How did he have that magnetic ability to hold her in his gaze, like she was but a helpless moon circling around him, never allowed to let go?
Only he did let her go—or, the curse made him do it. And if it had happened once, it would happen again.
“Try this one. Sweet potato.” Chris handed her another pie.
Glad for the interruption, Shanna tore her gaze away from Simon. What felt like an eternity of looking into those sapphire eyes were actually mere seconds, and they didn’t seem to impact the mood in the room at all.
Chris wiggled in between them and pulled out her phone. “I gotta show you these cool pictures I took of the mountains. They’re all wrapped up in mists. It looks super spooky. And I have a funny video of a dog …”
And so they gathered together, Shanna and Simon looking over Chris’s shoulders to the phone screen, all of them gorging on pies and laughing, giving exactly zero worries to the sour weather of this day or the possible complications of any days to come.
Chapter 13
“Dad, look.” Simon leaned on his father’s work desk, showing him the blue plastic handheld console.
Dad took off his glasses, tearing his attention away from the computer screen. “I said we’ll take it for fixing on Monday,” he said in a gentle, patient voice. “Can’t do much over the weekend.”
“No, I fixed it myself.” Simon turned the console on. “See? And I made it cooler, too. Turns out you can tune the chip beyond its programmed storage capacity, so now I can have more games on it, and I can even put on older games.”
“You did this?” Dad turned the console in his hands, nodding approvingly.
“Yup.”
“Nicely done.” When Dad gave him a full-blown smile—the one that made his mustache stretch all the way into his cheeks—Simon always felt like he was on top of the world.
Maybe one day, he thought as he skipped back to his room with the console in his hands, he could be on top of the tech world.
***
Simon stared at the stuffed deer head mounted on the wall, its glassy eyes staring him back. A town straight out of the Old Wild West was not something he’d expected from Ross, given it was on the other side of the world. When they arrived, Shanna was immediately drawn to its historic hotel, boasting a sunny yellow facade with forest green and ruby red detailing around the windows and columns. On the inside, the hotel was more of a bar, with dark wood paneled walls and a real brick fireplace, continuing into the main room stuffed with paraphernalia. An antique piano with an animal skull on it, a not-so-antique pool table left in the middle of a game, and walls covered in old prints, drawings, and stuffed animals. Primarily birds, except for the creepy deer.
Shanna stepped next to him, holding a glass of ginger ale, her gaze following his to the stuffed head. “Wow, look at that guy. I can’t decide if he’s creepy or majestic. And his eyes. It’s like he’s trying to tell me something, and I’m not sure I want to know.”
“I don’t suppose the secret he’s trying to divulge are your mom’s whereabouts?”
She shook her head. “The vibes aren’t getting any more specific. It was somewhere in this hotel.”
At least they knew itwasRoss; but figuring out what happened twenty years ago in a place like this, even as small as it was, seemed nearly impossible.
“That’s a dope deer.” Chris, holding a beer, occupied Simon’s other side.
Simon grabbed the beer from her.
“Hey!”
“You’re not old enough to drink.”
“They didn’t ask. So, who cares?”
“I do. And this one is getting donated to the first person who comes through the door.”
“Did you figure out where your mom was?” Chris asked Shanna.
“Not yet. But they have rooms available here. Perhaps if we stay through the night, something will come to me.”
“Maybe she went on the gold-panning tour,” Chris said. “Like, we could also go.” She added a shrug, the slight rise of her voice indicating she was interested but didn’t want to appear too eager.
“I’ll ask for a room,” Shanna said. Simon followed her.
