The Phoenix’s UNLIKELY Prodigy ~ Excerpt
Phoenix
A half block from Millhouse Coffee I spotted Jeannie, laden with shopping bags, shuffling along the sidewalk, looking sweaty and tired.
“Hey! Jeannie,” I called out, jogging to catch up with her.
“Oh! Pe-Phoenix! Um. Hi.” She was flushed, distracted, struggling with her heavy bags. She fumbled, her bags slipping and falling open. One bag ripped at the corner and a few notebooks tumbled out.
I leapt to scoop the bags and books that were sliding out of her grip, and caught the strap of her purse before it slid off her shoulder as she bent to pick up a fallen book. Hooking her purse strap back on, I was getting the picture that my lovely girl carried a lot on those soft sloping shoulders of hers.
“Thank you so much!” She adjusted the bags she still held. “I bought more than I intended to, and got overloaded.” She puffed out a breath. “Obviously.”
I was captured by the sparkle in her deep blue eyes, and the bloom of rosy colour on her cheeks and neck, where her pulse fluttered like a moth’s wing, momentarily befuddled. Her hightened colour and fast breathing resembled a woman sexually aroused, and my dick got the wrong message, responding with an eager twitch. Being close to her, catching her sweet floral scent and hint of womanly musk, scrambled my normally disciplined brain.
Moving to add the fallen books into one of the intact bags, I noticed a Grade Four math workbook. Chuckling, I held it up and said, “I remember this fondly,” and tucked it in.
“Oh, my God, yes. Grade four math,” she laughed breathily, but I picked up a hint of strain in her voice. “Fractions and ratios and problems. Will hates them with a passion.” As if she hadn’t meant to reveal that, her colour itensified and her gaze darted bashfully to the ground amid rapid blinking.
The son of the math whiz hated math? “Where are you headed?”
“I was planning to drop a few things off behind the counter at Quinn’s so I could get my car and come back for them.”
“Do you want to have a coffee or something?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t have time. I promised my mom I’d get her car back so she can go out to a meeting, and I’m running late.”
“Let me help you get all this to the car then,” I said. “Save you the trip.”
“Oh, no, no. No need! I’m fine,” she insisted. “I’m sure you’re busy.”
I smirked and shook my head. “Jeannie. Let me help. It’s nothing.” I took the rest of her bags out of her hands. “I was only coming to the café to see if anyone was around anyway.” To see if she was around, to be exact.
Conceding, she flexed her hands, and I noted the red lines cutting into her palms from the shop bag handles. I tilted my head. “Lead the way.”
She headed down Store Street, her strides long and frenetic. “I’m parked in the big Union Ironworks lot.”
“What is all this stuff?” I peeked into the bags that gaped. “Was there a sale at Staples?”
“Exactly!” She took a bee-line toward an older model grey Honda Accord while rummaging in her bag for the keys. “I had this huge list of school supplies for Will that I downloaded from the school website, but when I got there everything was on sale so I went a bit mad.” The car beeped and she popped open the trunk. As I dropped all the bags in, she babbled on. “I didn’t think I could aff––I mean I wasn’t planning on getting a new laptop for either Will or me, though we both desperately need them. But there was such a great two-for-one deal I couldn’t resist.”
“I see. That’s why you have so many heavy bags.”
“That and a ton of notebooks, pens, highlighters, sticky notes, binders, you name it. Since I’m starting school too, I got some of everything.”
I closed the trunk. “Did they set up the laptops for you?”
She paused with her hand on the driver’s door, her face blank. “No?”
I smiled. “Do you know what to do?” I knew better than to mansplain.
“Well. Um. Not really. I haven’t had a new computer…ever really. Money’s been tight, so we had to make do with hand-me-downs from friends.”
I had to work to keep the smile on my face, but it felt tight. Why was she alone? Where was her kid’s fucking dad and why wasn’t he helping with expenses? And her parents? They had enough money, I thought.
“Your parents didn’t…” I shrugged.
Her lips gathered into a sweet-and-sour little purse of disapproval as her chin lifted stubbornly. “No. I don’t take money from them. It’s bad enough we’re living there. I already spent…anyway, no. I pay my own way. And Will’s.” She nodded and turned to slide into the driver’s seat.
Skipping over the money issue, I offered, “I’d be happy to set them up for you, if you like. The laptops.”
“Um…” She glanced at the dash clock, colour rising in her cheeks again. “I… uh, don’t know. I can’t think. I have to run. I’ve got to get this car back and then pick up Will and I’m so, so late already.”
“Where is he? How are you getting him if you’re dropping the car?”
Her reply broke my heart.
“Um. A fast walk, I guess?” She twisted to set her purse on the passenger seat, and turned the key in the ignition.
