Chapter Eight
Why did people always assume they'd get it perfectly on the first try? Because Winifred and Ian didn't get it perfectly done.
It didn't take them long to get into Ian's rooms. He preferred a utilitarian approach, with no elaborate designs, no fancy patterns on the furniture or paintings on the walls. Just plain white light that suffused the room in a steady glow.
It didn't take them too long either to continue the kissing whilst sitting on Ian's bed, both their legs draped over the side.
“Kiara's going to want to hear about everything we're doing,” Winifred said rather breathlessly, after another bout of kissing. They were improving with each attempt, at least.
“She'll want to know even about the really bad kissing?” Ian sounded rather winded as well, as if he had spent the whole night running.
“Especially the really bad kissing,” Winifred confirmed. “I'll never hear the end of it.”
Ian chuckled, now running his hands through Winifred's short red hair. “It's what friends do. Not my friends, though. We like to boast about night horde kills and solved murder cases. And occasionally have dart matches.”
“Dart matches?”
“It's like archery, but without the bow and arrow.”
Winifred blinked. “Um... okay.”
“It's with darts. We use a blowpipe or blowgun, depending on how you like to call it, and try to hit the center of the target. It's fun. You should try it sometime.”
“No thanks. And I have to point out right now, you're terrible at sexy talk.”
“Is that what we're doing? Because you started off about your friend there.”
Winifred considered this. “True.”
“I can do sexy talk, though. Watch this.” Ian put on what he probably believed to be a sultry expression. “Maybe you'd like me to blow my dart and hit your heart...”
Winifred put a hand on his lips as he closed the distance to kiss again. “Never. Do that. Ever. Again.”
“Yes, that didn't really work, did it.”
“Just... stick to the kissing.”
“The kissing I'm bad at?”
“I'm no better. And you're improving. You should be proud of yourself.” She grinned and removed the hand, allowing their lips to touch again. Yes... much better. Now they were both patient with one another's mouths. Not trying to dominate, not trying to randomly thrust tongues and get them knotted up. The patience and willingness to adapt made the experience warm, with a touch of passion and arousal mixed up.
“Mm,” Winifred whispered against his lips, now clutching the neck of his tunic to her, curling her fingers in it. “Yes... that's much better...”
Ian didn't want to stay kissing the same spot, and Winifred didn't plan to stop him, either. His mouth traveled to her neck, taking the road over cheek and chin. “How does this feel? Good? Bad?”
Winifred closed her eyes, tilting her head back. The warm shivers of breath on her neck sent all sorts of interesting sensations bolting through her body, accumulating in a tingly pool in her stomach. “Yes... don't stop. Keep going. Yes...”
The clothes came off under each other's encouragements, and Ian gradually lowered Winifred onto the bed, smoothing her out, making sure she was okay with it every step of the way. Sometimes, his nervousness irritated Winifred, because she just wanted him to get on with it already, but she also understood that this was new to him as well, so perhaps he needed to motivate himself as much as make sure that Winifred wasn't going to freak out.
His chest under the tunic was smooth, lightly furred, with light pink nipples that were hard when she ran her fingers over. He took the time to admire her body as well, before moving his mouth to her breasts and kissing along them. With a shivering sigh, she closed her eyes and moved her legs so that his hips fit between them with ease. She didn't know what to expect when it came to the final act.
Some people said it hurt. Other women said it wasn't that great, you just let the man do their thing. And then you had Kiara who positively gushed about the great sex, though Winifred had always been just a little too shy to ask more questions on it.
Now she wished she had. The advice might have helped here. Thankfully, Ian didn't act completely like an idiot. She cracked open her eyes to see his erection, long and smooth, with the tip poking out of an odd skin layer there. Was she supposed to find it attractive?
She didn't think her genitalia looked particularly nice either, but it didn't need to look nice to do the job properly. When he finally positioned himself and moved it gently inside her, she found the sensation odd and exciting. It slipped within, encouraged by the wetness that had built up between her legs. Her muscles tensed in her thighs, and she felt herself gradually stretching out for him.
