Shadow of Time - Book 1: (Paranormal Romance) (8 page)

“Would you like something to drink?” she broke the silence.

Josh blinked, shaking his head as if he’d been lost in thought as well. “Yeah, sure. I’ll just have a Coke.” He smiled at her and grabbed a can from the table.

Hannah
plopped down on the porch cross-legged and watched Josh taking a long drink, sitting down on the steps, his back against the railing. She absent-mindedly plucked the top string of the guitar she’d put in her lap, tuning it up a bit. When she looked up again, she caught Josh staring at her hand as it touched the strings. His gaze wandered upward and he looked into her eyes. Hannah bit her lip. The only thing she heard was the wind in the trees and her own frantic heartbeat.

She broke eye
contact and looked down at her hands. And suddenly, she was playing her own song. She
wanted
to play this song for him alone.

The
only thing Hannah focused on was controlling her breath and getting rid of the ball of cotton in her throat. When she finally started singing, she somehow remembered every word of the lyrics she had written down only yesterday.

Look at me

Look for me

Oh, embrace me

Hold me strong.

I have wandered the ages

I have roamed the earth

I have crossed space and time

for your song.

I have waited

I am waiting

I will wait for you;

One and thousand summers long.

When the last chord faded, Hannah looked up, meeting Josh’s eyes. He was staring at her so intensely that her brain flatlined.

Josh
put down his drink, shifted onto his knees and leaned over to her, putting one hand on hers – the hand that had plucked the strings – and using his other hand to push away a stray lock of hair from her face. Then he pressed his lips to her cheek. It felt so warm, so familiar, and yet so brand new.

When Josh moved away from her, he
finally broke the silence. “That was the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard,” he said earnestly.

A shaky breath escaped her lips. “Thank you,” she whispered with a blush.

He smiled faintly. “Don’t thank me. I should thank
you
for singing to me.”

Hannah looked down at the neck of her guitar.
Her heart was dancing in her chest. She’d sung her new song for Josh alone! If only he knew she’d written the lyrics with him in mind.

Josh scrambled to his feet
, gazing at the road. “Is that Nick?” He tilted his head to an old, green Jeep coming around the corner.

Hannah put away her guitar and got up too. “Yeah, that’s him,” she said, when she saw a brown-haired guy wearing
aviator sunglasses sitting behind the wheel.

“Do me a favor,
” Josh said in a serious tone. “Please stop being insecure about your music. You really don’t need to be.”

“O-okay,” she stuttered, a bit overwhelmed.

“Good.” He put his hand on her arm for a moment before walking down the steps and getting his car keys out to move the Mustang and make room for Nick’s Jeep.

As the two guys sat down at the table to go through Nick’s notes, Hannah installed herself on the porch steps with a book. She didn’t read a single word, though – all she did was listening to the warm timbre of Josh’s voice, telling Nick about the history of his people. The kiss he’d pressed to her cheek played over and over in her mind. By the time Emily showed up at the log cabin, Hannah was glad to be able to take a walk and get things off her chest.

“Hey Em,” she said, putting her book down. “Where’s your car?”

“At home. My dad gave me a ride this morning. I can drive back with Josh
later.” She waved at him and then eyed Nick. “Who’s that?”

“Come on, let’s go for a walk.” Hannah steered her friend awa
y from the cabin before she’d strike up an entire conversation with Nick. There’d be plenty of time to do that later, and right now, she just wanted to get away for a while.

Emily chuckled and followed her
obediently. “Sure. Are we going to talk about, uhm,
someone
? Is that why you’re herding me out of here?”

They strolled down the sandy path
toward the beach. Hannah stayed quiet.

“So. You look sort of
– dreamy,” Emily ventured after a minute.

“Hmm?
”

Her friend
chuckled. “Don’t play innocent. You really like Josh, don’t you?”

Hannah gave up. “Yeah. I do.” She smiled faintly. “I just played my new song for Josh. Alone.”

“Wow! What did he think?”

“He said he’
d never heard a more a beautiful song. And that means a lot, coming from someone that talented.”

Emily smiled. “I’m happy to hear he’
s so sweet to you. It’s obvious he feels close to you.”

“I wouldn’t mind feeling him even closer.”

“Ooh, Slutsville.”

Hannah giggled.
“Shut
up
.”

They walked past the
deck of The Winking Shrimp. Hannah’s gaze wandered to the jetty where Josh had been next to Ben a few days ago, nearly giving her a heart attack with his sudden re-appearance after their meeting at the gas station. Last time here, she’d been a high-school student, and Josh had still been a kid. On the reservation, he’d always called her
sha’di
– the Navajo word for older sister. Josh called Ben
shik’is
, his brother and friend. In Diné culture, it was common to avoid using people’s names in their presence out of respect. Family members were addressed by their title, because those relations were important. Even the name ‘Josh’ was a nickname based on his real Navajo war name. It was a name devised to be used by whites. Josh had once told Ben and her his real name, though, but she’d forgotten it along the way.

