Treading New Ground

Posted on Tue May 14th, 2024 @ 3:02am by Solveig Kallestad & Jonathan Sinclair & McKenna Lockhart

6,938 words; about a 35 minute read

Mission: Summer's Fading Light
Location: Various
Timeline: Thursday, 8/18/2016

ON

The Phoenix Airport was crowded, as usual, and Jonathan was happy he didn’t have to go any further in than the baggage claim. He had been asked to drive all the way down to Phoenix to pick up Sol, and he had agreed dutifully. If he felt any Ill feelings about the situation, he kept them to himself as he normally did. He stood at the proper gate with a line of other people waiting to pick up loved ones, friends, and colleagues who were arriving on the same flight. He wore a short sleeve gray t-shirt that emphasized his Navy Seal physique and a pair of dark jeans with well-kept white tennis shoes.

After what seemed like an eternity for those standing and waiting, people finally began to filter down the hallway. Most of them looked tired, but immediately perked up when they saw their loved ones - or their rides - there to greet them and hurried excitedly the rest of the distance. Solveig was in the middle of the pack and walking with a man who was very much invading her personal space; he was tall, doughy, and sweating profusely, a sharp contrast to the young woman who looked much more put together than the last time Jonathan had seen her. She was wearing a pair of jeans that fit her well but weren’t skin tight and a kaftan style blouse with a variegated pattern of different blues, whites, and blacks. It was long and flowy and seemed light enough to be comfortable on the flight.

“Come on, why won’t you just give me your number?” The man pressed.

Solveig took a deep breath, clearly at the end of her patience with the situation. Her blue eyes scanned the waiting faces and when she saw Jonathan there, she seriously weighed if she might fair better with the man dogging her steps. She drifted closer to him and once she was in earshot and close enough to pointedly indicate to the former Seal, she turned to her unwanted companion and gestured to Jon.

“You’ll have to ask my boyfriend if it’s okay.”

At first, Jon didn’t notice her entrance into the large room and his eyes were focused on the stream of strangers flowing in with tired faces as they met those who had come to retrieve them. At last, he noticed Solveig walking toward him with a man he could only describe as a creep. His expression was neutral, but when she indicated him and referred to him as her boyfriend, his face transformed and he smiled at her.

“Hey, Baby.” He said, reaching out to her and embracing her with his strong right arm as if she were indeed a girlfriend returning home. His arm wrapped around her waist and rested intimately on her stomach. He looked over at the other man and the convincing smile faded away slightly. “We have a problem here?”

“Hi, I missed you.” Solveig put on a warm smile and melted naturally into Jon. His hand found her stomach just as she raised hers and placed it on his chest. Her body was warm and soft, but he could tell she did at least keep after her own fitness by the firmness of her abdomen under his fingers. Her head found his arm, her silky soft hair brushing against his dark skin. She looked at the man who was dogging her and lifted her eyebrows, challenging him to keep doing so now.

The man frowned, looking between Solveig and Jonathan with clear and utter disapproval that likely extended past the simple anger that she had a boyfriend.

“No,” he harrumphed and glared a split second longer before finally stomping off.

It had admittedly been quite a while since the last time Jon had touched a woman for anything but official purposes, and having her body against his, with all her firmness and softness, was immediately endearing. They held the posture for a few seconds after the man left before he realized he was still holding on to her and removed his arm, taking a step away to give her some space. He cleared his throat awkwardly as his smile faded to nothing.

“You should have given him your number. He looked like a nice guy.” He said, looking at her, his face mostly blank but with a hint of humor in his deep voice.

“Well maybe I can go catch him.” Solveig replied and glanced down the line as if she were looking for the man but gave up quickly. “Thank you for that. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you did a nice thing; I wouldn’t want to ruin your image.”

Not that Jon would know it, but she was much more herself now nearly a month removed from her mother’s death. There was still lingering sadness and bad days of course, but the only option was moving forward. She looked up at the signs for where she needed to go and started walking away from where they would pick up her luggage to a different area.

Jon walked with her, turning his eyes forward and shaking his head. His strides were shortened to match hers and he swung his arms confidently with every stride as if he was the toughest man in the building.

“You can tell people whatever you want. No one will believe you.” He said, looking for the place where her luggage would be showing up but mostly following her direction.

“I can be very persuasive.” She glanced up at him briefly and they turned toward a door that was labeled for pet pick up.

