind if I…” Matthew indicated the empty seat across from her.
“Go ahead,” she said quickly, suddenly self-conscious. He had caught her in a vulnerable emotional position. She was about to consume a horrific amount of calories, while agonizing over a very upsetting problem. There was a good chance emotions would run high. JD drew in a deep breath, put the problem on the back-burner, and watched him sit down. He laid his hand over the envelope on the table.
“Did you resolve your problem with the extra five feet?” he asked sincerely without a hint of condescension even though he was the one who had to go and point out the huge problem in the first problem and ruin her day.
“Not yet,” she said neutrally, “I can’t explain the extra three feet,” she said, looking toward the counter for the teenager. Where is my milkshake! and with that in mind, she closed out of the program she was in and shut the laptop down.
“You know,” Matthew said causally, “It’s no big deal. Shouldn’t change a thing with your plans.”
JD felt a calmness settle around her as he continued to talk about how the discovery of the extra three feet wasn’t anything to worry about. She agreed silently and smiled, “Yeah. You’re probably right,” she heard herself saying.
“I bet it’s a secret room,” Matthew added, a mischievous sparkle lit up his eyes and a smirk played at the corners of his mouth.
“Like what?” she asked.
Matthew shrugged. “I don’t know. Treasure, maybe? You know, this town used to be part of Butch Cassidy’s stomping grounds. If anyone wanted to hide something, it would have been Butch. Stolen gold, things like that.”
“You think Butch Cassidy hid something in there?” she asked incredulously.
“Perhaps.”
“Didn’t he die in the early 1900’s though?” JD stated remembering something she had seen on TV with Gramps back in her younger days about the famous outlaw. “The schoolhouse was built in 1916.”
“Did he die?” Matthew raised his brows. “A lot of people around these parts swear he came back from South America and lived under a new alias.”
JD smirked. “That’s kind of hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Why fake his death and then come back here where everyone knew him? And then hide treasure in a schoolhouse? Why would anyone do that? Especially plast
ered over like that? It would be hard to get to without notice.” JD shook her head dismissively.
“I’m sure he had his reasons,” Matthew offered.
“Seems like a lot of work to hide stolen money. Why not dig a hole somewhere in these canyons and stash it there?” she countered. Matthew gave her smile as if ceding to her superior reasoning.
“I guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we?” Matthew leaned back with his hands clasped behind his head and grinned at her, flaunting bulging biceps. She tried to keep her eyes on his which glimmered with excitement. She noticed a hint of a tattoo around his left bicep, but couldn’t make out the design.
“What’s this?” she asked, changing the subject and motioning to the envelope on the table between them, as if it wasn’t obvious it was the bid package she had given him yesterday morning.
“My bid,” he said.
“That was fast,” she remarked casually. JD picked up the envelope and slid it into her bag.
“I work fast,” he replied. “Aren’t you going to look at it?” He stared at her expectantly. She had planned to review all the bids at the same time and then award the contracts to those contractors whose bids were aligned with her own estimates. She knew from years of experience under Gramp’s tutelage that low bidders meant shabby work, usually, and high bidders meant they were too busy with other projects and wouldn’t give her project top priority. JD wanted hungry contractors on her site, not fat or desperate ones.
With a small smile, she pulled the envelope out of her bag and opened it with trembling fingers. Where is that milkshake? She slipped the paperwork from the envelope and glanced through it hurriedly. Matthew’s bid was in the ballpark of her budget and promised to meet all the conditions outlined in the scope of work without any sort of revisions or changes to the contract requested. That made her job easier. She made a point to look over the references. He had listed three. She would call those later.
JD raised her eyes to meet his expectant gaze, as if he thought she was going to officially award him the contract right then and there. As it was, she would have, but she hadn’t seen the other bids yet, and to be fair, she had to wait until all the bids were in.
“Looks good,” she said slowly. “But I have other bids to review before I sign anything.” She turned to put the envelope back in her bag. He leaned back in his chair, shrugging as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
“I can wait,” he replied.
Just then, the girl from the counter arrived with the much-needed milkshake, and then she pulled out a pen and pad to take Matthew’s order.
JD grasped the large container in her hands, took the straw between her lips and inhaled the thick, creamy chocolate sensation into her mouth. It flooded her mouth with chilled ecstasy and coated her tongue with its creamy caress. JD’s eyes closed as she felt it slide down her throat sending chills through her whole body.
When she finally opened her eyes, she saw that Matthew was watching her intently. The expression on his face made her think that he wanted to experience her milkshake, too. Matthew shook himself slightly and laughed weakly.
JD continued enjoying her milkshake, letting her immediate troubles fade into the back of her mind, and then let her mind go blank. Drowning troubles with chocolate was better than suffering within the suffocating grip of anxiety.
“So, what does JD stand for?” he asked suddenly, breaking the silence. Her eyes opened slowly as his rude question came crashing through her chocolate-induced stupor. She leveled a dispassionate gaze at him.
“Just Dangerous,” she replied flippantly. She didn’t care if he looked like he had stepped out of the annual firefighter’s calendar, he had asked a hazardous question and he was endangering his chances of being awarded the contract.
Matthew laughed. “Okay, sorry. That was a personal question.” He had a nice laugh. She forgave him for his indiscretion.
