Kiss Across Chaos (Kiss Across Time #10) - Tracy Cooper-Posey Page 0,30
open for her and Jesse stepped through, her attention already on the view beyond the gate.
A very narrow lane serviced the house. It had once been laid with tarmac, but the tarmac was old and rutted, and dirt had filled the cracks, so the road looked as though it was equal parts beaten earth and tarmac. The lane ended where the corner of the garden ended.
Directly across the narrow road was a footbridge with wooden planks and ancient palings on the sides. Climbing plants wound in and out of the palings and hung from the sides of the bridge, dangling masses of flowers down toward the river running beneath it.
Jesse caught her breath and moved toward the bridge on automatic. She wanted to peer over the sides. She wanted to soak in the loveliness.
There was a slight rise in the bridge and she stopped at the top and turned from one side to the other.
The river ran right alongside the house and garden, a wide, slow moving stream of placid dark green water. At the corner where the lane ended and the bridge crossed, the river forked, sending one tributary heading south, the other shooting off to the west, and running under the bridge.
Jesse turned to look to the west. The narrow river ran in a graceful curve and disappeared a mile upstream, among old willow trees and bushes that dipped their leaves into the water.
It was picture postcard perfect.
She sighed. “I would have dropped every spare penny on a place like this, too,” she breathed. “It’s gorgeous, Aran. I can understand not wanting to live in Washington when you can jump here whenever you want.”
“I don’t get back here nearly as often as I would like, although the locals are under the impression I’m here every day, because I time it to make sure I am.” He leaned back against the railing, both elbows on it. “I can show you the rest of the house another time. That’s not actually why I bought you here.”
“Then you didn’t intend for me to feel like an inadequate underachiever?” she asked dryly.
He rubbed his chin. “No, that wasn’t my intention, either. Although I can see why you might think that.”
“I was joking,” she said quickly.
“No you weren’t. Not really.” He dropped his hand. “You don’t joke with me. You keep your shield up. Always.”
Jesse deliberately turned to look the other way, so he couldn’t see her face. “What am I supposed to see, then?” she asked stiffly.
“Possibilities,” he said, and leaned against the railing she stood next to. “The possibilities of time. You really think I bought this place on my junior grunt salary at Abel & Toloni?”
Jesse glanced at him, startled. “I suppose not…” she said softly.
“I told you…” He frowned. “It really was just the other day, on your timeline, wasn’t it? I told you that time has slapped you around long enough. You need to do some slapping of your own, Jesse.”
“Using time,” she breathed. “I remember.”
“Wouldn’t a permanent home, like this, or anywhere else in the world…wouldn’t that suit you better than the permanent gypsy life you put up with now?”
“I’m a poor midlist writer.” She added as gently as she could, “And I’m not a jumper like you.”
He straightened up almost as though she had kicked him. “Which everyone in the family has forgotten, I think. Including me. Which makes me…well, I don’t know what it makes me, but I’m going to make amends.”
“By showing me possibilities beyond my control?” She squeezed the bridge rail. “This place is glorious, but not in a million years could I ever hope to have something like it. It’s just a shitty pipe dream for me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He walked off the bridge and over to the gate. “Let me demonstrate.”
She squeezed the rail even harder. “I should get back to work.”
“I’ll take you back to two minutes past eight,” he promised. “Just let me show you one more thing.”
Jesse hesitated. “I’m not like you, Aran. I’m honorary family, but that’s because of something I did in this time. You guys were bred up to think about time differently. I just get to have a so-so military career and an okay writing career after that. I’m only human.”
Aran walked back to her and picked up her hand. “I’m not the only one you keep the shield up for, Captain Hall. Come on. Let me show you just how wrong you are.”
Jesse protested as he led her back along the pretty