“You might want to wait here.” She barely paused to deliver the advice as she headed toward the door to retrieve her cat.

Jon sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, but he stopped in his tracks as she moved forward. It wasn’t his style to bawk or complain; the Seals had bred that out of him with intense struggle, fantastic training, and transformative team ethic. He was a man that leaned toward excellence, and to him, that meant doing his job excellently and making no more trouble for others than he had to.

Behind the door, Solveig signed the necessary paperwork to collect her animal while Hati was let out to relieve herself. She talked to the old woman behind the desk who was absolutely astonished by the size of her cat - a common conversation she held whenever anyone saw the animal - and then once she was done and Hati was tucked away again in her obnoxiously large carrier, she left the room and was back to Jon again.

“I brought your best friend with me.”

“My eyes almost fell out after we left your house last month.” Jon said, frowning at the beast. “You really brought that damn cat and expect me to put it in my truck?”

“Not my fault you were too macho to take the Benadryl I gave you.” She shrugged while Hati glared at him through the bars of the carrier door. “And yes, I do.”

“Let me carry that for you.” He said in a commanding tone and put his hand on the handle. He did wait to see if she would let go first though. So many women would insist on doing it themselves under the circumstances and he wasn’t going to force her to let him help.

“Thanks.” She smiled and released the handle once he had a firm grip on it, her blue eyes briefly flitting up to his dark gaze. Turning, she headed off to the baggage claim where suitcases were already on the conveyor belt and people were gathered around picking them up. She looked over them and found her very large and slightly smaller suitcases already having been moved out to the floor. Retrieving them both, she took hold of the handles and rolled them away from the crowd.

“Lead on.”

Jon extended the hand that wasn’t holding her cat’s carrier for the handle of the larger of her bags and, this time, took hold of it with even less permission than before. It seemed he was intent on doing as much work as possible in the situation, which wasn’t a surprise to anyone who knew him. He lead her to the sliding doors which gave way to the bustle of idling cars, walking pedestrians, and police officers that was the entrance to an airport. The two of them walked for several moments until they came to a huge gray truck with its blinkers on. It looked like what would happen if a four-door jeep had a threesome with an army tank and a pickup truck. Climbing into the thing looked like it might take serious skill for anyone who wasn’t as tall as Jon.

“I’m a bit of a car guy.” he said dryly as they made their final approach.

“Well it’s definitely… something.” Solveig said with a dubious tone to match her expression as she considered the abomination before her. She followed him to the back so he could load the suitcases in for her and seemed perfectly content to let him do so.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” he said simply as he sat the cases down and opened the back seat. Besides the black metal and carbonate that made up the surfaces, the seats were beautifully upholstered subtle brown leather. Clearly the man had spent a fortune on this vehicle. He lifted the cases and slid them to the other side, then he turned to her. “The trunk is just as comfortable a place to put your cat as the back seat, and I’m less likely to make you scrub that with your toothbrush.”

“That cat will come back and haunt you until you leave this world if you kill her.” Solveig warned but didn’t protest him putting the carrier in the trunk past that.

Jon hummed a sound which might have been a protest or might have been a laugh and lifted the carrier once again. The cat was huge, but light, and he found it quite easy to carry besides. He walked to the back of the truck and placed the cage carefully in the back of it. After moving some items around to make sure the furrball wouldn’t slide all around, he closed the trunk and came back around to her side of the truck. Opening the passenger door for her, he offered a hand.

“First step’s a doozy.” he said, meeting her beautiful eyes. Perhaps they weren’t the best of friends, but he could hardly have asked for prettier company. He found the memory of her body pressed up against his confronting him again, but he forced it away. Jon didn’t get close to people.

She was thankful for the offer of help especially for this since she really hadn’t been sure how to effectively tackle climbing into the behemoth on her own. She placed her delicate hand into his, her palm soft against his coarse skin, and used his help as well as grabbing the door frame to pull herself into the passenger seat. Once she was settled she looked out and blinked. “I’m up so high I feel like I’m back in the plane.”

That actually got a chuckle from Jon, and his smile radiated. The expression suited him quite well, enhancing his already handsome features, but it was rare and fleeting in normal situations.

“You’re almost as tall as me.” he said, and then closed the door before he could make another joke. He walked around the front of the truck to the driver's side, opened the door, and then pulled himself onto the brown leather seat with much more smoothness and ease than she had been able to, naturally. Closing the door, he secured his seatbelt and looked at her. “How was the flight?”

