CHAPTER FIVE
Kyle
Taking a girl like Jacinta to ‘the point’ moments after meeting her?
I mean, I’m good but I’m not that good.
Or am I?
I don’t wanna sound like I’ve got a big head or anything, but Jacinta’s certainly making it easy to feel that way.
In every possible way.
The road from town narrows to gravel and then to patchy, damp dust.
No fresh tire tracks tell me we’re all alone heading up to the best view of the town as well as someplace private.
I have to smile to myself.
If anyone else could see me now, they’d—
What? What would they do, Kyle?
You pulled into town and now have a girl half your age in a rented car, heading to ‘the point’ with a maniac grin on your face.
I feel like asking Jacinta a dozen things, but figure I’ll play tourist like I promised.
If we get to talking I’m sure I‘ll find out more about her and she can find out more about me.
“What is it?” Jacinta asks when I fall silent.
I feel my foot slip off the gas as I realize I’ll be deceiving Jacinta if I don’t tell her why I’m really in her town.
Her town.
“You lived here your whole life?” I ask casually, finding the gas again and we’re on our way up the hill again.
“Don’t remind me,” Jacinta drones, rolling her eyes.
“I was away for a few years. College,” she explains. “I only just got back the other day.”
“So you graduated. College, I mean,” I stammer, joining the two most important dots.
No significant other. And legal.
“Yeah I just graduated,” she scolds me playfully. Balling a tiny fist like she wants to play punch me.
Making me wish she would.
Just touch me, Jacinta. Touch me any way you want.
“I majored in Nautical Archaeology,” she adds, predicting my next question, tucking her hands away as if they’re gonna do something she can’t control.
Her somber mood makes me slow the car again.
I must have a stupid expression on my face, which she understands only the way a nautical archaeologist could, I’m guessing.
“It’s the study of underwater ruins,” she explains.
My eyes widen, hopefully conveying how impressed I am. Because I am, and more than just by her field of choice.
“Not just studying them though,” I probe, keeping my eyes forward as we take some narrow turns.
“I mean, you understand them, you don’t just study them,” I remark, and she groans with relief.
“Exactly!” she says, finally letting her hands stray toward me. Gripping my forearm she gives it a squeeze with as much as her fingers can grasp.
“Everyone thinks it’s so stupid. But that’s exactly what it means… to understand these things better. Not just look at them.”
“Not much call for nautical archaeology in Cherry?” I ask, not meaning it to sound like I’m teasing, but I mean, really.
“Not in most places,” she sighs, a little downhearted this time.
“You need to be in the Mediterranean, or someplace with a ton of islands,” I suggest.
Wondering how a girl like Jacinta could ever be imprisoned in a place like Cherry.
“Oh, here we are,” I announce.
“Aren’t we?” I ask her, not wanting to let her know it’s pretty obvious she’s never been up here before.
“This is it.”
She shrugs, and as if on cue, there’s a break in the dark clouds overhead.
A thick ray of yellow and gold light streams down, tracing across the valley that holds the little town before settling right on our car.
On us.
“Oh look, a rainbow,” Jacinta gasps, pointing. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
But my eyes are only on her.
“It sure is.” I agree. “It sure is beautiful.”
Jacinta blushes hard when her eyes shift and she notices me staring at her.
My heart is thumping against my ribs like a drum, matched by the throbbing in my pants.
Having her so close, smelling her hair, and knowing we’re alone up here, I almost forget again. About the real reason, I’m supposed to have come here.
Glancing down at the town I can see a lot of potential.
In the lay of the land, the existing blocks, as well as my automatic sense for what could and should be down there.
All of it is worth a fuck ton of money.
But, at the same time, this quiet hilltop with a cool breeze after some rain, Jacinta by my side, has a peace settling over me I’ve never felt before.
The quiet inside the car is only broken by our breathing and the thrumming beat of my pulse in my ears.
What’s worth more to me? Jacinta or the town?
A low growl of satisfaction leaves me when the answer comes to me.
The only answer that's possible.
I’ll have both, of course.
Jacinta’s cell buzzes loudly and she groans. But for a different reason than what I’d like.
If that’s her mom I can kiss goodbye to even thinking about kissing her, let alone everything else I want to.
“It’s my mom,” Jacinta winces, looking truly pained.