I set a hand on the top of her door to stop her from racing off. “I’ll give you a lift. Wherever. Then you’ll get there in time. I’ll meet you at your house.”
“Uh…” I could see the distressed thoughts whirling in her head. She didn’t want to keep her kid waiting, but didn’t want to impose. “I…well…okay. It’s on…”
“I remember where you live.” I smiled. “I’ll be right behind you.” I gently closed her door.
Fifteen minutes later, I pulled up in front of Jeannie’s parent’s house in my rental truck and stepped out. She was at the trunk, fighting with the bags again. I nudged her out of the way and lifted the whole lot into my arms.
She led the way to the front door, opening it so I could step in and set everything down.
“There you are, sweetheart,” her mother swept into the front hall. “I was frantic you wouldn’t make it back in time. Oh, my!” She exclaimed, stopping in her tracks when she saw me.
Jeannie handed the keys to her mother. “You remember Peter Corbin, Mom? From school?”
I set the shopping bags down next to the wall.
Her mother’s face clouded in confusion as her gaze swept over me. “Um. I… of course! Hello Peter. Nice to see you again. How are you?”
“Very well, Mrs. van Bellen, thank you. How have you been?”
“Excellent, thank you.” She grabbed some overstuffed bags and scurried out the door, waving a hand over her shoulder. “I’m so sorry I can’t stop to chat. I’m late for my shift at the garden centre.” I smiled, watching her go. In about a half an hour, the penny would drop, and she’d remember that I’d supposedly died ten years ago. And probably quiz Jeannie tonight.
Standing on the front stoop, we watched her mother pull away from the curb.
“Thank you,” Jeannie said, on a sigh of relief.
“No problem. Let’s head out, eh?”
She locked and closed the door behind us and I led her to my truck.
On the way to the elementary school a few blocks away, I said, “You know, math was always my favourite subject.”
“Mine too, of course.” She blushed, as if embarassed to recall that she was the smartest math student in the school, celebrated for her high grades.
I risked a little more. “Not just because I loved math. I mean, I did. I studied engineering after all. But because you were there. We had a good time.”
She blushed and stuttered. “We did. I remember.” She paused, smiling, and changed the subject. “How’s your mom doing? And your little sister?”
“Good. I’m heading over to Vancouver to see them this weekend. Bess is starting university this year.”
“Oh! She’s eighteen, already. Wow. Starting university. Just like me.” She laughed nervously, her face flushing pink again.
“Yeah.” I hesitated. I could see she felt badly about that. “Life throws some curve balls at you, hey?”
She smiled gratefully, nodding with a little sound, almost like a whimper of agreement.
At the school, I pulled into the drop off and got out, circling the car to open her door. She was half out by the time I got there, and our hands clashed on the edge of the car door. The touch thrilled me, and I held still a second, relishing the feel of her soft hand, my blood thrumming.
Again, she twitched and pulled away, blushing, avoiding my face.
“Thank you so much. I appreciate your help, Pete.”
She forgot my nickname again, and the way she slid so easily back to highschool made something warm bloom in my chest. I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry, my thoughts a bit scattered.
“I’ll wait for you. Drive you two home.”
“No!” She looked at me finally, the expression in her blue eyes genuinely distressed. “You’ve done enough. Thank you, but. Um. We have somewhere we have to go.” She cast a hand out in an arc. “Near… here.”
I didn’t believe her for a minute but I knew not to push. I was already on cloud nine for having spent the past few minutes in her company. I wasn’t mistaken. It was still there. The feeling. Though my circumstances made me an undesirable in highschool, at least for someone like Jeannie, there’d been chemistry between us.
I nodded. “We really ought to chat. One on one, you know. About stuff. About… grad night?”
That sent her into a tailspin. “Mhm. Yup. Definitely. You’re right. We ought to do that. Soon. But I’m super busy this week.”
“Okay. Maybe I can help with those new laptops later in the week. I’m sure your son will want to try his out.”
“Well. We’ll see. There’s just a lot, you know. New town. New school… Got to head out to the university to meet with my advisor…”
I chuckled as she backed away towards the school door, and I hoped she didn’t trip over a crack in the sidewalk.
“I’d love to meet your kid sometime. Bring him by the café. Introduce him to everyone.”
“Right, maybe, yes. I’ll do that. Oh, look at the time. I have to pick him up right now. Thanks for your help. Phoenix. Bye. Bye. Goodbye.”
She was so flustered and shy, it was adorable. If she felt even half the electricity I did when I was near her, her insides were fizzing. And I got it. Everything was new for her. She felt awkward being back. She had a lot to do and her son to think about. Somehow I had to win her trust and get her to relax. I just wished I had the time to court her properly. Slowly and gently the way she deserved.
But I didn’t.
***
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