by Olivia Swift
He told her was what he wanted to do.
“I want it to look like a natural rock formation and include a series of waterfalls and then, hidden away, a completely different view of modern, computer-controlled water displays.”
After a couple of more customers came and went he asked if she was still helping at the archaeology dig, and her face lit up.
“I love it,” she told him. “They are happy to have extra help, and I learn so much about stones, and how they form, and about the people who used them thousands of years ago. You have to sort the natural from the man-made. You should come and help as well. It is really good fun. I should have worked harder at school and become a geologist.” She told him that they were working at the area surrounding a very old stone structure.
“They know it was a house thousands of years ago, and we are clearing to see if there is evidence of a settlement. Sometimes people come along just to watch and ask what is happening, and the archaeologists are always happy to explain.”
“Much as I would like to do that, I move enough stones during the day to not want to do it again after work.” He laughed. He added that she was welcome to come and see the stones that were being delivered.
“I will come and see how far you’ve gotten with the whole thing. None of us have ever actually seen the land that you bought,” she answered.
“I did get the foundation laid for the house just so that I could see how it would work in relation to the garden, but it will be the last part to be done, I guess.” “It will be a long, slow business because I have to do work to keep myself solvent.”
He told her he had two small gardens to landscape and was enjoying the design part.
“I still have some work to finish for Jazz as well.” He hesitated and then asked if she wanted to see his garden and then go for something to eat afterward. She looked at him.
“Like a sort of date?” she asked. He had never been brave enough to ask Kat out before, and a sudden panic set in that she would laugh in his face. He tried not to let that show and said that maybe a date was stretching it a bit.
“If you want to have a date, that’s fine by me,” he added with a smile. “But a bite to eat, and you telling me what you think about the place would be something really good. You have an eye that spots things that I would miss.”
“Tonight, I am at the archaeology site, but tomorrow would work,” she told him without looking surprised, and his insides did a little flip. Kat had a very practical side and took things in her stride. He could not tell if she was pleased to be asked or just saw it as something to be organized.
“Right,” he said, standing up. “Nothing here needing my help just now. I’ll pick you up tomorrow about six thirty. That okay?” She stood up and came to the door with him.
“Thanks,” she said. “It’s a date.” Then she closed the door behind him.
His legs felt decidedly wobbly as he strode away. “Don’t be a fool,” he told himself. “It was just a remark. You’re a grown man.” But it did put a lilt in his step.
Kat watched him go over to his gigantic off-roader and roar away down the road. Once he was out of sight, she sat down on the nearest chair and let out a breath. “Did I just accept a date with Ben?” she asked herself and felt a flutter ripple through her body, as she knew that she had done just that. The practical Kat kicked in, and she dusted the shelves before going back to making bracelets.
Ben turned up the player in the truck and tapped his fingers on the wheel in time to the music. He drove a little way out of town and turned off into the plot that he had bought a short while ago. He sat in the cab and looked around.
“It sure is a beautiful spot,” he said out loud and climbed out of the vehicle to gaze around at the view. The mountains were spectacular in the distance with snow on the very high peaks. The tree line filled in and compensated for the starkness of the high peaks, and the land ran down into lush and green lowland. He gazed over the plot that was his own and planned out again in his head how it would look in the end.
He opened up the second-hand trailer, which he had found and used as an office, and sometimes a bedroom. It had the essentials—a fridge for cold beer and a television. A generator powered the electricity. He popped the top off a cold drink. Before he could switch on the screen, the sound of heavy motors reached his ears, and he stepped outside with beer in hand.
Two enormous trucks powered up to his site, and the man driving the first one came over.
“Where do you want this?” the man asked, and Ben walked over to show him where the stones would be kept. “Okay,” the man answered and swung back up into his driver’s seat. Ben moved well back out of the way because there was an enormous amount of stone. The two vehicles tipped their loads and wished him good luck with it. They drove away, and as the motor sound faded, Ben looked at the pile of stone and realized how much work was going to be involved in moving it into place.
It was a good price, and it is quite beautiful, he thought. He picked up one of the pieces and ran his hand over it. He looked back at the site and saw in his mind's eye the artificial landscape that he planned to build with this. He went over several of the stones and saw the different shades and shapes. The stones themselves were almost telling him how they wanted to look.
He found one with a fossil in it and put that to one side to keep.
Kat would love that, he thought, and he found a few more pieces with an odd look about them. He picked up about five without really trying and put them all to one side. Enough for today, he thought. I will finish Jazz’s garden tomorrow and then have a few days to actually make a start here.
Happy that the next step in his plan was in place, he went on home to where his mom had dinner ready and waiting.
“The stone’s here,” he told her as he ate. “I can start the landscaping.”
“I know you’re strong son,” she said, “but don’t move things that will damage your back.”
“I know you’re right, Mom. Most of them are the size you would use for building because they were from pulled-down structures, but there are one or two that I’ll need to rent a backhoe to shift. Once they are in place, I should be fine.”
