CHAPTER TWELVE

 

MYAH CLASPED her hands on her lap. Anxiety rolled in her tummy. Outside the passenger window, Keir sent a small smile then moved around the front of the truck to climb in the driver’s side.

“Comfy?”

She nodded in response, then buckled her seatbelt, giddy enough as if starting a rollercoaster ride. It’s just a date. With a friend.

She’d always seen Keir in jeans or coveralls, but the black Chinos and Henley under a thin hoodie suited him. The tan jacket tipped him to casual gorgeous.

He swept his hoodie back, revealing a black knit beanie. She smiled at it. He could wear any hat. All that hair didn’t need it, but she liked that he could sport them at any time. And did I mention gorgeous? What was he doing with her? Her body temperature flamed under her long shirt, jeans and spring jacket. Sheesh. She didn’t want to sweat buckets before they even left the city.

Her car disappeared from view as they pulled out of the grocery store parking lot five minutes from her home. She’d barely had time to drop Dylan at Ingrid’s before making it back. She scanned the interior of the truck. It may look simple on the outside, but a little tricked out on the inside.

“Live around here long?” Keir’s dark gaze left the road to sweep over her.

“Over a year. A small house, but it’s all mine.”

He nodded.

“You?”

“I have a place in Ashburn. Grew up in Austin.”

“Austin?” She hoped she didn’t sound mortified. “Rough neighborhood.”

“It’s all right. Has its moments.”

“I’m from Michigan but I’ve been here eight years. Spent one of them with my sister and her family before I bought the house. Had you been in the U.S. long before Austin?”

A surprised look shot to her. “Most of my life in the Chicago area. Since we moved from Wales.”

“How long ago?”

“Almost twenty-one years.”

“Twenty-one.” She needed to stop being surprised at every tidbit of information. “Your family must love Chicago.”

“Dad hated the move.”

“Why’d he choose Austin?”

He shrugged. “It was where he could afford. Three kids and…”

Myah tilted her head. He’d croaked over saying more. “What?”

He drove a minute before continuing. “Mum had another baby on the way. He was stillborn.”

She touched his arm to offer condolences but Keir plowed on as if he hadn’t just mentioned a mother’s nightmare.

“As I was saying, three kids and one on the way. We all lived in a three-bedroom condo with my uncle and his family, so had to find affordable housing with enough room for all of us. Austin was it.”

“It must have been difficult. I kind of know what that’s like. I’ll never live anywhere else, but when I was with Ingrid, we squeezed her, her husband, two tweens, and then a newborn into her house. Not the ideal living arrangement. They were amazing for taking me in. I can’t imagine doing it all freshly emigrated from across the ocean though. New country, new culture.”

“Dad had been here two years before we came over. I was nine. He opened the shop a year later. Still got teased. Dad’s accent was thick!”

She smiled at his comical face.

Keir lifted a shoulder. “I tried to hide mine.”

“Hide your accent? Why? I picked up a little when we first talked on the phone. And when you were tired the other day sprouting gibberish it came through. But it’s not very noticeable.”

He grinned but kept his eyes ahead. “Not noticeable, huh? This from the girl who picked it up when we first talked on the phone.”

She slapped his sleeve. “It’s not like that. I guess…” She shouldn’t have started. “It may be more noticeable to the female population.” At his curious frown she played up a grimace. “You have a very…nice…telephone voice.”

His lips and eyebrows barely moved, but conveyed a quelled smirk.

“Don’t say you’ve never been told you have a nice voice.”

“You like my voice on the phone?”

“I like it, period.”

“Because it’s…nice.”

The way he said nice made her forget how to spell the word. He held her stare until she couldn’t take it. “Eyes on the road,” she muttered. She studied her hands, conscious that Keir now knew he could substitute the benign term for anything with a carnal innuendo.

“I don’t know if I should keep talking.”

“Forget I said it. Please. You, um, mentioned a shop. Your parents own a store?”

