“Put your chairs under the doorknobs when I leave, okay? I’ll be back tomorrow with locks,” he said, finally shoving himself away from the counter and heading for the door. I blinked at his back. “Thanks for dinner,” he mumbled, and then he was out the door. I rushed to my feet to stare after him, confused, certain I’d heard wrong. He was striding across my yard and going into my barn again. Probably to check on the pressing machine before he left, maybe to collect his tools.
The light of the falling sun painted one anthracite a reddish pink, and the gold bands in his long braid glimmered like fireflies. He was tall, so confident as he strode across my yard, and even that bit of gray in his hair could not dissuade me of the notion thathe was in the prime of his life. Powerful, the ultimate protector, the one to keep me safe. Damn it, I was a modern girl in an even more modern world; I shouldn’t want a man to protect me, but I did. The truth was, I was so tired of carrying all my burdens on my own. I just didn’t think, as sexy as he was, that Jeltom would be the one for me. He was so perfect, so tall, he’d never want frumpy, slightly overweight me. And let’s not forget his weird comment about my eyes, he must think they’re hideous with their white sclera.
I did not check if he left the barn again. I couldn’t wait that long while my thoughts were this much of a mess. I needed a distraction. So I did as he’d told me to, closing my door and shoving the back of a chair under the handle. I didn’t think that would be much of a barricade for a guy like Jeltom, but it did make me feel a little safer. Once I’d done the same to the back door and double-checked my windows, I pulled out my comm and called my friend.
Jessica answered on the third ring, which was fast, considering how far a distance we were crossing with a single call. She wasn’t on Llykhe—she wasn’t even on an Aderian world—but all the way over on Ker, the capital of the Kertinal Empire. That’s where all of us had ended up after we’d been rescued from a ship by their military. We’d been taken from Earth, put in stasis, and sent to the Zeta Quadrant, though nobody had explained to me why. We all had theories, but mostly, we agreed that it had probably been to sell us. So we considered ourselves lucky for having been rescued; this was a second chance at life.
Jessica was a prime example of that mentality. She lived her new life on Ker to the max. “Girl!” she squealed when she answered the call. “I haven’t heard from you in ages! How are you doing?”I had barely enough time to tell her I was fine before she announced with a shriek that her boyfriend had asked her to marry him. For a while, she’d dated everyone interested around the compound—Kertinal or human—and for one short stint, the Rummicaron intern.
Last year, she’d settled in long term with Jared, and the two clearly couldn’t be happier. It was one of the reasons I’d chosen to leave. It sounded mean, but it just wasn’t the same being miserable and lonely on your own as when you had a friend sharing in the misery. My mouth felt too dry as I went through the motions, telling her all the right things. I was a terrible friend, but it just made me sad how alone I was. It was my own doing—I was the one who had left—but still…
“Listen to me,” Jessica said. “Blabbing on and on about my life and wedding plans, when all I let you say was “Fine,” and we both know that means you’re anythingbutfine. What’s really going on with you, Mar?” And that right there was why she was such a good friend. Sometimes she got a bit self-absorbed, but she always cared.
“I don’t know,” I said, biting my lip. “It’s hard to run this farm, I guess?” I ended up explaining that the machine had broken down and that I’d had to hire a mechanic to fix it. Of course, the first thing Jess asked was if he was hot. My stuttering gave it away.
“Ah, he is! You need to ask him out, introduce him to some Earth customs! Did you know that it’s going to be Valentine’s in a few days? Letty is taking her Kertinal beau out for it. He’s taking it very seriously—so cute.”
I remembered Letty. She was a quiet, middle-aged woman with an always-serious face—unless you managed to make her laugh. She had the most infectious laugh, and it would often have half the mess hall in stitches if she started. I kinda missed Letty’s laugh. “Good for her,” I said, my mind whirring with weird, half-baked ideas. “You don’t know Jeltom, he’s so serious and gruff.”
Jessica laughed. “Don’t you know, quiet waters run deep? Aren’t Aderians all empaths? I wonder what they’re like in bed.” I chortled with a true burst of happiness as I considered that, but then I shook my head at my friend. I didn’t think Jeltom could be an empath, he was so different from the others. Not all of them were, anyway; it was barely acknowledged out loud that the majoritywas. The Aderians were very tight-lipped about that sort of thing.
It was very nice to discover that Jessica was willing to stay on the call with me all evening. It was daytime where she was, but she’d canceled her plans before I could object. And then it was just like the old days, the two of us huddled on the couch together, plotting and fantasizing about the future. I hadn’t known Jess before the whole stasis thing and the rescue by the Kertinal. Our pasts were so similar, though, that we’d naturally gravitated to one another.
By the time the cold had settled deep into the bones of the house and my toes had gone numb, I had to call it a night. “Jess, I have to get some sleep,” I muttered through the laughter. She had outlined the umpteenth ridiculous Valentine-themed plan for me to seduce Jeltom. I couldn’t stop giggling, even as I was convinced I could never do it.
That next morning, though, when I spotted him through my window in my front yard… my thoughts on that changed. What did I have to lose, anyway? I couldn’t keep running. I couldn’t stay hidden forever, not if I wanted to put an end to the loneliness the way Jess was doing. Okay then. Was I really doing this? Yeah. When I opened the front door, I realized I was.