After enjoying the meal in front of him, he remembered to tell his mom that he would not need a meal the next day. She waited to know why, and he smiled.
“I asked Kat out,” he told her, and his mom chuckled.
“You got enough courage in the end?”
“Well it was more like I asked if she would come and see the site and tell me what she thought of the stones, and we could go for something to eat.”
“Well, that’s a start,” she said and smiled as she walked into the kitchen.
2
He worked solidly the next day along with Jinty, a young man he employed to help. There were times when you just needed two people, and Ben found it very hard to make time nowadays. Jinty was a cheerful redhead with a saucy grin and plenty to say for himself, but he threw himself into the work and that was the main thing. They stepped back and walked around the finished garden and then asked the owner if she would like to check that everything was done the way she wanted.
The woman looked at the refurbished borders and the pond that had been demolished and replaced. The grass was edged and tidy and a new stone seat was in place to view the finished effect.
“It is just lovely,” she said. “Thank you, boys.” Ben told her that his boss would send the bill, and the two men climbed into the truck. Ben had pushed to one side the twin feelings of excitement and fear that going out with Kat would be a disaster.
“But it’s not a date, really,” he told Jinty as he dropped him off.
“Oh yeah.” The redhead grinned. “Enjoy, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Ben grinned as he roared away to his home to get changed.
Showered, changed, and with cards and cash in his pockets, he slicked his blond hair and gave himself the thumbs-up in the mirror.
“Not as if she’s a stranger,” he sa
id out loud. “It’s Katarina. We are good friends anyway.” Then he squashed down the feeling of being terrified that something would make him look an idiot.
Kat had thrown what looked like a million tops on the bed and then thought about dresses, but decided that she was visiting a building site and went back to pants. In the end, a pale blue top with an off-the-shoulder detail and a crossover front, which showed a little bit of cleavage, gave a bit of a glamorous twist to skin-tight jeans. She put flat shoes on to go to the site but slipped a pair of killer heels into her oversized shoulder bag. At five feet six inches, she could wear flat shoes quite happily.
Her dark curls were brushed and left loose. She thanked her lucky stars, as she often did, for hair that looked after itself and she spent some time giving her eyes the smudgy, smoky look that was currently fashionable. Nude lipstick gave her lips a gloss. The collection of jewelry that she always wore these days added some bling. She twirled in front of the mirror, grabbed a jacket, and was ready at the door when he knocked.
“Wow,” he said in genuine admiration. “You look fabulous.”
“And in flat shoes,” she answered with a smile. “I’ve got the heels in the bag for later.” He gave her a hand up into the truck because it was quite a high step up and let himself into the driver’s side.
“I know you’ve told us about this plot, but where are we headed to see it?” Kat asked as they drove, and he told her it was just east of town and was called Eagle’s Cry.
“Is it high up?” she queried.
“Well, it has a good view but isn’t really that high. Other folks have bought the plots on either side but each piece is about ten acres, so they are not really that close.”
The buildings of town fell behind them, and he turned off onto a dirt track that went a short ways before another turn took them onto his land. He pulled the truck up in front of what would be the house eventually, and she saw what he meant about the view.
“If you were at the front of the house, this is what you would see,” he said.
“It is glorious,” Kat said. “I love it. Imagine every morning starting the day by seeing those mountains.”
“I’m glad you said that. I was thinking maybe it was all in my head. Come and have a walk around.” He jumped out and ran around to lift her down from the cab. They went to the concrete foundation ready for the house, and she stood on it and looked around.
“Wonderful,” she said. “Will there be a veranda with a hammock to lie in with a cold drink?”
“There sure will,” he said and smiled. Then he pointed out the limits of his property and said it was possible to just see the top of the house being built on one side. There were some existing trees to break up the landscape, and he said he would incorporate those into his plans.
“So, what are the plans?” she asked. He expanded on the natural landscape that would imitate the mountains and waterfalls, and that he wanted to take visitors on a journey to another hidden garden that would be completely modern. It would have a flat design with paving and computer-controlled waterspouts coming straight up out of the flat surface.
“It’ll be a fun thing,” he said. “Could get you soaked if you were there when the jet came up.”
“Really?” she asked. “Sounds fantastic. I’ve never seen that anywhere.”
“I can show you on the computer,” he said and headed for the trailer. “Welcome to my refuge,” he added and powered up the laptop.
Kat saw a man cave with his work things around, but it was tidy.
“Drinks are in the fridge if you fancy anything,” he said as he looked for the video. She said she was fine and looked over his shoulder as he flicked through files to find what he wanted. Having Kat that close was doing unusual things to his heartbeat, and he hoped she couldn’t tell. “There,” he said and turned the screen toward her. The cobbled flooring was in a swirled pattern, and at the center of each swirl, water shot up at irregular intervals. It did a sort of dance and then there were colored lights added for when darkness fell.