“Is this okay? Please say if it hurts. I'm inexperienced, so... it might do.”
“Just... go slow. I'm inexperienced as well,” she said, giving him a wry smile. Those little electric bolts in her stomach were nice, though. Eventually, she grew accustomed to the feel of him on top and in her, and encouraged him to go faster. And that definitely helped ramp up the boiling emotions inside her. Something about the act caused her heart to thunder, her body to flush, and a kind of strange desperation to tear at her soul, urging him to go faster, to dig into the source of whatever strange feeling stirred in her and coax it to life.
The bed creaked underneath them, and her elbows rubbed against the white sheets. The little dots of light that floated around them seemed to now swirl around his head in a halo.
Damn. Whatever Winifred thought sex would feel like, she never imagined this. The odd sensation inside her exploded in a wave of bliss, and her limbs seemed to become heavier, weighing her down. Ian thrust, then slowed down suddenly. At first, Winifred thought he was scared that she had been hurt, but then she realized that he'd orgasmed as well. One drop of sweat fell from his head onto hers, and he searched her eyes, slightly dazed, but checking to see if he was okay.
She patted him lightly on the cheek, and he kissed her palm, before carefully taking his body off her. He then sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his head. “Wow. I actually feel dizzy.”
“Dizzy?” Winifred sat up beside him, which took some effort, since she was still floating in happy. “Maybe have some water.”
“Yes...” He nodded, before going to grab a glass of water, offering Winifred the same. Again, it didn't end how she expected, since she also had a rather irritating urge to pee—but she still massively enjoyed sharing such an intimate moment. Also, she couldn't rid herself of the huge, silly grin spreading over her lips.
“I've got to say,” Ian said, draining the rest of the glass of water, “I'm glad you made your choice. It was getting hard to keep my hands off you. I would have been so disappointed if you chose otherwise.”
Winifred nodded, carefully wrapping her clothes back on. “I had to make a choice eventually. It's about time I start making the right ones.”
“Depends what you think constitutes a right choice.”
Winifred frowned for a moment. “Not abandoning the people who care for me. Not rejecting their love. Because if it were up to the old me, I'd have pushed you away every single time. No matter how much I didn't want to. Just easier to not deal with the mess afterwards.”
“But then you'd never live your life at all,” he said, pulling on his underwear and pants. “You can't be scared of mistakes. Failing is a part of life. You fail and you learn. Live too cautiously, and you may as well not have lived at all.”
“Doesn't always seem like it's worth the trouble.” Winifred gave an uneasy shrug of her shoulders, not wanting to think about all the mistakes she'd made.
“Oh, but it is. You think I was suddenly a spectacular werewolf and an expert detective? No. I must have failed basic things so many times. And my first transformations were awful. There was a time when you might never have gotten to meet me—I had some major conflict from my parents because they didn't like me taking a lowly detective job. They said it was something for commoners. Not for people like me.”
“Really? They said that?” It reminded Winifred eerily of her own mother. Thinking Winifred's dream to make a light zoo was beneath her station.
It was fine for her to be a servant, though. Perhaps her mother's priorities were less about Winifred, and more about what Winifred could do for her.
“They did. I didn't stand for it. And here I am.”
“Big choice.”
“I'm a big guy.” He gave her a little wink and she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. Her top under the corset was on the wrong way, but she couldn't be bothered to change it right now.
“Thank you, Ian, for forgiving me. I know I don't deserve it.”
“You deserve more than you think. You just need to reach out for it.”
“That's what I'm doing, Ian. Why do you think I'm in this room with you?”
“Ha. True.”
She flicked him on the nose, and he did the same thing to her. She didn't want to stay in his bed for longer, though a part of her was tempted. Didn't want to cause too many tongues to wag just yet. But... she was happy with her choice.
He kissed her goodbye at the doorway, and she happily walked back to her quarters, going through Kiara's entrance.