“I am not nearly as tall as you, you’ve gotta be like… six or seven inches taller.” She eyed him as he settled next to her as if trying to judge if she was close on her guess and she was feeling pretty confident in it.

“The flight was terrible, but is there really any such thing as a good flight?”

“Not that i’ve experienced. But at least your plane was big. The small ones are the ones that bring the most misery.” he answered, and then slipped his key into the ignition. As soon as he turned it, the huge engine roared to life in a way that would certainly be frightening to anyone who wasn’t used to it. The machine rumbled and he put it in reverse, his eyes traveling up to the rear-view “mirror” which actually substituted a camera for an actual reflective surface, considering there was no way to see directly behind him. He eased the truck back carefully, his large hands manipulating the pristinely-polished steering wheel before switching the truck into drive and pulling out into traffic.

“Is this your first time in Arizona or did the spooks let you travel?”

“The only places I’ve seen here have been DC, Gibbon, and a lot of airports.” She eyed the interior of the car around her, the sound of the engine having indeed startled her. “Is this a car or a tank?”

“This truck is proof that both are possible.” he said, and then turned them onto the main road. Despite the size of the truck and the fact it rode on six wheels, Jon piloted it very competently. He seemed to be a conscientious driver, letting people over if they wanted to be and being careful not to cut people off and to signal. He looked over at her as they came to a red light, grinning just from his eyes at how small she looked in the passenger seat. “You hungry? We can stop and get you something before we get on the highway to Sedona.”

“You don’t need to make a special stop for me.” She looked to the center console and the touch screen there with interest. “Do you have any music?”

“I already made a special stop for you, girl.” he said, looking at her with notably softer eyes than he had before. Even as he moved his hand over the screen and cued up the Spotify app which would give her access to his playlists and all the music the platform had to offer, he made another attempt. “What do you want to eat? ‘You don’t want to inconvenience me’ isn’t a valid answer.”

“Well, I imagine you know the places down here better than I do. Something quick that isn’t going to kill me with grease.” She said and reached out to start scrolling through the options, he hadn’t expressly invited her to, but she didn’t seem to care too much.

Jon certainly hadn’t planned on taking her to any place that wouldn’t be healthy, so he called a local restaurant that impressed him with its healthfood options, got her order, and picked it up before navigating them to the highway that would take them most of the two hour journey to Sedona. During their long drive, Jon had been content to allow Solveig to choose whatever music she’d wanted and had been as open to conversation as she had been, but never forced the issue himself. As they drove through rush hour, traffic got a bit heavy, and Jon showed himself to be patient behind the wheel when it was required, but capable of being aggressive when it really benefited them. As the sun started to set, the mountains started to redden and the clear signs that they were nearing beautiful Sedona started to reveal themselves. As they exited the highway and turned onto a main road, Jon pointed to the lights from the town.

“There she is. I’m sure you’ll get used to that place like the rest of us have.” he said, turning the vehicle away from the town and into the surrounding country.

Solveig blinked several times and leaned against the door to look out of the window though she was mindful not to touch the glass. She could see so many beautiful details that couldn’t be seen by the vast majority of people. It made her expression soften and she smiled. “There’s so many colors… it is really beautiful around here.”

It might have been a bit strange that someone with her particular gift would find beauty in the desert, but she seemed to be quite genuine in her admiration. “Do you have a favorite place to go?”

“I like to climb and walk the trails. There’s so much physical activity to be had out here in the mountains. People get into all kinds of fun and trouble.” He answered, eyeing the red rocks, mountains, and hills which made the place so distinctive.

She turned her head toward him then, a sly, teasing smirk crossing her beautifully shaped lips. “Do you do anything else in life but be physical?”

He glanced over at her and smirked as well. He found the comment amusing, for sure.

“There’s nothing on Earth more wonderful than the physical. Laughing, stretching, growing, and being beautiful..fighting all day and having..other kinds of fun at night. What could be better than that?” He asked, but moved on to answer the question. “But, I have to admit I don’t just do physical stuff. I also plan for doing physical stuff later.”

“See, I knew you were capable of having some thought processes in that head of yours.” She smiled at him and tapped one of the playlists that had Fleetwood Mac on the artist list. “So are we allowed to go off of the campus?”