Chapter 6
Jeltom
I’d slept no worse in Mariska’s barn than I would have in the shed behind the Laughing Nia. I’d received a call from my mother and one from my father, asking me if I wouldn’t be more comfortable at their homestead—nothing I couldn’t handle. Their home was much deeper into the mountains, and it was running in peak form; I’d be bored out of my mind in no time. Ihadtaken the chance to ask my father for some advice on how to fix the wine that had gone sour.
The nights were growing colder again, and soon we’d be heading into winter. Mariska’s home would need a lot of work to be ready for the snowfall and possible meteor storms that would come. That kept me up more than the cold; I was used to dealing with cool nights on Llyhke. The generator for the shields had to be fixed today, and all the grapes had to be processed today too, or her harvest wouldn’t be any good.
I rolled up my bedroll and tucked it back into my bag so Mariska would not see it if she came to the barn, and then I got to work before dawn had even begun to lighten the skies. I was elbow-deep in the generator’s guts when I heard her stir inside the house. She’d been up late last night—I’d been able to see her through her window—and felt like a stalker, lurking outside to catch a glimpse of her. Uninvited, because I sure hadn’t asked her for permission to camp out in her barn. She’d say no, and that would leave her unprotected. That was unacceptable.
The shield generator was booting and running diagnostics after I’d fixed the most obvious issues, so that left my hands free to tackle something else, like the wood waiting to be split for firewood beside her porch. Likely, some well-meaning neighbor had brought it over, because I didn’t think Mariska had felled any trees on her land herself. The ax was rusty, but nothing a whetstone couldn’t quickly fix, and soon I was warming up my muscles on those logs and clearing my head of all distractions.
I had to create a list of tasks and tackle them one by one. Mariska might object, but what could she do? Perhaps the sheriff in town would come over if she called and tell me to move on—more likely, he’d tell her that I meant no harm and to accept my help. Truthfully, I might even look forward to seeing her face off with old Leantyl.
My skin had this weird ache to it, as if I were restless and sore, but I had no explanation for it. I just knew that I wanted to see Mariska again and assure her that I was going to stick around to fix all the things that needed fixing. There was this very powerful part of me that hoped I’d never run out of things to fix.
She came onto the front porch with a shawl wrapped around her shoulders and two cups of steaming tea in her hands. She waved and held one out to me, and I took the invitation with an eagerness that surprised me. Just yesterday, I’d been so ready to ignore her request, and then I’d seen her face… Putting down the ax, I went up her porch steps and took a seat on the small bench beside her to drink the tea. It was a sweet one, but I didn’t mind; the flavor reminded me of her scent.
“You’re back early,” she said. “I thought you’d be gone once the pressing machine was fixed.” She said it carefully, as if she weretesting the waters and wondering what the blazing stars was going on. I didn’t know either, so I just shrugged. She looked tired, with shadows beneath her eyes and a paleness to her cheeks that seemed unnatural, even for a human. On a whim, I reached out to gently touch a finger to her hand. Tension eased in my flesh, and I could see her shoulders lower as if the same had happened to her. Interesting.
“There is more stuff that needs fixing,” I said, and I pointed at the shield generator in its casing that sat at the side of her home. “Especially that.” From the way her expression grew pinched, I could tell she knew the device was in a bad way, too. Stubborn female, too proud to ask for help. Damn the bureaucrat who had rubber-stamped assigning her to this homestead when it was in no shape to be a home to anyone.
“Well, thanks, but the farm is not exactly running a profit. I’ll pay you what I can, but… I’m not sure it’s enough to be worth your time.” She was clearly trying to be upfront, honest, so I could make an informed choice. I appreciated it, but she had no clue why I was really here, or that I’d do the work for free. I didn’t want her to pay me at all.
“That’s fine. I need to stay busy,” I told her, and I rose so I could get back to work. To prevent my shirt from getting soaked in sweat, I’d taken it off before I started chopping wood. Her eyes tracked my body as I went down the porch steps to get back to the generator. I’d like to think it was with a bit of appreciation, but her words sent ice water down my spine.
“What happened to your shoulder?” she asked, her hands on the railing, leaning out to keep eye contact. I discovered that I rather liked not dealing with an empath in this situation. Shehad no clue what kind of feelings went through me when I recalled the incident. Getting shot wasn’t the worst part—it was being unable to rescue my fellow scientists from the mercenaries who had taken us hostage. Hearing the others sob and seeing how Danitalin had worked herself to the bone trying to comply with their demands—that had been terrible, and it still filled my dreams at night.
“I got shot,” I said, and then I got back to work in a hurry. She seemed to get the message that it was a closed topic, but still, it didn’t feel right. I guess we were both holding our pasts a little too close to our chests. Her eyes were on me for sometime as I buried myself in the guts of the machine, but then she withdrew to get on with her own work.
I heard her in the barn for a long time, working with the pressing machine to get all her grapes processed. She was going to run into the problem that she did not have enough vats, and I’d have to get that sorted soon. There was a second barn behind the house, a bit more distant, and I had a feeling that one might have what we needed.