The walk was slightly harder than she expected, due to the odd, wobbling numbness of her muscles. Probably from the sex. Not that she thought something like sex could even do that. She also grinned like an idiot the whole walk down, finding everything beautiful to look at. She wove light around, and even her favorite fishes had an extra wriggle to their luminescent tails.
Kiara, of course, spotted the stupid grin from the other side of the room where she was currently sat, tinkering with some kind of miniature treehouse design, using her light as a blade to hone it down. “Hey, Winifred. Oh. Oh my. You did the thing, didn't you? Look at that face!”
“Bye,” Winifred said, hurrying past, hoping this might be enough to deter Kiara.
She should have known better. Kiara instantly abandoned her project and loped after Winifred. “You're going to tell me everything. I swear.”
“Look, I'll do it later—” Winifred paused, examining her room. Heart lurching horribly, she strode over to where the box containing the bracelet was. The box was open.
The bracelet was gone. “Where's my bracelet?”
Kiara saw as well, and fell into a nervous silence. She helped Winifred search the quarters—but no bracelet showed up.
“It's gone. Someone took it. Oh no.” Winifred felt upset. That bracelet might have been the last fragment of her mother—and now it was gone.
“I've only been back for about ten minutes,” Kiara admitted. “I was busy with my sister. She wanted me for some boring political matter. Did you lock your rooms?”
“Of course I did! Though I did leave the box on the dresser. Gods, I'm such an idiot.” Winifred smacked her head with her palm. The high of earlier fast dissipated to a crushing low, to the point where she felt sick.
“There's usually a guard at the end. Maybe we can ask him if there's been any suspicious activity.” Kiara clutched Winifred's hand, trying to calm her down. “Don't worry. We'll find the culprit.”
“It might be my mother,” Winifred said, taking shallow breaths. “She might have sent a thief to take back the bracelet. Because I betrayed her.” Now that Winifred thought on it, she felt more certain that her mother was responsible for this. Cutting off all ties. Cutting off links to wealth.
Leaving Winifred penniless, though at least she had somewhere to live, and now... a husband.
So the blow wasn't nearly as terrible as it could have been.
“Come on,” Kiara said, dragging Winifred with her. “Let's go and check. No guard at the stairs, where we came from. One near where the door to the servant kitchens are.”
Still numb, along with her legs, Winifred allowed herself to be dragged along. The passageway stretched out, showing rooms on either side, and dancing lights and flickering torches brightening the way. Two corners later, they stopped.
There was a guard. But he was slumped over, his armor awkward on his body. Darkness hissed out of him.
“Oh no,” Kiara said. “That's so very not good.”
“You think?” Winifred began to approach, but Kiara yanked at her arm.
“You're supposed to be the sensible one. But even I think going anywhere near that guard is a bad idea. You better tell Ian.”
“He's probably sleeping. Because...” Now Winifred stuttered into silence.
“I know what comes after that ‘because,’” Kiara said. “And you should go tell him. You know, the husband that you're finally husbanding. Because this is the kind of business he deals with.”
Grudgingly, Winifred agreed, and swept off rapidly to where she'd left Ian. She knocked frantically at his door, and he opened, bleary-eyed, clearly doing what Kiara thought he intended to do.
“Hrm?”
“There's been a murder. In the guest corridors. And a theft. My bracelet.” Winifred slammed it at him, and he stared at her for a few seconds.
“Sounds serious. I better get my coat on.”
“There's more,” Kiara added. “The body is hissing. With the dark light stuff.”
“Great,” Ian said. “Couldn't leave me alone for any longer, could it?” Then, much to Kiara's delight, he gave Winifred a kiss on the cheek. “Duty calls, dear wife.”
Oh. His use of the word wife sent her cheeks into flames. Hearing him say it so casually... it didn't help with her rapidly shifting emotions. She'd gone from high, to low, and straight back up to high again.
This, she thought, is going to be quite hard to deal with.
She should have been curled up in misery, finding out about the theft of her bracelet. She should be terrified to see that hissing corpse.