He chuckled at the question and nodded right away. He eyed her again, the light of the setting Sun playing in her hair and his.

“You’re a grown ass woman. You can go wherever you want.” He answered simply. “But it’s hard without a car. The Academy is twenty minutes outside of town. Someone drives in almost every day between staff and students. Maybe, if you bat your eyelashes, someone will take you in to do something non-physical.”

“I wasn’t sure.” She said, her voice softening with slight sadness. “We weren’t allowed to leave Gibbon, I didn’t know how things worked with this organization.”

He eyed her for a moment again, being sure to keep himself mindful of the road. His teasing smile relaxed to nothing again, but his attention remained with her.

“This is a school, Sol, really. Everyone is here by choice; even you.” He said, though he supposed many of the students were there because their parents said they had to be. That was the way of things though.

“Sol?” She questioned and blinked, looking over at him. “Nobody has ever called me that before.”

“I guess It’s just a nickname.” He said, watching the road and taking the huge truck along the gradual curve of the road. His headlights blinked on as the light dimmed around them. “Unless you mind.”

“No, I don’t mind. I just wasn’t expecting it.” She assured him and gave him a smile. “I was thinking about getting a car while I was here if we are allowed.”

“I have three, if that tells you anything.” He said, and then brought the truck to a crawl, turning onto the start of a tan-brick drive that wound through red rocks and desert trees. A big sign showed the logo and name of the academy. He started them down the winding road for several moments, taking the natural incline until they reached a large brown gate. “I can help you find a good deal if you want; stop you from getting cheated by some slimy car salesman.”

His window rolled down slowly and he extended his large arm to a keypad. After several beeps, the gate started to slide slowly open.

“Yeah, I’d like that if you wouldn’t mind. They are less likely to jerk a man around, especially one that is as big as you are.” She nodded and continued to just look around.

“Was your last groundskeeper gifted as well?”

“She kept a nice garden, but she wasn’t a mutant. Her main focus was on beautifying the campus. She bought benches and paved more of the common area in between the buildings. He said, pulling the truck forward. “What are your powers, exactly?”

“Well that would be telling, wouldn’t it?” She replied with an obviously teasing tone.

He pulled through the gate and traveled up the drive for a few more moments until, finally, they approached an entry arch and a garage door. Pressing a button on his mirror, the door started to slide open and he guided his monstrosity down a declined route underneath the building and into a parking garage. He pulled over to the far corner where a wine-colored Escalade and a white Lamborghini Gallardo sat Preston’s, polished, and clean. He backed in next to them and shut off the engine.

“Are those both yours too?” Solveig asked curiously and looked at the two vehicles. She assumed so given they all looked very well kept like the one they were riding in was. “Man… couldn’t have come in the Lambo?”

“I look like I'm riding in a toy in the Lambo.” He responded. “It’s a four hour round trip. I needed to be able to stretch my legs.”

“But it’s a very fast toy.” She noted, admiring the car. She really knew nothing about them, but aesthetics-wise she found some of them more pleasing than others, and she liked the ones that looked like they went fast. She opened the door and hopped out of the massive truck given that was much easier to achieve than getting in.

“Did your grandfather send you to get me?” She couldn’t imagine he had volunteered.

“Well, I’m not going to have my 85 year old grandfather do that drive on his own if I can.” he answered, not really providing an answer to the question she had really asked as he stepped down from the truck as well and walked around. Standing next to her, he put his hand on the white muscle car she had been looking at and looked at her. “Big cars, fast cars; I let them both. But, unless you want to see me trying to talk a highway trooper out of giving me a ticket, it's better to save this one for the state routes where the cops basically never go.”

“Actually, that might be worth a trip.” She smirked at the thought and then opened the back door so she could pull Hati’s carrier out. “So where is the groundskeeper cottage?”

“Well, if I got arrested, someone would have to drive the car back.” He said, opening the back seat and pulling out her bags as well. If she had more, he would have called down some male students to help them, but she came packed light. He left her the small back and took the pet carrier and large one himself. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

She followed him without protest, rolling the smaller of the suitcases behind her. “Can I get something shipped here, or do I need to send it to the post office in town?”

“They deliver out here, even though its far out. Doc worked something out with the town. The City Manager is on the Board, so they talk.” He answered as the two of them stepped into an elevator. There were several buttons, but he pressed the one marked for the ground floor and the lift started to move.