Keir blinked several times. “I lost my parents some years ago.”

“I—you never—”

“Don’t worry about—”

“—but.” She sat silent for a steadying moment. “Sorry. My mother passed when I was two. I don’t remember her much, and my stepmother came into our lives immediately afterward. I don’t have a good relationship with my parents anymore, but I can’t imagine them gone. How do you cope?”

Focusing straight ahead, his stare seemed distant. Why had she brought it up? Aside from her visit a couple of weeks ago, her parents turned their backs when she became pregnant. And not being on speaking terms didn’t come close to losing them as Keir had.

“Keir, do you mind me asking how they died, if it was at the same time?”

“Car accident.”

Tapping a finger on the steering wheel, he breathed out loudly before he pointed the truck south. Myah sensed more to come in his story. Her question quota must be used up for now so she waited for him to move at his own pace.

He half turned his head like he wanted to ask something, but didn’t tear his eyes from the road. “You’re not close to your parents. Why?”

“It’s complicated. Well, until recently we were estranged.”

“But you went to see them.”

“Intro to ‘complicated’. A few months ago they started asking my sister about Dylan, and we got to talking. It’s weird.”

“How?”

Irritated, she breathed out hard. “I think they want to see him more. Don’t know why since he’s the reason for our separation. No, I can’t say that. It was me. They figured I should know better than to jump into bed with the first man who—hoo, hoo, hoo. I did not just go there.”

Keir chuckled. “Yeah, I can see how they’d get the wrong impression of you by the way you just throw yourself at me all the time.”

She fanned her fingers over her face and whined.

“You’re nothing like your friend. Don’t worry.”

That was reassuring. Air puffed from her lips. “Amy’s a little subtle like the ocean is a little wet. No one is like her, but she’s precious.” At his grin, she snickered. “Anyway, my parents didn’t take kindly to discovering I’d been active. Good girls don’t do that. I’d been in the church since the womb, only to do a one-eighty and get pregnant at twenty-five.”

“Oh.” His drawn brow conveyed he’d quickly done the math. “You’re at least twenty-eight. I thought you were younger.”

She laughed. “I throw myself at men but you thought you were a cradle robber for taking out a younger woman?” She laughed at his stutter to correct himself. “Most people think I’m younger. How old are you? Wait. Thirty.”

“Twenty-nine. We’ve both had traumatic experiences at the quarter century mark. Not all it’s cracked up to be, huh?”

“Not even close.”

He lost his parents four years ago. Sad. Around that time she’d met Greg, a man she never gave a second thought to since he was older and way out of her league. One day he smiled and she went all Stepford. What she’d gotten for her next birthday—or rather, what Greg had gotten as her gift to him—was her virginity. They hadn’t even lasted a month before she suspected he’d lost interest. It hadn’t stopped her from continuing to sleep with him in hopes to win him back.

Keir smiled, a soft look, then combed a hand through his hair, scooping off the cap in the process. Tufts of dark hair fell into disorganized splendor all over his head. The flash of the wide band on his middle finger caught her attention. His birthday present. From his parents.

She wanted to know more, but wouldn’t push. When he connected the music and a Midnight Child tune filled the air, she couldn’t hold her peace, and had to argue his drab taste in music.

Lost in good times and conversation, nearly an hour passed before another lull set in. Keir seemed the happy, quiet type. She no longer felt compelled to fill every silence with a flapping tongue.

Off in the distance, the imposing shape of a Ferris wheel loomed above the trees. One day she’d take Dylan to a fair. This summer promised to be a good one, full of opportunities to introduce him to good-natured thrills now that he was capable to explore and digest his surroundings.

She lowered her window and breathed in the crisp spring breeze. She couldn’t wait to take Dylan to enjoy a carnival-like atmosphere and watch him perk up at the bright lights and noises. Myah stared at the Ferris wheel, doubting she’d have the guts to get on anything like that. She’d stick to ducks and tilt-a-whirls, thank you.