But instead, with the instant support of Kiara and Ian, she found much of that despair buffeted. In a way, her friends protected her. In a big way, they made everything that much easier to deal with.
Friend, and husband. That word might take some getting used to... but she no longer wanted to back out of anything.
Not ever again.
This time, she'd face the choices coming ahead of her in the future, and she'd make them. No more drifting at sea. No more pretending.
Ian rushed out the door with his coat, and Kiara and Winifred followed.
The End
Rescued by Ryland
Deep River Shifters – Book 1
By Lisa Daniels
Chapter 1
Settling in and an Unexpected Distraction
Placing her hand on the back of her neck, Serenity rolled her head back trying to pop her neck. As much as she loved programming apps, there were times when she wanted nothing more than to throw her computer against the wall and run outside. Granted, it was why she really needed to set up a timer for herself – being sedentary for long periods of time had always gotten to her, no matter how much she liked what she was doing. Her neck gave a satisfying pop and Serenity let out a loud sigh. Pushing her chestnut brown hair off of her shoulder, the young woman was beginning to feel entirely restless.
She should have gotten up and gone outside several hours ago. Looking at the clock, she realized that she hadn’t stood up in about three hours. She rubbed a hand over her face and decided it was time for a long stroll outside, even though it was getting close to sunset.
Placing her computer beside her on the couch, Serenity quickly saved her work and closed the computer. “Yeah, I think that is the sign I need. When I can’t debug something that simple, then it is obviously time to take a break,” she muttered as she pushed herself up from the couch. Her long legs easily cleared the ottoman she had purchased for her new place but was too lazy to move out of the way. Most of her furniture had come from her guardian and friends, so the living room of the apartment was a hodge-podge of various styles and looks – not that she really paid any attention. The bright red ottoman didn’t match anything in the room, and clashed fairly painfully against the orange sofa. Interior decorating had never been one of her strong suits. Anything that didn’t involve being physically active or coding was largely out of Serenity’s understanding. A few of her friends had offered to decorate her last apartment, but had been met with a simple shrug of her slender shoulders. When she left MIT for the Pacific Northwest, only a few of her closest friends had assisted. Most were too disappointed that she had chosen to leave the prestigious school for some unheard of town in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the country. They felt that as a cum laude graduate, she owed it to the school to stick around – they simply could not understand what would make her decide to move somewhere more open and dangerous than their old New England city. With several large cities nearby, her fellow students and graduates could not image anywhere that could possibly offer more entertainment and excitement than where they were. And that was exactly why she didn’t bother trying to explain it to them. The cities were nice, but Serenity was done living in large cities. Her friends had chided her for wanting to live near the heart of the tech industry, but that wasn’t it at all. She wanted to live somewhere that had fewer people and easier access to a wider range of outdoor activities. Silicon Valley had never been a place she considered; that was why she had chosen a small town in Washington State.
Serenity was actually pleased with the change in environment now that she was settled in. Deep River was like living in a completely different world, and it offered her everything that she had dreamed of. The first day that she had woken up to the cool air coming through the window and the sound of birds chirping, all doubt about her choice had disappeared. Not that she had ever had much doubt. Serenity had wondered if she had perhaps over-romanticized what life would be like, but the stark contrast to the way things had been was taking her life in the direction she had always wanted. As much as she loved coding and developing, the draw of the outdoors was impossible to ignore. Living on the east coast, there were a few things that she could do outside, but it usually meant having to spend a good portion of the day driving. Serenity hated driving. Her new home was just a few blocks from the campus, and some outstanding hiking was just a half-hour away. So far, she had explored three state parks and one federal park. And every morning the sound of nature gently woke her, instead of the sounds of cars passing nearby. Here she really felt like she could do anything that she wanted to do whenever she wanted to do it. Though she hadn’t been to either Seattle or Portland, she knew that it was just a matter of time before she would check them out. Not that she was interested in moving back to a city; rather, she was curious to see how accurate their reputations were.
