Divine Mortals (23 page)

“So you and Robert seem to be getting along,” he mused, without looking up, the question hung heavily between us.

“Yeah he’s not too bad once you get past the arrogant persona.” I joked trying to make light of the question despite the nerves I felt.

“Right.” Pop sounded thoughtful, I could feel his eyes on me, finishing with my boots I set them aside and stood to meet his gaze. His eyes seemed to penetrate mine and I had the uncanny feeling that he knew everything, I shook it off, Pop, after all, had years of experience when it came to getting the truth out of teenagers, he had raised three of his own.

“Let’s go in,” he smiled, the questioning look vanished, “I’m pretty sure Norma said she was making meatloaf tonight and I don’t know about you but I’m starved.” He led the way into the house without waiting for my answer, I followed behind, feeling suspiciously as though Robert and I were no longer a secret.

“I don’t know why you’re so worried,” Robert smiled a little later, his entire body seemed to radiate a soft glow as he sat casually on the end of my bed.

“Fred loves you, and I don’t mean to sound arrogant but I’m pretty sure he likes me too, so if he knows or he thinks he knows then what’s the big deal?”

“I’m not sure,” I sighed, lying back against my pillow,

“I just feel as if we’ll be continually watched once they know, you know, once it’s official.” I fiddled with my blanket, rubbing the smooth woollen fibres between my fingers.

“At least when they know I can come around during normal socially acceptable hours, we won’t have to wait until you’ve ‘gone to bed’ before I come sneaking through you window.” he punctuated sarcastically with his fingers.

“I like you sneaking through my window,” I smiled,

“Oh don’t get me wrong,” he laughed gently again, “I’ll still come through your window.” his hand found mine, his insanely warm fingers gently stroking the back of my hand sending small electric shocks up my arm.

“So it turns out you’re a rebel…” he joked softly, his impossibly dark eyes burrowing into mine.

“Hiding your boyfriend from your grandparents, and here I thought you were a very proper and responsible young lady?”

“Well it seems you don’t know me very well then.”

“Oh, and what other rebellious things have you done then, drugs, smoking, tattoos?” he raised his eyebrows at me, the smile never leaving his face.

“Okay I admit it, I’ve done none of that,” I smiled, “I’m an old woman in a teenagers body, I was never the rebellious sort.”

“Good.” he smiled, “I like you better that way anyway.”

“Do you?” I asked, not meeting his eyes but watching my own fingers as I trailed them gently down one of his bronzed arms.

“Okay”, he murmured “Time for the human to go to bed I think.”

“Oh so you’re
not
human now?” it was my turn to raise an eyebrow at him,

“Not human in your sense of the word anyway.” he gave me a cheeky half grin before leaping from the bed so silently it was like watching a ghost.

“Good night Ava,” he bent towards me, kissing me softly on the lips before pulling back.

“You don’t have to go yet.” I said hopefully,

“Yes I do, you need your sleep otherwise Fred will really start to wonder when you’re walking around like a zombie.”

“Spoil sport.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Wild horses wouldn’t stop me.”

He chuckled quietly at that, no doubt picturing Beaut and I, and then he was gone, vanishing as quickly as he had from the shed earlier. Only the slight swaying of the curtain betrayed any movement as he breezed out of my room and into the night.

T
he morning in Denver was cool and I was glad for the jacket Nan had insisted I bring. Finding the lawyers office hadn’t been much of a problem with Robert lending me his GPS.

He was a constant source of surprise, who would have thought a ranch hand living in one of the smallest towns conceivable would have a GPS. For that matter who would have thought Robert was out of the ordinary at all, it seemed every time I saw him I was blown away, he was magnetic.

If there really was one person out there for everyone, surely I couldn’t have been lucky enough to have found that person already.

Could I?

Whatever power Robert possessed it pulled me to him and I wasn’t going to fight it, I would be happy to feel this way forever.

I was a little early for my appointment, the drive had taken less time than I had anticipated and so I decided to go for a walk, I needed to stretch my legs.

