Chapter 10

Dallas laced his fingers behind his head and couldn’t get enough of Rosie. He was attracted to her, and he was in love with her, but he hadn’t expected to like her so much. Now that he thought about it, that didn’t make much sense. Of course he would like her, but he also enjoyed hanging out with her.

Their sci-fi common ground was an unexpected pleasure. They were polar opposites in some ways and polar sames in others. She really did love Star Trek: Next Gen enough to have all the episodes on her iPad. They’d just finished watching “Encounter at Farpoint” parts one and two.

“I’d forgotten how cheesy the effects were.” He still couldn’t believe he was sitting here next to Rosie and he was able to speak coherently. If his family could only see him now. To think, not twelve hours ago she’d seen him drool. On second thought, he didn’t want to think of that ever again.

She hunched a shoulder. “It was 1987, so we can’t fault them too much. Still, the command consoles move every time someone touches them. The costumes are interesting.” She’d found a half gallon of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla in the freezer and had dished up two generous helpings. She swirled her spoon in the ice cream and delicately licked the small bite.

Whoever had packed the backpack he’d crossed the river with had the presence of mind to throw in a pair of black yoga pants and a red T-shirt, which Rosie was now wearing. She’d taken a shower, and her long, thick black hair was still damp, streaming down her back.

Whether she’d worn it down for him or because it was easier to dry, it didn’t matter. He was choosing to believe she was wearing it down for him.

He’d never seen anyone savor ice cream more. His ice cream was long gone, while she ate hers slowly. It might be next Tuesday before she finished.

“I haven’t watched these in a very long time. It feels like they haven’t found their groove yet.” She used her spoon to point at her iPad screen. “It’s a work in progress.”

“Everyone was so young.” It had not escaped his notice that she wasn’t wearing a bra. His eyes wondered south to the black yoga pants. Was she going commando too?

He licked his lips and then realized he was licking his lips and mashed his lips together.

“If memory serves, the series really didn’t find itself until the middle of season two or the beginning of season three.” She swirled her spoon in the ice cream and brought another tiny bite to her lips.

Did she eat everything this slowly? He didn’t remember her taking this kind of time eating her soup. It wasn’t exactly annoying so much as interesting. Swirl and then lick. Swirl and then lick. She did everything fast except this. Swirl and then lick.

“What are your feelings on Farscape?” Not that it was a deal breaker, but he wanted to know just how far her love of sci-fi went.

“Love it. Although, I can’t get my head around the characters living inside a living ship. So, they all live inside Moya’s stomach? That’s really the only complaint I have about the show.” Swirl and then lick. “Except that it was canceled.”

Now it was time to bring in the deal breaker. “ Firefly?”

He held his breath waiting for her answer.

“It’s my favorite show ever. The only complaint I have is that it ended so abruptly. Joss Whedon is a god.” Swirl and then lick. “The movie was wonderful. I hear there’s going to be another one. Then again, that rumor has been circulating for years.”

“I can’t wait.” He rolled his eyes. “God knows, Star Wars is such a disappointment. Well, Rogue One was entertaining. The Force Awakens was just A New Hope with different character names.”

“I know what you mean. It was like they took the script for A New Hope, changed the names and locations, but used the same formula.” She pointed to him with her spoon. “What’s your favorite guilty-pleasure film?”

That was easy. “ Galaxy Quest.”

Her blue eyes went huge. “Mine too. Never give up. Never surrender.”

She was too good to be true.

“What’s your favorite part?” He wasn’t quizzing her so much as confirming that they were made for each other.

“So many things. I love when Tawny is repeating what the rest of the crew is saying so that the computer will respond. She says, ‘Look, I have one lousy job on this ship, it’s stupid, but I’m going to do it.’”