If there was a problem it was the cultural shock. The people on the west coast were incredibly different from those on the east coast. Not in a bad way, but Serenity had never considered that the personalities would be so drastically different. Having traveled up and down the east coast, she thought that she knew what people would be like – but there was nothing to prepare her for just how different people on the west side thought.
It wasn’t something she noticed right away because there had been so many things to take in at first. When she had been staying in a hotel, the graduate student had figured that the attitudes of the few people that she interacted with were mostly a façade because she only talked to people whose primary job was taking care of people. Of course, she would have to admit that even the customer-oriented businesses on the east coast did not go quite as far in how astonishingly nice they could be. If she asked a question, the answer was about three times longer than she expected, and by the end, the person she had asked had provided her with answers to a lot of questions she had not asked. It left her somewhat baffled. It was only after a week or so that she realized that part of the problem were the questions she was asking. They were far too generic. Kind of like looking up the definition of the word “the” in the dictionary, if you didn’t provide context, you were going to get a lot more information than you wanted. Over time she learned to narrow down her questions, so that a little over a month later, she knew how to get a more direct answer, although there were times when she would have to remind herself to keep the questions more direct.
Another thing she noticed was that people were far friendlier when she was out in public. On the east coast, if someone said hi, she had learned to expect that they would be asking her for a phone number. The cool response she had developed to dissuade people from approaching her with an interest in dating did not have the same effect on the west coast. Instead of taking her somewhat cold response as a sign that she wasn’t interested in talking, people of Deep River seemed to think that it meant that something was wrong. Strangers would start asking if she was alright or if she needed help with a problem. The first time it happened, she had been moving boxes off of the truck, and the guy hadn’t even asked if she was alright. When Serenity had given him a tepid response, he had immediately started helping her move things into her home. She was so flabbergasted that he was already on his second trip before she realized she should try to stop him. He had simply waved her off and struck up a conversation about where she was moving from as he worked. The other three movers hadn’t seemed at all offended for the help either. Serenity had expected to have to be mean when it was over to get him to leave since she had not asked the guy for help. Instead, as soon as the work was one, he had wiped his forehead, given her a smile, welcomed her to the neighborhood, and left. Serenity had watched him with a truly puzzled look because he hadn’t hit on her once. It was only the voice of one of the movers breaking into her thinking that had brought her back to the task at hand. She had largely forgotten about the encounter after that because as exhausting as the long move had been, there was still too much to do to think about things like strangers.
Later Serenity had found out that the guy who had helped her was married with three kids. She only found that out when she encountered him on one of her first walks through the neighborhood. The man’s wife had given him a playful slap on the arm and reprimanded her husband for not asking her to help with the move. Serenity had no idea how to respond to the open kindness because it was nothing like what she was accustomed to. The conversation had been short, but it had given her a lot to think about.
The next month and a half, she learned how to talk to the strangers who honestly had no other interest than being friendly. If she was troubled, there was always someone willing to help. The town was a lot smaller than anywhere she had lived on the east coast, but it was still over 17,000 people. That meant that there were plenty of people who didn’t know each other. Still, it was small enough that people tended to treat each other in a way that was associated with tiny communities, and she suspected that it was not just the town that was like that.
The different outlook on life and strangers had certainly come as a shock, and one that took a while to get acclimated to, but she had plenty of reasons to grow to appreciate it as well. Through the open and friendly approach to life, Serenity had learned about her favorite hiking places. She still had not made friends as she had been too busy to do anything apart from unpacking, preparing for class, and developing an app for one of her friends back east. Making friends had never been a high priority, mostly because people tended to just include her in stuff. Serenity was aware that she was attractive, but it hadn’t seemed important because it had nothing to do with what interested her. Since people had gravitated to her, there hadn’t been much of a need to put in an effort. With the incredibly friendly mannerisms and gregariousness of the people in the Pacific Northwest, Serenity felt far less lonely than she had thought she might. It was incredibly rare when she felt any twinge of desire to be back on the east coast, and those never lasted more than a few seconds. By simply looking around at the striking Cascades and miles of beautiful land, she had plenty to remind her just how much better things were in her new place. Still, after a month and a half, she was starting to feel a need for a closer relationship than the conversations she had with people when out running errands or hiking.