It appeared I was near the center of the city, I didn’t know Denver at all but the streets were lined with fashion shops, department stores and a few high rises that climbed towards the sky. Trees swayed prettily next to the wide sidewalks and the foot traffic was light, I had missed the morning rush and the lunch rush hadn’t yet begun. Driving into Denver had been breathtaking, the city was so green with its lush backdrop of the Rocky Mountains it was a picture postcard place to see, perhaps I would have to come back some time to shop. I didn’t think I would be in much of a mood to after my visit with the lawyer today.

I made my way slowly down the street trying very hard not to focus on what I would be discussing when it was time to meet Mr Bannister.

I really didn’t care what was in the Will, My parents were gone, what else was important?

True to form I found a Starbucks on the next corner, the smell bringing a rush of memories from Chicago, Julia and I used to go to Starbucks most days after class.

I ordered a Latté and made my way to one of the small tables, after my initial heavenly sip I let my thoughts wander again.

Invariably they went straight back to him. It was almost impossible to get him out of my mind, his gorgeous smile, his bottomless brown eyes, even his voice held me completely transfixed whenever I heard it. He had been a little anxious when I left this morning, I remembered the pained look in his eyes as he kissed me goodbye, I knew he didn’t want me doing this on my own but there was no way I could do it in front of anyone else either, it had been hard enough talking Nan and Pop into staying on the ranch. This would be enough to deal with by myself without other people surrounding me with their sympathetic looks and words, that would have made it impossible. I was shy with my grief, I dealt better with these types of things in privacy.

“Ava!”

I lifted my head at the sound of my name, something I definitely hadn’t expected here. I turned in my chair to find Will making his way between the tables towards me, a huge steaming takeaway cup in one hand.

“Espresso Grande,” he exclaimed with a smile, lifting his cup in salute as he sat in the vacant chair beside me.

“So what are you doing here?”

That was the thing about Will, he didn’t beat around the bush.

“Ahhh,” I paused not wanting to tell him, “I, err, thought I would get a few things for school before it goes back.” I noticed his eyes were particularly bright today, reflecting the light like shiny pieces of Jade.

“Sure, great, I’m here for the dentist,” he pulled a face of mock horror before taking a long sip of his coffee. Damn it, why hadn’t I thought of some easy alibi like that, I took a sip of my own coffee, it really was good.

“What times your appointment?” I asked.

“Not till one, so I have a few hours to kill, wanna hit the shops together?”

“Err, I can’t, I’m ah, I’m meeting someone at eleven.”

“Oh okay,” he tilted his head to one side regarding me seriously, I couldn’t be sure but it looked as if some sort of understanding dawned on him and he pulled back, smiling once more.

“So are you keen for another raft trip, or an impromptu camping expedition again soon?” his deep green eyes were playful.

“No!” I laughed, “No offence but I think I’ll keep away from the river, unless I’m swimming.”

“Well perhaps we can go to the swimming hole in town at one stage then?”

“Perhaps,” alarm bells were sounding in my head, although I wasn’t sure why, Robert popped into my mind and I wondered if he was the jealous type, Will snickered.

“What?”

“Ahh?” he looked shocked, as though he hadn’t realised he had laughed out loud.

“What’s so funny?”

“Ah, just an inside joke, sorry, something that happened at the swimming hole.” He waved his hand in dismissal,

“So after you’ve met ‘
somebody
’,” he continued on, “Do you wanna catch up, maybe go for a movie?”

“I can’t I’m sorry,” I didn’t want to lead him on, “I have to head back, my grandparents are crazy overprotective and if I’m much later then the time I told them I’d be they’ll panic, especially after the whole camping thing.”

“Hmmm,” he looked thoughtful, staring at me again in that completely disconcerting way, like he could read every one of my thoughts.

“Okay then,” he continued, relentless, “so I was wondering, if we have to keep things nice and safe for you, if you would like to go to the Ranchers Ball with me, everyone around here seems to be buzzing out about it so I suppose we should go for a look?” he smiled brightly and if it hadn’t been for Robert, if he had never existed I probably would have said yes. No matter how uncomfortable Wills stares made me something about him was intriguing, even more so when he looked at me with those crazy green eyes.

Will flinched visibly, anger tightened the corners of his eyes.

“What?” I asked, looking him over again, okay maybe he was a bit strange.