“Okay, good.” She stood next to him and rolled her neck and shoulders, stiff from the plane ride and the drive after. After a beat of silence, she glanced at him from the corner of her beautiful eyes. “Do you have a favorite fruit?”

He looked at her with an expression appropriate for the strangeness of the question as the elevator arrived and the door opened a lovely white lobby with polished white marble floors and walls made of stacked stone slabs. The orange light of the setting sun, which seemed all the more orange in Sedona, flooded the white room and made it seem like it was part of the environment as well. Plants and pictures dotted the walls as did statues and a pool table sat near them.

“What the hell?” he asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “Grapes.” he said, stepping out of the elevator before her.

“What kind of grapes?” She probed further, her eyes moving over the lovely decor; everything looked very well kept after and that was always a good sign. She liked things clean which did sometimes put her gifts in direct conflict with her preferences.

“Any kind of grapes, I think.” he said, walking with her through the wooden doors that led outside into the large courtyard. There was a large pool in the center along with walkways, benches, and fountains. A few students milled around the area talking, reading, or playing games. They weren’t in uniform, as school was out of session. “I guess I don’t think about grapes too much. I just…eat em.”

The two of them walked pool area and several students took notice of them. There was plenty of room to walk without running into the lounge chairs that sat at the sides of the pool.

“Hey, Mr. Sinclair!” came a shout from one of the girls laying on a reclined chair in a bathing suit, surrounded by a sea of other girls, all of whom were staring, waving, smiling, and giggling to each other. The blonde girl who had spoken showed all the signs of being queen bee, including the fullest figure made obvious by her revealing powder blue bikini.

“Girls.” Jon said indifferently, having given them little more than a passing glance as the two of them kept walking along. “Now, do they look overworked to you?”

“School hasn’t started yet.” Solveig noted though she wasn’t defensive over it. “But I can see you are that teacher for them.”

She chuckled to herself and shook her head, having spared a glance to the girls but she was relatively positive they hadn’t even noticed her.

“What does that mean?” he asked, but, before she would be able to offer an answer to his obvious question, the blonde girl popped out from around a canopy with two of the other girls in tow. She had a pleasant expression on, like someone who was genuinely sweet, but her position at the top of the dominance hierarchy would reasonably make one doubt.

“I was wondering where you were. I feel like I’ve seen every other teacher except you today.” she said, her blue eyes moving over the much taller man.

“I was picking her up from the airport.” Jon answered, not bothering to inquire about why she had been looking for him. Since his arms were occupied, he nodded his head at Solveig instead of pointing.

“Oh..” the blonde said, her eyes meeting the woman’s for the briefest of seconds and giving a very bright smile. “And…what is she, like…your girlfriend or something?”

“No, just the new groundskeeper.” Solveig replied and narrowly avoided adding a “don’t worry” to the end of what she said.

“Oh, really? What happened to Mrs. Rivera?” the girl asked, looking Solveig over with a smile. Still, something in her eyes didn’t quite reflect the welcoming joy that the rest of her face did. The girls beside her had their arms crossed, and their faces were more skeptical.

“She retired.” Jon answered. “It was announced at the end of last school year at an assembly I know, for a fact, you attended, Miss Lockhart.”

“Oh, right.” she said, her eyes growing large as she looked at the girls beside her who both nodded and put on large eyes as well. “Silly me. I must have forgotten. Well, welcome to Red Rock. I love your shirt. We should totally talk fashion some time.”

“Sure.” Solveig replied with a smile. She knew the desire wasn’t genuine from the girl at all, but it didn’t bother her. She was obviously trying to put her best foot forward for Mr. McHottie. She looked up to Jon then. “I can take it from here if you need to get back to work.”

“The only job I’m doing is helping you to your place.” he said, clearly not hearing any of it. He looked down at the girls and lifted a brow. “Bikinis are against the rules, McKenna. You know that. Get yourself changed into something school appropriate.”

“But-”

She was cut off by him quickly stepping past her close enough that she and the other girls stepped quickly back to avoid being bowled over. They watched as Solveig and Jon departed with looks of disappointment in their eyes.

“Anyway. You were talking about fruit?” he asked, looking over at Sol with his typical neutral expression.

Solveig didn’t pay the exchange between the girls and Jon any more attention. She had read the folder and was aware of the schools much more stringent conservative practices, but given that the students weren’t her problem, she didn’t really care.