Despite a lack of a real social life, the first month and a half had been enjoyable, and now it was time to pay for it. School would be starting up soon, and she would need to get her head back into the books. Programming for fun was so much different than doing it for classes. Of course, there was always plenty of room for innovation and creativity, it was just that the assignments always put limitations on her work that Serenity didn’t like. Now that she was working toward a Master’s in a different place, she wondered just how much it was likely to change.
Don’t get your hopes up that you are going to be given the room to be creative. You know that is not the way it works, she thought to herself as she slipped her shoes on. The last thing you need is disappointment to start off the school year. Just focus and get it done.
The cool mid-September air struck her face as she opened the door. The sky was completely cloudy, something that she was not accustomed to yet. Most of the last month and a half had been sunny and nearly too hot. Without AC, she had often found it difficult to make it through the middle of the day. By the next morning, it was hard to believe just how hot it would get because there was about a 40-degree temperature difference between the morning and middle of the day. She learned how to keep her home cool even during the worst part of the heat, and it meant that her power bills were nothing compared to what she had managed on the east coast. A little bit of discomfort was worth it since she had ended up saving a lot of money. What she saved on utilities came as a relief as the price of rent was not any cheaper than it had been at her previous place. Since she didn’t have time to get a job, Serenity was pleased that she wouldn’t have to try to squeeze it into her schedule to pay for essentials. She would just have to be careful with her budget now that she didn’t have scholarships and grants to cover her schooling.
Her steps turned toward a familiar path where she knew she would get an excellent view as her mind turned away from the mundane and to her surroundings. This particular walk was not difficult, but it was a lot more exercise than she usually got walking the same distance near MIT. Living near the base of part of the Cascades created some slopes for walking, and she was only now able to walk up them at her usual pace without getting winded.
About 25 minutes after leaving her home, Serenity had gone much further along the trail than she had gone before. Her eyes were met by the sight that she had most wanted to see after staring at a screen for so long. She had gone far enough up the trail to have a fantastic view out over a shallow valley, something that she probably would have explored more if she had come this far up earlier. Looking out over the mountainous landscape, Serenity’s face spread into a grin. “I’m never going to get used to that.”
“Tell me about it. I grew up here, but living in California for ten years really taught me to appreciate it,” a voice to the side startled her.
Serenity turned and saw a figure leaning over a rail just off to the side of the trail. The man was tall and his shoulders were wide. For the first time in years, Serenity’s mind started to analyze someone based purely on looks. It was a primal response, one that she had repressed since she started college. Nearly as soon as she realized that she was doing it, Serenity tried to shut it down. Chalking up the thoughts to having spent too much time alone, the young woman decided she would need to start making friends soon to stave off that kind of thing. Slightly embarrassed that someone had heard her talking to herself, Serenity fell into her usual cold demeanor for keeping men at arm’s length.
“Seems like an error in judgment to have left it in the first place.”
It was only after she said it that Serenity realized that the man had not been looking at her. He moved a little and looked at her now, and she couldn’t help but see just how attractive he was. His hair was jet black and it appeared that it had been carefully styled to give off the impression that he didn’t care about his looks. The long black eyelashes looked equally touched up to highlight his startling blue eyes. They reminded her of the tip of an iceberg drifting across the ocean. His face was chiseled, and the way he posed appeared to be very practiced. This was someone who knew how to give off a chilled vibe. She was almost impressed because it had taken her years to master her cool attitude. If she had been told the same thing so many times in her life, she would have said that he looked like a model. Saying it about someone else was not something she would do because she never felt like it was the compliment people believed it to be.
He looks about as polished as the guys from New York who thought they were cool. It’s way too casual to be sincere.