The intimidating structure grew closer. Keir made a thoughtful noise in his throat. They glanced at each other before turning back to the gigantic contraption. They’d aimed their trip to Michigan City, but Myah read the change in plans as they kept checking each other’s faces.

Keir snorted at her exaggerated grin. He shook his head before he pulled off the highway and made his way a few minutes to the huge fair.

“Yay.” Myah squealed and clapped her hands as distinct aromas and sounds made it to the truck. She’d get to be a kid again. They parked in the shoddy grassed field and she pinned her small change purse inside her jacket pocket, then walked with him to the entrance.

Keir maintained an observer’s stroll as they checked out activities. The sights, the smells of cotton candy and live animals, the sounds of screams and laughter, gave her such forgotten thrills. Loads of people mingled around, making it impossible to tell the locals from who’d been enticed while driving by.

The first thing Keir wanted to try resembled a set of cages that housed eight people each. The contrivance swung around, intent on melding all the riders together by G-force. She stumbled out not knowing which end was up. A train ride, a kiddie rollercoaster, and a lost battle of rings later, they stumbled upon the Uneven House.

“Oh, this can’t be good.” She eyed it warily as Keir tugged her arm.

“Let’s go.” His eyes lit with adventure.

She studied the daunting structure. “How’d they pack this up and get it out here anyway? No, really, I want to know.”

She grumbled that anything that made people sign a waiver, had to be a bad idea. She’d been inside one similar, all shifty floors and false doors. Ended up on her hands and knees through the last half while her sister laughed. Please, not in front of Keir. One good yank on her arm, and her feet uprooted to tail him inside.

He was good about it though. Keir held her elbow over the wobbly, rubber floors in padded halls. They laughed about being carted off to the funny farm, and plotted their great escape.

“I must be mad to come into a place like this,” she told him, glad to see the exit sign across the room.

“No worse than a trampoline or rubber ball room.”

“Don’t get me started on those. If...” She looked down. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Keir peered over her shoulder and hooted at the sight. The blue, stud-textured rubber floor bulged and dipped as though the worms from Tremors slithered beneath. He gripped her arms, shifted her from fleeing to the alternative exit, and turned to walk backwards, glassy eyes daring her while he led her by both hands. “No place to go but in.”

She yielded to his gentle tugs, lured by the stare that seemed to enjoy her cautious progress. Wait, it must be the pleased, subtle smile. Okay, maybe it had a little something to do with his seamless dance; a Samba slow and sexy, his slim build organic and entrancing in the eerie circus music.

She was going to pass out. Hot in here.

His face, purely concentrated on her steps, said he had no idea of his smooth flow, nor of the effect. Myah struggled to fill her lungs. He’d drawn her mid-way through the room. The backdrop of strobe lights and kaleidoscope-colored walls made his show unreal. She tamped a moan and lowered her eyes to their feet.

Just make it through the room. She looked up when he quirked a finger in invitation. Now what? His head cocked in an, “I’m waiting” tilt. She closed her eyes to soak in the beat, then let loose her inhibition and added a few moves of her own. Myah checked on him and laughed. She loved dancing with him—all three seconds—until the floor gave way. An older couple crumple into a heap.

She was doomed.

Perspiration beaded her face. Fifteen feet to go. I can do this. She’d worn heels while pregnant for crying out loud, walked down staircases while ballooned at nine months, never seeing her feet. She was superwoman.

Of its own volition, her back stiffened when the floor shifted against her favor. Keir paused. Give him strength. She’d leave bruises from where her death grip engraved his forearm. Myah not only rose half a foot on the bulge of a buried earthworm, but her downward plunge kept going. She ended up half a foot lower than the floor as Keir skidded off the up-end into her teeter-totter.

Gaining upward momentum, she tried to leap out of the hole. Ignorant. Should have seen it, but too late now. The teeter-totter reversed, and she catapulted, taking out the already unbalanced man in her way.