“Yes, what kind of grapes you like.”

“Hey, if you have grapes, I’ll eat them. That’s my philosophy.” He said with a shrug. They turned down a smaller path through a route of strategically planted desert flowers into a more secluded part of the estate. The official parts of the surroundings disappeared, including buildings, and it seemed that the limited plant life options that were available to them took over the area. At the end of the pathway, they came to a small house built in a similar style to the Academy building with large windows. The lights are on in the living room already.

“Here we have it. Your own house. I was considering fighting you for it.”

“Sorry, Jon, you just don’t fit the look of the groundskeeper.” Solveig shrugged. “The girls would be terribly disappointed too I’m afraid.” She stopped outside of the door, looking through the windows which she would absolutely need to get some curtains for. “Am I responsible for buying any furniture and other items I need myself? I assume so, but I want to make sure there isn’t some sort of small stipend or something.”

“I have no idea how that works for you. Teaching staff gets a stipend for expenses, but we each just have a suite to take care of. I’d be surprised if there aren’t curtains in some closet there. The last lady never used them.”

He put her bag and cat carrier to rest and pulled out the key he had been given to open the front door. Once it was open, he stepped aside to let her walk in first.

“They just hired an executive director last night at the Board meeting. I’d normally tell you to ask him, but my advice is to stay as far away as possible.”

Solveig blinked at that advice but walked into the little house as she did so. Once he was inside and set the cat carrier down, she opened it and Hati shot out like lightning, yowling loudly as she took off to explore the new area.

“Why is that your advice, exactly?”

“Because he’s an asshole.” Jon said simply before stepping up to a picture on the wall and straightening it. “What do you think of the house?”

“It’s perfect for what I need. Who is the new director?” She pressed, obviously not about to let him duck out of giving a better answer than what he had given her.

“Former Deputy Director of the Mutant Intelligence Agency, former Assistant Secretary of Mutant Affairs for Special Projects, former everything Washington. And he left it all to come here and be the Executive Director.” He said, and disappeared into the bedroom as soon as he’d finished his sentence.

“Why?” She asked and followed him into the bedroom. It really was a nice place and had much more modern amenities than her home in Gibbon. There were a few things she knew she would probably need to get that she didn’t own or that weren’t getting shipped to her, but she would figure that out later.

“I don’t know. We aren’t close.” He said, and walked up to the glass door that leant a beautiful view of the mountains. “But I’m sure we’ll find out soon. People like him don’t take a demotion unless it’s really a promotion.”

The phrasing he used immediately struck her as odd and she looked at the back of his head for a long moment. She pushed the suitcase she was guiding to the side of the room and then hazarded walking closer to Jon while he was by the door. “Who is he?”

“Cornelius Sinclair.” He answered, turning to her. “I think the blankets are in the linen closet in the hall.”

He departed for the hall as soon as he said it, going out into the hallway and opening the closet. He looked through the comforter options and selected one without asking.

“I can take care of all of that.” She continued to simply follow him around as he seemed to be physically avoiding giving any more than just the most basic information if he could help it. She was very patient though.

“Sinclair… any relation?”

“He’s my dad, yeah.” He answered, watching her with an avoidant kind of gaze. He dropped the covers onto her large bed and started the tedious work of setting it up and tucking it in. He would just as soon leave instead, but he was avoiding being rude, at least for now.

“Oh.” Solveig paused at that information and wordlessly moved to the other side of the queen bed to help arrange it. As they put the top sheet on, Hati launched herself onto the bed and laid down in the middle, her head and ears both up and her tail flicking as if she were expecting something. Immediately, Solvi started laughing. It was a sweet and charming sound, her blue eyes were lit up with joy.

“Ah… want to see something funny?”

He paused and looked at her and her massive cat. He eyed the creature dubiously.

“Go ahead.”

“Come on.” She encouraged and grabbed the two corners of the top sheet, indicating he should do the same. “Just uh, be gentle about it. You look like you could send her to the moon.”

She then lifted the corners slightly, and then brought them up more sharply, when he followed, the cat jumped and twisted around, while making a strange but seemingly pleased chittering sound as she repeatedly flew off the sheet and landed back down in it. Solveig was smiling and laughing again, shaking her head at the silly cat.