“I like when they’re on the planet and Tim Allen starts dive-rolling like they do on TV when there’s a shoot-out and the person’s trying to avoid getting shot.” He still couldn’t believe they had so much in common. “FYI—dive-rolling is strictly a Hollywood thing. Not that I’ve been in many shoot-outs, but I can’t see how rolling would make any difference.”

Slowly, her head turned toward him. “If you haven’t been in many shoot-outs… doesn’t that imply that you’ve been in some? How many?”

“Not real shoot-outs—just the paintball kind. Worth and I shoot it out every once in a while. We’re teaching Hugh. He’s got some skills.” The boy definitely showed promise at paintball. He and Worth had stopped going easy on the kid, but he was still better than them.

“You and Worth fight a lot.” She didn’t sound upset, only making an observation.

“It all started in the womb when he wrapped his legs around my neck.” He held a hand up. “I swear to God, he takes up more room than any other person alive. We may look the same, but we are very different people.”

“I know. It didn’t take me long to see the differences between you.” She turned to look at him. “Yes, you look alike, but there are differences.” She pursed her lips in what he was learning was her thinking pose. “Your faces are the same, but everything else about you is different. It’s interesting, you have matching DNA, but your mannerisms, the way you conduct yourselves, is completely different.” She nodded. “Even if you dressed the same, I’d still be able to tell the difference.”

That made him smile. Now all he needed to know was how she felt about his brother. If she had romantic feelings for Worth, he’d bow out. Well, he’d have to kill his brother and then bow out, but he was a gentleman, so he’d do the right thing and kill him quickly.

“Don’t you fight with your sisters?” He’d never had a sister—well, until CanDee and Justus. They gave good advice. It might have been nice to grow up with one.

“Yes, but we never hit each other.” Swirl and lick.

“You’re girls. Y’all probably do worse things.” There was nothing worse than a girl fight. With men, there were rules, but girl fights didn’t seem to have any.

She thought about it. “You’re probably right. After my mother died, my sisters and I moved in with my oldest sister, Louisa. She lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Things were tight, space-wise and financially. My sisters were always at each other’s throats. They did some pretty mean things to each other.”

“How about you?” Surely she had some killer good-sister revenge stories.

“I was ten when my mother died, and I was the baby. They pretty much left me alone.” She finally finished her ice cream and set the bowl on the nightstand.

He didn’t detect hurt in her voice; in fact he didn’t detect anything.

“Losing your mother at an early age, it must have been difficult.” He wasn’t prying so much as getting to know her.

She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “It was hard.”

He waited for her to elaborate, but she clearly didn’t have much to say on the subject.

“I can’t imagine.” He wasn’t a quitter and was giving it another try. “How did she die?”

“Heart attack.” She rested her chin on her knees. She’d drawn herself up into a ball. “My mother had… issues.”

“Health issues? What kind?” In the last few hours they’d talked about a lot of stuff, but nothing as important or as personal as this. He wanted to scratch the surface and see what was underneath.

She looked him dead in the eye. “She was in and out of rehab. Right before she died, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.”

“What about your father?” Why hadn’t her father taken her in after her mother had died?

She shook her head. “I don’t know him. Never met him. My mother wasn’t exactly sure which of the men she’d slept with was my father.”

“That must have been hard, growing up without a father.” Or a mother. He didn’t need to point that out, since they’d just covered it.

She hunched a shoulder. “I guess. I don’t really know.”

“What’s your favorite memory of childhood?” He knew he was pressing, but she wasn’t exactly being forthcoming. It was odd. Usually, he was the first one to shy away from emotional conversations, but he wanted to know how she ticked and what made her the person she was.

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

She picked up her iPad and propped it back on the pillow between them. “Want to watch the next episode?”

That was a big, fat, I-don’t-want-to-talk reply if he’d ever heard one. It seemed that he’d gotten all he would get from her for now. “Sure.”

She cued up episode three and set the iPad between them.

Outside, the storm raged on.

Maybe someday she’d trust him enough to talk about her past. Right now, it was enough that she was safe and they were together.