“That is absolutely fabulous,” she exclaimed. “Can I watch it again?” They both reached for the computer at the same time, and his hand fell over hers to make the video repeat. The sensation that shot up his arm and hit the top of his head was so strong that he thought it must be visible, but Kat laughed and rubbed her own hand to dissipate the tingling feeling that had made her bloodstream sizzle.
“Great minds,” she said and watched the film again. “It will be a sensation, and you can have your work, office, and home all in the one fantastic place.” Then she added, “What about these stones?”
“Come and see what you think.” And he picked up the one with the fossil from a shelf. “I found this and kept it for you.”
She looked at the stone in her hand and then up at his face.
“It’s a fossil. Oh, thank you,” she said and reached up to kiss his cheek. “Did you know I have a collection of unusual stones?” He shook his head. “This will have pride of place. It is beautiful.”
“I found it in this pile of stones. Come and see what you think.” He took her hand, helped her down the step, and still held on to her as they walked over to the almost mountainous heap of delivered stones. Kat made no attempt to disentangle her hand and linked her fingers into his as they went. Near at hand, the pile of stones was enormous, and they stopped to take it in.
“This was just lying there,” he said and then stopped with a puzzled look.
“What?” she queried.
“I know this sounds as if I might just be having a memory lapse, but I pulled out some stones with markings on them and put them to one side. They’re gone.”
“Are we in the right place? Maybe you were farther around.” They walked back and forth and right around the heap of stones, but no collection was to be seen, and when they came back to where they started, he knelt down.
“This is crazy. The stones are back where I found them. They’re back in the pile.” He pulled out the five stones with markings exactly as he had done the day before and put them to one side. “That was what I did yesterday.” He looked at her. “I’m hallucinating.”
“There has to be a reason,” Kat answered. “We can’t see it now, but logic says there has to be one.” She took his arm. “You are the last person to hallucinate. Really. Let’s find some that are the same and put them somewhere we know where they are, then come back and see if somebody sneaked in and found them.”
He laughed. “Thank goodness for your common sense, Kat. You’re right. Let’s do that.” But he looked around to see if anyone could actually watch what they were doing. She saw the look and put her arms around his waist.
“Ben. This is us. You and me. The two most sensible people in the universe. If anyone watches, we’ll find them. I’ll bet there will be a good reason in the end.” She hugged him close, and he put his arms around her automatically. “This is a fabulous place, Ben. Let’s find the stones.” She turned her face up to him and smiled. His heart did a somersault inside his chest and he leaned forward and brushed his lips across hers.
“Thanks,” he whispered, and she put her hands behind his head and returned the kiss with one of her own. If he thought his heart had finished doing gymnastics for the day, he was wrong. The surge of electricity through his system shot up to rocket level, and the kiss that had been a simple gesture to begin with took them both to another place and time.
“I think I need to sit down for a minute,” Kat told him but hung on to his shoulders.
“Me too,” he answered, and they found an enormous slab of rock and used it as a seat. He put an arm around her shoulders.
“I meant it—the thanks. I might have really thought I was going a bit crazy if I had found it on my own.” Kat leaned against him.
“Glad to be a help.” She smiled. “Now I am really curious about these stones.” They moved over to where the marked stones were in the pile and pulled them out. “They are very unusual,” Kat added, turning
one over in her hand. “It’s like they were marked by someone. It doesn’t look natural.”
3
“You know . . .” She looked at him. “These are very like the sort of stones they have uncovered at the dig.” She smiled. “I am no expert mind, but I could take one and ask Simon what he thought. He is really good at answering questions about stuff that people find.”
“Yes, thanks,” he answered. “It would be interesting to find out even if it’s nothing special.”
“I’ll put this one in the car,” she said. “Where shall we put the others to prove you are not going mad?”
“Under the trailer,” he said. “We both know where they are, and we can take a photograph.” He laughed at himself. “I know that is going a bit far.”
She gave him a push, although to be fair, it would have taken quite a big push to send him toppling.
“Taking photos to prove we are sane. What could be more crazy than that?” She laughed and picked up two of the pieces. He took another three, and they stacked them neatly beside the trailer wheel. Then she whipped out her phone and took several shots.
“Actually, I could show them at the dig that there are quite a few pieces.” She shook dirt off her fingers. “Can I wash up before we go?” she asked, and they both stepped inside the trailer to clean their hands. “On with the killer heels,” she added and dragged them out of her bag. They gave her another three or four inches and her head was almost level with his.
“Wow,” he said. “What a transformation.”
“I can look you in the eye, Ben Carruthers,” she said and smiled. “I am quite hungry now, though.” He offered her a hand to step outside, and she was glad of the aid of his arm to reach the truck in her high-heeled shoes.
“Blue high heels are not quite what you need on a building site,” she joked.
“But will be great in town. Italian or steak?”
“Oh, Italian, I think.” She chose and he grinned.
“I was hoping you would say that.” He parked a block down from the Italian restaurant most of the locals knew was the best place in town. Side by side they walked to the entrance, and she linked an arm in his.