At first, Jon was admittedly uneasy about the process, but a few tosses of the cat solved that pretty quickly. Soon he was smiling and laughing right along with her, but he was careful not to toss too hard. Solveig had now idea how right she had been about him being able to launch the cat into space. At the very least, he could liquify it against the ceiling.

They bounced the cat for maybe a minute until finally Solveig shook her head and lowered the sheet back down. Still chuckling, she spoke to the cat. “Greit, ok. Vekk med deg.”

Hati meowed and dutifully jumped off the bed, running off back to another part of the house.

“I’m sure we kicked up enough pet dander that my eye will fall off before bed.” He said, finishing tucking in his side before smoothing out the comforter in a meticulous way. “We have Benadryl. In the Faculty House. Don’t worry; I learned my lesson.”

“I have some in my bag if you want to preempt going into the house all bleary eyed and sneezy.” She offered with a kind smile. “It probably won’t be too bad though. She got a bath before we left and this place was cat free. You could always press your luck.”

He looked at her bag and considered it for a moment before shaking his head. Looking out the window, he saw that the sun was almost completely gone and that darkness had descended upon the estate.

“I’ll be fine. You have everything you need for tonight?”

“I have a bed and a bathroom, I’ll be fine.” She nodded, not surprised in the slightest that he hadn’t taken her up on her offer. Sensing he wanted to get out of there, she walked back toward the main room and opened the front door.

“Here, just wait a second alright?” She asked and stepped outside, immediately kneeling down on the path and doing something he couldn’t quite see with how her body was positioned.

He followed her out to the front door and then slowly moved out behind her. He saw her kneeling there, but he still couldn’t tell what she was up to.

“What is it?”

“Well, I wanted to thank you for all your help today. I know you were probably voluntold in the end, but still, you made it pleasant and you didn’t have to do that at all.” She slid her hand down into the red dirt and pulled it up, the sand and soil flowing through her fingertips. She held it out in front of her, and then very suddenly what looked like a stem popped out, grew and curled rapidly, burst into a bunch of thin white flowers which then turned into plump circles. In a matter of seconds she was holding a giant bunch of the fattest, juiciest looking grapes the man had probably ever seen.

Jon watched as she extended the dirt to him and, from it life sprung as if by a miracle. As the grapes manifested, a smile slowly crossed his face, one full of wonder and excitement, pretty much representing the opposite of how he presented himself. When she was done, he chuckled and reached for the plant.

“Thanks, Sol. They look delicious.” He said through his smile. “That’s a beautiful gift you have. I see why he offered you the job.”

He picked a grape from the stem and ate it. The taste was sweet, but the fruit was explosive enough that juice ran down his lip. He chuckled more and pulled another one, extending it to her.

She took the grape and popped it in her mouth to eat it, putting her hand up over her lips just in case, but having been expecting the juiciness of the fruit she didn’t make a mess. Only after she chewed and swallowed did she stand and smile at him. “You’re welcome.”

Her beautiful eyes moved over him again, and she found her mind drifting back to the feeling of his arm around her. As soon as she realized it, she cleared her throat and looked away, blushing slightly. “I’ll uh… see you around?”

“Yeah..” he said, and started to drift away with the plant in his hand. Before he was out of the area, however, he remembered something and came back. “Oh, right. Your key.”

He pulled the golden door key on a blue, orange, and yellow lanyard and extended it to her. Then he took out his phone and signed in.

“And it might be good if you have my number. That way I can answer any questions you have without you having to run them up the chain of command or have to ask someone you don’t know.”

“Oh. Yeah… that makes sense.” She agreed awkwardly and pulled her own phone out. She unlocked it, tapped on the phone app, then offered it to him so he could put his number in himself. “Is there any place with water near here that isn’t just the pool? Like a pond or something?”

“That depends on how close you mean. We have Oak Creek Canyon north of Sedona and the Verde River to the West.” He answered without really thinking. “But springs run through northern Arizona and you can basically find something anywhere if you dig far enough. Why?”

“Alright, but nothing literally here on campus.” She clarified and took her phone back when he handed it to her. “That’s a shame.”

He decided not to reiterate the question of why it all mattered again as he assumed she’d heard him and didn’t want to share.

“Just pools and fountains, yeah.” He said. “Anyway, goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Jon. Thank you again.” Solveig smiled and lifted her hand in farewell before she turned and walked back into the house so she could work on unpacking and seeing if she could find those curtains.

END

 

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