Somewhere Over the Freaking Rainbow - By L.L. Muir Page 0,35
guessed the English teacher’s real fear, and when the rest of the town found out, he’d be lucky to avoid a lynching. She wondered if Jonathan would be asked to handle that. He had a great gift for problems of the heart...at least the romantic kind.
“I’m afraid it will take a while for that smell to get out of my nose.” Jamison sniffed his collar, then smiled. “I think we got out of there in the nick of time.”
“I’m sure.” Actually, she had no idea what a pig shed, or pig shite—as Kenneth called it—smelled like. She only knew to follow Jamison’s cue and turn up her nose. That was one sense she didn’t covet at the moment.
The walk took longer than she expected, but she didn’t complain. Heaven forbid he should call her a coward.
The word ‘coward’ pinged in her head, reminding her of the conversation in English class. Why did Jamison believe himself a coward? And there was no doubt about it, the guy believed it as if God himself had given him a scarlet ‘C’ to wear on his chest.
She pried at his memories but couldn’t reach them. She couldn’t touch Texas. How much had Lucas cleaned? Or was it just a clear patch in his mind she couldn’t get past, like a stretch of wet ice she couldn’t cross?
Skye resolved to let it go for the moment. Maybe she’d get Jonathan to take a stab at him. If she could help Jamison, even a little bit, before she was gone, she’d feel better about going.
The stars got brighter as they started down Route 4, leaving streetlights behind. Jamison hadn’t let go of her gloved hand since they’d left the fire and she wondered how many people in the passing cars had noticed. Enough that no one offered them a ride, that was for sure.
She didn’t mind walking. It wasn’t as if she would tire, and she wasn’t worried about Jamison wearing himself out. She just wanted to keep the hand-holding a private matter.
She didn’t have to remember to breathe. In fact, breathing in sync with someone was quite an interesting thing. It was as if Jamison tuned his breathing to hers, or she to his. And it made for intriguing music in her ears. Every swallow, every irregularity in his cadence was like a change in key.
Something caught on her boot and she nearly fell, but his hand squeezed tight and he refused to let her go down.
That silly shiver went through her, as if she had bones and the shiver rolled through the marrow.
She stopped. She had no bones. It had to be her soul that was shivering. But why?
He held fast and stopped with her. “What’s the matter? Do you need to rest?”
“Yes. I guess I do. Just for a minute.”
He led her over to a fence and released her hand so she could climb up and sit on the top rail. The bottom rail had crescents gnawed into it. Some horse had taken a liking to the flavor of the wood, apparently, and had eaten off the softer edges of the planks. Maybe he’d not been fed well. Very sad.
“Are you cold?” He reached up and rubbed the front of her thighs.
“Why? Are you going to offer me my scarf now?”
He grinned. “Not yet. I don’t have it on me.”
“Oh. Well, I’m not cold anyway.”
“You shivered.”
“I have no idea why. Maybe you’re scaring me tonight.”
He froze, but a split second later he was all smiles. She doubted a mortal would have caught the original reaction. But to a being for whom time didn’t move in a straight line, it was plain to see he was hiding something.
Suddenly her wariness was very real. If Mr. Evans were there he’d say “Ah hah! Do you see, Mr. Shaw, how she trembles?”
A mathematical equation written on an English teacher’s blackboard flashed in her mind.
“If fear, then hide.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Skye changed her mind. Back by the road, completely visible to anyone driving by, was where she wanted to be.
She jumped off the fence and Jamison was instantly in front of her, pinning her against the chewed up lower rung.
“Careful,” he said, holding her waist like he was trying to support her.
But was he?
She tried to read his expression, but found him focused solely on her. She poked once again at his memories, going back just a little while, back to the bonfire an hour ago. She got nothing. The blank wall that dropped in front of her made