For a moment, Serenity wondered just how much of her analysis was accurate, and how much of it was tinged with her experiences in college. When he turned back around to look at the view, she realized that she had spent a lot more time staring at him than he had spent looking at her. It almost bothered her.
What is wrong with you? Are you turning into the hermit people joked you would become living over here? Man, Serenity, stop being an idiot and be happy that he’s not trying to hit on you. At the last thought, she frowned. The man really was attractive. Would it be so bad if he did want to go out with her? There’s something familiar about him, too. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him around. Certainly looks like someone from around here.
With a quick shake of her head, she was about to start walking again when he seemed to try to start a conversation with her. “So, you aren’t from around here. I hope you are finding the west a bit better for your health than the east.”
With a slight frown, Serenity tried to keep the conversation short. “It’s different.” The sun was about on the horizon and she wanted to reach a certain place before turning around – at least that was what she tried to tell herself. Then she realized exactly what he said. “What do you mean from the east?”
He turned and looked at her again, his head cocked to the side and a slight smile on his face. “Judging by… your walk and attitude, you are not from anywhere north of L.A. Judging by the clipped manner of speaking… sounds like someone from New England.”
Serenity scowled, “Are you trying to stereotype me?”
His left eyebrow was raised while the left side of his mouth twitched up, “Only as much as you are stereotyping me.”
She blinked a couple of times in response, not quite certain whether to deny it or be honest. Then she realized that she hadn’t said anything that would sound like she was stereotyping him. For a moment, she wondered if her face was giving away what she was thinking. After the pause, Serenity settled for a shrug, then turned to leave again. This time he didn’t say anything as she walked away.
After walking a few paces, curiosity got the better of her and Serenity walked back.
“I’m sorry about this, but you look familiar. Have we talked before? If so, I do apologize. Just feeling a little scrambled after spending too much time inside.”
The man looked up at her with a weary smile and shrugged. It was no kind of response to her question, but then Serenity found that she didn’t really need an answer. It was nice just to have someone who looked to be about her age to talk to. Most everyone she had met was either married or a child. The university students were probably all too busy moving back into their places to be out much; still, it made things a little less comfortable since there wasn’t much for her to talk about with the people she encountered. Feeling slightly guilty for her initially cold response, Serenity decided to be at least as sociable with the man as she had been with other strangers.
She put her arms on the rail and looked at what he was watching. Having passed by the area numerous times, she had never managed to stop and look at the viewpoint. It was breathtaking, even though they were not very high up.
“It’s stunning,” she muttered. “You are lucky to have grown up seeing this. Had I grown up out here… I bet I would have gone into a different field than tech. It’s just… indescribable.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. She wanted to say more, but the colors in the sky were phenomenal and she didn’t have anything to say as the sun touched the horizon.
They stood in silence for a while, each engulfed in their own thoughts. Finally, Serenity spoke, “So you really missed this. I thought California was supposed to have a lot of fantastic sights, too.”
“There is plenty to see; the Red Woods are particularly fascinating, but nothing quite beats the sights up here. Then again, I’m partial.”
“Well, I can certainly see why. It’s better than what I saw most of the way up and down the east coast. Granted, I did like some of the viewpoints from Maine where you could see out over the Atlantic. Still never saw a sunset that could compare with here.”
Her words were met with silence. Serenity looked out over the view and let her mind wander.
“I don’t really care for the east coast.” The words shook her out of her reverie, and she turned to look at the man. His eyes were still taking in the beauty below them.
“Have you been up and down the entire thing? If you like cities, New York is great.”
“I have no interest in cities. L.A. and San Francisco were bad enough. Having to go into Seattle is quite enough for me, and that’s something I keep to a minimum now.”
“You want to talk about stereotypical.” Serenity had a slight smile on her face as she said it.
He turned his face so that he could look at her out of the corner of his eyes. “It’s disappointing, but kind of figured that’s what you were thinking.”
“Your words.”
“No, you were the one to bring up stereotyping.”
“You were the first to do it.”