“Let’s keep it business,” she said, giving him a tightlipped grin.
Matthew didn’t appear to have been put off by her cool reply, because he flattered her with, “I think it’s remarkable that you’re the manager for this project.”
JD blinked in surprise. “What?”
Matthew gave her a half-grin that could break a girl’s heart and hers had suddenly developed a hairline fracture. “It shows you are strong and I really admire that in a woman.”
She tried hard to keep from floating away with an ego-inflated head. Could he actually understand how hard it was for a woman to make it in the construction industry? Even if he didn’t, at least he noticed.
“Thanks,” she mumbled and felt her cheeks warm. She heard him chuckle and knew her cheeks were as rosy as could be. She ducked her chin to take another sip from her milkshake.
He leaned forward to say quietly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
She glanced up at him. His eyes were searching hers and he looked sincerely apologetic. Then he asked, “How did you get into the construction business anyway?”
No one had ever asked her that question before and she had to think for a minute to collect her answer. She leaned back in her chair and carefully thought through her response before answering.
“My grandfather owns a construction business. I spent a lot of time on project sites growing up. I started drafting plans when I was sixteen, got a degree in Construction Management, and here I am.” Short and sweet. Her entire life explained in three sentences.
“Where are you from?” He was still staring at her intently, as if she had completely captured his whole attention to the exclusion of all else, especially the waitress who stood next to him with his lunch plate in hand.
“Los Angeles,” she said and motioned for the girl to put the plate on the table. Matthew seemed oblivious to the girl.
“Thanks,” JD said to the girl as she left.
Matthew blinked as if being distracted from his concentration and then noticed his plate. He turned his plate one way then another, as if he couldn’t decide which part of it he wanted closest to him. “I guess Torrey is a little different for you?” he asked, picking at the meal.
“A lot different for me,” she confessed. “Small, quiet. I mean, what do people do here on the weekends?”
Matthew grinned at her as if he had the perfect answer.
“You like horses?” he asked.
“Only the kind that lives under the hood of my car,” she quipped. Matthew laughed at that. The sound warmed her.
“What about motorcycles?”
She shrugged. “I’m sure they’re easier to ride than horses.”
“Ever been on one?”
“No,” she said shaking her head, wondering why he asked.
After a few more bites of his fries and burger, he said “We’ll have to go for a ride sometime. I’ll show you around Wayne County.”
JD felt a thrill leap inside her. It was only a suggestion, she realized. He didn’t actually ask her out. They ate in silence for a bit. She stole glances at him as she worked on finishing her shake. He ate his food as if he were enjoying every bite. The silence was strangely uncomfortable for her. She wanted him to say something, to laugh again, or even just give a wink to acknowledge her.
Before she was ready for their time together to be over, he had finished eating and pushed his plate away. The waitress arrived with their bills. He stood and took both bills from her. He paid the waitress cash and then handed her another twenty.
“Have a good day Ms. Halstead,” he said to JD and strode out the door. Both the waitress and JD watched him as he climbed into his truck, revved the engine, and drove away.
“Do you know him?” JD asked the girl.
“Not really. He’s new here, but he comes here a lot,” she replied.
“Does he have a girlfriend?” JD had to ask.
The girl shook her head. “Not that I’ve ever seen.” She cleared the dishes and walked away, wistful.
Chapter 10
JD worked like a mad
woman all day Friday, analyzing bids, revising contracts, writing addendums, making phone calls, reviewing the budget, organizing the project data on various spreadsheets, and evaluating the project schedule and budget.
By that night, she was cross-eyed from staring too long at the computer screen. She shut everything down at 11:30 pm, warmed up a frozen TV dinner of Salisbury Steak and Potatoes in the microwave, and watched the Late Show. She planned to sleep in the next morning. When she finally hit her pillow, her cellphone displayed 1:15 am. She made sure to shut off the alarm and snuggled into her blankets for a long, restful sleep. The idea of sleeping in made her so ridiculously happy.
Arrrooooogaaahhhh!
“What the…?” JD jerked up in bed and yanked the blanket off her head. It felt like she had only just closed her eyes, but the clock on her night stand read 10:26 am. She rubbed her eyes, blinking as she looked around for the source of the noise. Perhaps she dreamt it, she concluded, but then a siren wailed, and a fog horn blared.
JD stumbled out of bed and headed for the window overlooking main street. Peeking through the slats, she saw hundreds of people lined along the main road, cheering or clapping. The deep fog horn sounded again, like a horn on a semi-truck that had gotten wet and was malfunctioning. A motley crew of people dressed in brightly colored clothing filed past below, interspersed with decorated trucks and parade floats. She saw a sign, carried by two kids in pioneer outfits, that read, “Torrey Apple Days.”
“A parade for apples?” JD mumbled, confused. She shook her head. This wasn’t making any sense. Aren’t apples harvested in the fall? Isn’t it a little early for apples? Then realization dawned on her: it was the Fourth of July. A smile came to her lips, unbidden. She loved parades. When she was little, Gramps would always take her to the parades. Nostalgia beckoned her. She hurriedly dressed in a pair of black running shorts and a sleeveless pink shirt before slipping on her running shoes.
If I Fall... Page 5