“Being gay in the army wasn’t accepted for a long time,” Vortex replied.
“Nope. It caused huge scandals. But they couldn’t hold Papa back; he was too talented, and after involving lawyers twice, they gave up trying to block his career. Then Papa became the face of homosexual recruitment, which was ridiculous. Papa retired two years ago and drove Dad mad being underfoot all the time.”
“What does Duke do?”
“Dad’s a crazy inventor,” I said with a laugh.
“Really?” Vortex asked, looking interested.
“Yeah. Dad’s had a lot of success with various things. His mind works on a different level than mine and Papa’s.”
“Wow, I didn’t see Duke being creative,” Vortex mused.
“Oh, Dad is. Trust me, he’s very successful.”
“And you worked in kindergarten as a support worker?”
“Teaching assistant. And I suppose you could also call me a children’s event planner. I recently qualified as a teacher, so I’m looking for a job.”
“You’re not working as one now, a teacher, I mean?” Vortex asked.
“No. Talk about a shitty day. The morning we boarded the zeppelin was when I received the redundancy notice. I planned to spend two weeks relaxing and then start applying for jobs.”
“Yeah, I remember you saying you’d just graduated. Where do you want to work?”
“Around this area. I don’t mind anything between a thirty- and forty-minute drive, but positions are hard to find,” I said.
“How about Merritt?” Vortex asked.
“Isn’t that the Wild West town that’s being put back together? I think I’ve read about it. The zeppelin crashed there, didn’t it?” I replied.
“The town was allegedly built in the late eighteen seventies, but we’ve found proof it existed a good fifty years beforehand. And no, not quite the Wild West, it was a logging camp, but grew over time before the fire in eighteen-ninety-three. That closed everything, and everyone moved out. The buildings fell into disrepair, and it became a ‘ghost town’.”
“How do you know so much—? Wait, I read a motorbike club bought it and was restoring it?”
“That’s us, Unwanted Bastards MC,” Vortex replied.
“Why didn’t I figure that out?” I wondered. It had been big news, and there’d been loads of teaser articles about Merritt being restored and reopened.
“Because you’ve had a lot on your mind,” Vortex excused.
“True,” I said with a yawn.
“Brave girl, I’m going to make a move. Is there anything you need?”
“No. Thanks for tonight. It was my first night home and…well, you saw my tears.”
Vortex got to his feet in a smooth motion and hauled me to mine. “Give me your cell.”
“What?”
“Phone, Amy,” he ordered again.
I handed it to him, and Vortex jabbed at the screen. He passed it back, and I checked my address book and let out a bark of laughter.
“Hero dude?” I asked, smiling.
Vortex offered me a smirk. “I would have put in Hercules, but I have a brother called that, and when you meet him, I didn’t want to cause confusion.”