He stood up and looked down at her. In her mind, Serenity was realizing just how tall he had to be to be able to look down on her. At five foot eight, she wasn’t short. That meant he must be well over six feet tall.
The smile was gone from his face. “I didn’t come up here to argue or debate. It will be dark here soon, so I recommend you head back. The trail gets tricky just around the bend up there. Have a pleasant evening.” Without another word, he walked away.
Serenity frowned as she watched his figure disappear into the woods. A part of her mind was aware that he was heading toward a part that was just more woods. Given the time, it was surprising. The sun would set soon, and that meant that the light would be gone. It was a bad idea to be in the woods too late because the wildlife here was quite wild.
“Wait, where are you going?” The man stopped and turned toward her. The fading light cast some interesting colors on his features as he gave her a blank expression. “That’s just more woods. Don’t tell me you are a mountain man.”
The man blinked a couple of times and frowned. He gave out a heavy sigh and turned to walk away.
Serenity began to follow him. “Don’t get me wrong, I can see why someone would want to live remotely, but–”
“Why are you following me?” The man turned and looked at her as he folded his arms across his chest.
“I–I’m not following you.”
“I am quite certain you do not live this way. If nothing else, you have basically just said so yourself.”
“I didn’t–look, I’m sorry if I came across as a bit standoffish. Years of… I am sorry.”
He titled his head to the side. “You don’t need to be sorry, just be more honest. Years of hiding who you are is unhealthy.”
“I’m Serenity.” She held out her hand.
The man looked down at her hand for a second before reaching out to shake it. “It’s nice to meet you, Serenity. Good luck with everything.”
“Um,” she wasn’t quite sure what to say as he flashed a quick smile and turned to leave.
Dumfounded that he showed no interest in talking to her after getting her attention, Serenity stood in silence watching his figure disappear into the woods. There were several things about the interaction that really bothered her, but she wasn’t quite sure what. Usually she would have been happy for such a brief exchange where the guy didn’t try to ask her out. This time, though, she felt almost slighted. For all of the friendliness, the people out here really don’t do close relationships, do they? It’s all surface level. The idea was a bit chilling because Serenity had figured she would make friends quickly once she was interested in doing so. Now, she was beginning to realize that things may not always be on her terms.
Shaking her head, Serenity tried to get some focus. What did she care if a guy wasn’t interested in her? He wasn’t the first, and she doubted he would be the last. If he wants to stop strangers so that he can give them the cold shoulder, that wasn’t any of her business. Her mind tried to figure out exactly what was bothering her as she walked back home. On the way, she encountered several people that she had talked to over the course of a month and a half. It was only after the encounter with the man that she realized that the conversations were never very deep.
Several hours later Serenity was getting ready for bed, thinking about how she needed someone to talk to. She had tried to talk with a couple of her friends back east, but they were too busy. If she wanted someone to talk to, it appeared she was going to have to put some effort into it.
Why did she have to be thinking about this right before classes started? Serenity rolled over on her bed, pulling the blanket up to her face. A different type of frustration was keeping her awake when she really did not have time for it. She needed to be focusing on going back to class and getting her mind on what mattered – not worry about some random guy’s opinion of her. No, it’s not just the way he treated you. It’s the way everyone around here acts. It’s a bizarre kind of friendly. I probably should have tried to persuade a couple of people to move out here, too. Eva would have been able to charm him into – no, stop that. Serenity rolled over again and let out a frustrated sigh. The day had not gone at all well, and now she found it nearly impossible to sleep. If only she had set a timer going and walked earlier, none of this would have happened and she would have been able to mentally prepare.
Oh, just go to sleep. You’ve got a lot tomorrow and that encounter was nothing special. You’ll probably never see him again anyway. The thoughts did little to settle her mind as she tried to go to sleep. Her dreams that night did little to help her as they were full of strange men menacing her with guns while the guy she had met stood off to the side telling her how she should act in that kind of situation. When she woke the next morning, she wished that she had one more day before school started because she did not feel well rested at all.