“What’s Josh’s real name again?” Hannah wondered aloud.

“
Shash
,” Emily replied. “It means ‘bear’ in our language.”

Hannah
blinked. “You mean the animal?”

So his name
referred to the strange birthmark on his chest? That was just freaky. Of course, if it had actually
been
a birthmark, it wouldn’t be so strange – his grandparents could have given him the name because of his mark, but that wasn’t possible. Something inexplicable must have happened during his quest. But what could it be?

The two girls sat down at the waterside. Hannah ga
zed at the beach, where a group of guys were sitting around a bonfire, roasting marshmallows. Even though the three boys didn’t look like the drunk teenagers of last night, they reminded her of them. Somehow, their presence
felt
the same. She shivered.

Emily followed her stare. “What’s up? You look spaced out.”

“I was harassed by some guys last night,” Hannah said softly.

“What
, really? Those guys over there?”

“No
. I just ... they sort of reminded me of the situation.” She quickly told Emily what had happened. She didn’t want to dwell on it for too long. Thinking about it cast a shadow over her good mood.

“Good idea to file a report,” Emily said. “I hope they get arrested. You’re lucky nothing happened to you.”

Nothing had happened, but somehow she now felt irrationally scared of people who had nothing to do with her assailants. Maybe that fear had made her dream such strange things last night. It was as good an explanation as any.

Whe
n the two girls got back to the house, Nick was hammering away on Ben’s laptop while Josh was stirring up the coals on the barbecue.

“Enjoy your walk?”
Josh asked when Hannah came over to him.

“I did. Enjoy
Nick’s interview?” She looked at Nick, who was now typing and chatting to Emily at the same time. “I see he’s still processing data?”

“He borrowed Ben’s laptop so he could take notes faster.” Josh wiped the sweat o
ff his forehead. Hannah laughed when he smeared a stain of soot across his eyebrow.

“What?” he asked, a faint smile around his lips.

“You on the war path?” she teased, laughing even more when she saw the bemused look in his eyes.

“You talk in riddles,” he said with a grin.

“You have a war stripe on your brow.” Hannah reached out and rubbed the black stain, trying to get it off his skin.

Josh moved closer.
“Where?” he said, reaching for his forehead. His fingers touched hers, and he looked at her from up close.

“Yes
– there,” she stammered.

“Is it gone?”
he mumbled.

“Yes.”

“Do I still look like an idiot?” He stared down at her with a twinkle in his eyes.

“No.” Hannah wondered when exactly her entire voc
abulary had turned monosyllabic.  She stared at him in the silence stretching between them.

“Josh, could you come over here for a minute?”
Emily called out. She was still helping Nick with his notes.

“Yep.” Abruptly, Josh whipped around and walked up the steps. Hannah listlessly prodded the barbecue coals with a pair of ton
gs, trying to breathe evenly. He was driving her absolutely
insane
. This whole situation was.

As she put on
the first burgers, Hannah scanned the sky for stars. Dusk was setting in. In the east, a pale crescent moon rose in the cloudless firmament.

“I bet we’ll see a lot of stars tonight,” sh
e said hopefully to Josh, who just put some bottles of sauce on the table next to the barbecue.

“
You like star-gazing, right?”

Hannah nodded. “
As a child, I could find all the constellations in the night sky. I knew all their names, too.”

“Me too. T
he Diné don’t have the same constellations, though. You want me to teach you a few?”

“Sure
!” For all she cared, Josh could teach her how to add and subtract. As long as he wasn’t distant or cold toward her. So far, the day had been wonderful in that respect, though.

At six o’clock, Ben
and the neighbors proudly carried a bucket full of fish to the barbecue.

“I’ll gut those in a minute,” Josh offered when Ivy and Amber handed him the catch of the day. They all shook hands and introduced themselves.

“Hi, I’m Emily Begay. Hannah told me you are going to study natural medicine,” Emily said to Amber. “I just finished my studies, actually!”

Within minutes, Amber and Emily were engaged in deep conversation about medicinal herbs used by the Diné on the reservation. Nick put away
Ben’s laptop and helped getting the food ready.

By the time it was really getting
dark, everybody sat on the lawn in front of the cabin enjoying the grilled trout. Meanwhile, Ben was playing some golden oldies on Hannah’s guitar.

“
What kind of food should we bring along to the rodeo tomorrow?” Nick inquired when they were all sitting around the campfire after dinner.

“Everything but alcohol,” Josh said.

“Is that a taboo in your culture?” Ivy asked.

Josh nodded. “It is officially forbidden in Navajo Nation. On the rez, they call it
tó tsi'naa'iiáhí
– the water that drives the mind crazy. I stay away from it as much as possible,” he said pointedly.

“You have bad experiences with alcohol?”
Amber asked, picking up on his tone.

Josh hesitated
. “I’ve seen a close relative slowly going to ruin because of the stuff,” he finally said in a taut voice.

Hannah frowned. Who was
Josh talking about? She knew all members of his immediate family, and they definitely weren’t alcoholics.