Or psycho,
the negative part of my mind chimed in.

“Nothing,” he spoke through his teeth, drawing his breath in a rapid whistling sound, “I just kicked the seat.”

“Oh.” This settled I tried to tackle the far more embarrassing question,

“I’m sorry Will, I’m grounded from the Ball.”

“Really?” For some reason, and perhaps my crazy emotions were imagining this again, he seemed slightly cheered by this.

“Oh well that’s too bad”, he smiled a large toothy grin, “I guess I’ll just have to go stag.” “I guess,” I echoed, once more grateful to Pop for banning me.

Thankfully Will changed the subject, and we spoke quite comfortably about general things, our upcoming senior year, and how we were finding the socially limiting town of Huntington.

“Didn’t you have to meet your lawyer at eleven?” Will asked without even consulting a watch, I looked down at my own, it was two minutes to, Dammit.

“Yeah, thanks for that,” I was going to be late, I stood quickly ready to run out the door.

“I’ll see you later Will,”

“Hey Ava,”

“Yeah?”

“Perhaps you should keep away from the plateau paddock next year, then you’ll be able to attend the ball with me.”

I didn’t answer, instead I opted for a quick smile, that at least was not promising anything. I dashed from the coffee shop, forgetting in my rush to wonder how he had known about the lawyers when I hadn’t told him.

Before I knew it, or wanted to be, I was standing back in front of the Lawyers offices. I pushed the door gently and walked into the main reception area, it was very plush, thick carpet lined the floor up to a huge wooden reception desk. A water feature was running off to the right filling the room with its calming trickle, a huge corner couch and low coffee table sat near this.

I made my way quickly to the desk, an attractive women who looked to be in her forties acknowledged me with a smile.

“Good Morning, How may I help you?”

I swallowed deeply, “I’m here to see Arthur Bannister.”

“You must be Miss Daniels,” a booming happy voice came from my left as a jolly looking man appeared from the hallway.

“Ah, yeah,” I smiled weakly.

“You came by yourself?” he looked a little disconcerted by this, I gave him a sharp nod, and he conceded, “Please Miss Daniels, follow me down to my office.”

“Ava, please,”

“Certainly.”

I followed after Arthur, scrutinizing him as I went, he looked as you would imagine Santa to look if you put him in a business suit, sans beard. He had pink cheeks and a deep jolly voice, this together with his small spectacles, balding grey head and plump stomach completed his Chris cringle look.

Stepping to the left of a large wooden door he indicated that I should enter. His office was just as lavish as the front reception area, teak walls and a thick carpet lined the room, his large mahogany desk sat to one side, the center of the room was dominated by two large green sofas between these sat a large matching mahogany coffee table.

“Please take a seat Ava,” his voice remained jolly and it helped a little to ease the tension I felt, although my subconscious was still working overtime to try and block out what was surely about to become one of my worst memories. I walked silently to one of the couches and sat down, placing my handbag on the seat next to me. Arthur Banister didn’t sit,

“Can I get you anything, Coffee? Water?”

“No I’m fine, ah, thanks.” I swallowed again, pinching the delicate web of skin between the thumb and finger on my right hand, I focused on the pain to help keep my tears at bay, taking a deep breath I addressed my plump little lawyer.

“Actually Mr Bannister,”

“Arthur please,”

“Arthur, I would like to do this as quickly as possible.” I pinched harder, I would be leaving a mark but the pain drew me in, away from other thoughts. Arthur raised his eyebrows at my abruptness, I didn’t care how I sounded right now, I just needed to get out of here before I drowned, I was beginning to feel as though I couldn’t breathe. He moved quickly to his desk coming back with a large file.

“Firstly I would like to express how sorry I am for your loss,”

My lip began to tremble, I bit down on it hard, Arthurs cheery face looked a little uncomfortable, I nodded stiffly, barely moving my head.

“Your parents affairs were in very tidy order, there is nothing messy that you need to deal with. They owned your family home in Chicago with no remaining mortgage, they have left this jointly to yourself and Joel,” he paused to see my reaction, I just stared at him through the fog that was forming in front of my vision, he hurried on.