Myah begged for forgiveness as she felt the solid collision.

Keir hit the floor with a dull moan. Her flying weight pushed them both to the flat of his back. On top, she jerked up to keep her elbows locked on either side to avoid a total massacre. She stared dumbfounded at the equally mystified face beneath her. How to be graceful about this?

In the middle of the wobbly floor, he grew still, relaxed, and reclined on both elbows, riding the obnoxious waves of the rolling room. He had a ‘you can do anything you want to me now’ self-possessed air, while she fumbled for a comfortable position to get up without elbowing or, worse, kneeing him in any way. She shivered as fingers glided up her arm. She slipped and crashed her chin into his chest.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“My fault.”

He stroked her shirt-burned chin. Will you stop touching me, please. One glance into his color-glistening eyes, which did not blink, nearly undid her. Myah turned away when the corner of his lips twitched into a smile. How could he be so calm when she was about to break out in alien-coating sweat any second?

Spider-legging away, she tried for her feet and failed. She’d known this was a bad idea. Now he watched her crawl toward safety like a soaked kitten. A laugh seized her as the image of a dripping kitty-cat came to mind. The chuckles crippled her progress. She collapsed to her elbows. In the throes of mirth, she dropped to her side, then onto her back. Giggles flowed to bring her to tears. What must she look like? Hilarious is what. And so stuffity-uppidy.

Moisture leaked in the creases of her eyes while the floor roiled her to and fro and she remained helpless to do anything about it. Yeah, she looked silly, but too content to raise her head, she grinned when Keir came into view. He crept to her side, hair over his forehead, fun in his eyes.

Well, color her a teenager, this was too fun to be an adult. The strange walls and eclectic ceiling fueled her drunken stupor.

“Hey there,” he said.

Myah dried her face, reached up, and grabbed a fistful of hair. Soft, lovely texture. Her hilarity teetered to a halt when he steadily maneuvered over her to stare down.

Heartbeats passed. The air about him changed. So handsome. “Miss Blake. Look at you. I think this place has got you beat.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yuh-huh.”

The earth worms roamed like an oversized masseur, they eased the worries from her back. “Mmm. Not beat, just not moving. I’m fine right here.”

“You are.” His lips stayed parted like he would continue speaking. His gaze fell to her mouth. “Um, fine,” he finished. He looked back up. “Ready to try again?”

On a spasm, her digits flexed in his hair. She looked at his lips. He’d asked something entirely different. She sensed he wouldn’t take from her unless invited, but her mouth wouldn’t move. Keir clamped his hand over her fingers and dragged them out of his hair as those curious eyes roamed her face.

Myah’s radar buzzed. Sit up. The teenage antics had long ceased, but before she made a move to create space, he separated the invisible, tingly connection between them and helped her to her feet.

“Come on, woman. Let’s make sure you’re not hurt.”

“How are you so good at this? Come to these often?”

“I don’t know about tipping houses, but I used to have a skateboard. Same concept. Bend your knees, roll your balance.” He had both of her arms raised high and wide. If he started his sensuous dance now, he would see her lose her balance, and not by accident.

His hands felt hot. Myah breathed and spread her palms against them. He flashed a look at her face, then down to their feet.

“Good. You’re getting it.”

“Ah, surf my way through.” Avoid the obvious. Ignore how his body thinks it’s fluid.

Keir released her right hand to help steady her on her hip. A wave hit from behind, lifted, and nearly sent her into his forehead. Quick hands shifted to span her waist, then spread wide and high on her cage, a hold reserved for a man who is familiar. He applied just enough pressure to lift her above the next roll. In the air, she sought his eyes, felt the rough graze of his jacket as he lowered her down. Her body temp skyrocketed under his steady gaze.

What was all this about? They barely knew each other and she wished he hadn’t put her down in safety so respectfully. She’d take her chances looking like a fool, thank you very much. At least her body knew how to react to pain. Myah stepped back and prayed for a smooth walk to freedom.