Soul Dancing with the Brass Band (The Brass Band Series) (18 page)

To make sure I got home before dark, I left for work two hours early. Pondering what Gilbert had said about karma, I looked at each person I passed on campus and wondered if I knew them from a previous lifetime or had made a
subconscious
agreement with them.

Once at the library, I picked up my assignments and thought...
Wow, how could there be so much work on the day I want to leave early?
The word karma came to mind and I wondered what the day held in store for me.

Walking up and down the aisles, I picked up book after book and by the time I finished scanning and emailing them, I had a sinking feeling that darkness was falling.

I kept telling myself I wasn’t going to be afraid. Those slime-bags didn’t know who I was and Officer Hall would call if I had anything to worry about.
I will not let one event take away my ability to live my life
, I concluded while I punched my timecard and walked out of the building

“Hi Hillary,” I heard as the library door slowly closed behind me. “I thought you might need someone to walk you home.”

A smile lit my face as I turned around. “I’d love that, but what are you doing out so early?” I said moving to face Will who was walking toward me.

“George received an email from Ruth
late last night. I came to make sure you’re okay.” He slipped his hand into mine and a warm feeling of contentment spread though me.

“No, really Will, aren’t you going to be in trouble for this?” I said squeezing his hand back. “You know, being
out
?”

“Actually, no,” he explained. “George and I have been talking to McCollum for a while now. McCollum told us the time would be right as we near the winter solstice.”

“Right for what?” I asked.

“The time would be right for us to re-enter the outside world, to move away from our home. McCollum believes the remaining people destined to complete our circle are near. He can sense them and having us live outside the walls will facilitate our finding them,” Will said
, removing his hand from mine and putting his arm around my shoulder.

He was so warm and
, as usual, my entire body began to hum softly - Oh, it was a lovely feeling.

“The few we need are adults now and if given a chance, McCollum thinks our karma will draw them toward us. So, Hillary, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to spend my time waiting for them, with you.”

He said it with such calm that I wasn’t sure of the correct reaction. I wanted to scream, “YES! YES! YES!” but decided that might be a bit much, so after counting ten sidewalk cracks, I calmly answered, “I’d really like that.”

Will was more handsome than the last time I saw him. His untamed hair and blue eyes were irresistible and I couldn’t stop staring at his gorgeous smile.

“That makes me happy because the only house we know of besides the one we live in now, is yours, and the lower level seems to be available. Before you say anything, there is one more thing,” he paused.

“What’s that?” I held my breath. Things were improving by the minute!

“McCollum told us recently, that the night he saw you and Ruth at our private Spring Fling, he
recognized
both of you. But he needed to discourage George and me from seeing you until more time had passed. He wanted you to be on your own for a while,” adding with a soft laugh, “I suppose he knew that I would try to occupy all of your time. He knows me pretty well.”

My heart was beating so hard that I felt a little faint. I had wanted this and now it was really coming true
. Will wanted to spend time with me!

“Your turn to say something, Hillary,” Will interrupted my thoughts. “Don’t leave me hanging here. What do you think?”

We were within a block of my apartment.

“I think I like all of what you’ve said, even the karma parts I don’t understand. How about coming up to my apartment and we’ll talk some more?” I could feel myself blush and I really wished I wasn’t so transparent.

“I think we might be expected. Ruth and George are having this same conversation. We want to make sure both of you agree before we sign the lease.” Will’s hand slid back into mine and it felt very natural, like we had been holding hands forever.

We found the apartment door unlocked and when we opened it, two sets of eyes were peering at us with ear-to-ear smiles. “I see you found her alright,” Ruth giggled. “Come on in you two, we’ve got things to talk about.”

“Dinner smells wonderful! Does Ruth have her little cookbook out again?”

“I’m the cook!” George grinned. “Will’s the teacher and I’m one hell of a chef! The smell just makes your mouth water, doesn’t it?”

“Well, that’s a plus.” I looked at Ruth raising my eyebrow. The table was already set, so we took our places as George brought dinner from the kitchen.

The room was filled with a pleasant easiness and oddly enough, I wasn’t questioning it. It’s like this had always been part of the journey. We laughed and talked lightheartedly through dinner.

Motioning for Ruth and George to sit still, I announced, “We’ll wash the dishes. You two relax, it won’t take us long.”

I was nervously looking forward to being alone with Will.

We stacked the plates, gathered the silverware and headed for the kitchen. Everything had to be rinsed before going into our decrepit dishwasher, so I filled the sink with hot water. Will moved in close beside me to place the dishes into the sink. Happiness washed over me, or to be honest, almost knocked me over, as I felt the heat of his body along my side. Then moving behind me, he wrapped his arms around me.

“This is going to make the dish washing go a lot slower you know.” I inhaled, trying to catch my breath.

“It doesn’t matter to me how long the dishes take,” Will contently whispered in my ear, “Take your time. I’ll just wait here.”

My need to wash the dishes vanished and I let my hands drop into the warm water. I just want
ed to stay in his embrace forever.

“Your hands are going to get wrinkly,” he said.

“I don’t care.” I turned to face him and his lips found mine and my body leaned against his. I could feel his heart beating as fast as mine and nothing else in the world mattered.

I don’t think our rosy red lips were a surprise to Ruth and George as we walked back into the living room. We had been in the kitchen for a long time.

“Did you miss us?” I asked as I pulled Will down beside me on the couch.

Ruth and George looked over at us, both blushing, “No, not at all.”

“So what’s our answer, girls?” George boomed. “Can we live below you? We’ll be good neighbors. We promise to be quiet. We’ll give you your privacy, if that’s what you want.” George said as he nudged Ruth.

Ruth elbowed him with a laugh, “Not on your life.” Then, as if to clarify, “I’m talking about the needing privacy part. As for the living below us, my answer is yes.”

Everyone in the room simultaneously turned to look at me.

“My answer is yes, too,” I agreed, knowing I really meant that I wanted Will to be as close as possible.

AS FALL
turned into winter, I anxiously awaited Will’s move into the downstairs apartment. We still had our late night emails, but we barely had spent any time together over the last couple of weeks. With work, school and studying, I didn’t have a lot of spare time, although I would have made time for Will. Will too, had been quite busy. He was teaching his final classes and although he was as anxious as I was for his new life to begin, I could tell how much he was going to miss those boys. After all, they’d been his family for more than a decade.

The sun had
n’t shown itself for days and the air was damp and cold, making it hard to get dressed and walk to campus. I was sure it would be snowing by afternoon, so after a hot shower I layered on the warmest clean clothes that I had and was ready to face the day. I didn’t need my backpack because I only had one thing on my schedule today, the long awaited lecture by Dr. Edwards that I was attending with Gilbert.

I opened the door to leave only to find a tin can full of frozen flowers. Picking them up, I walked to the kitchen and unfolded a scrap of paper tucked in the top. Oh God! My heart sunk; the note was from Jackson Black. “
I need only to close my eyes to find you.” With disgust, I tossed everything into the sink and hurried out the door.

The walk to the auditorium was bone chilling, partly because of the note I had just received and partly because the temperature had dropped. My teeth were chattering and my nose was so cold it was practically numb. By the time I opened the lobby door and the warm air hit my face, I could barely find my Kleenex before my nose began to run. Gilbert found me in all my glory.

“I saved us a couple of seats near the front,” Gilbert said staring at my red, runny nose.

“Don’t give me any crap about this. It’s cold outside and I walked. It’s not like I’m sick or something.” I stuffed the Kleenex back into my coat pocket.

Gilbert had become one of my very best friends over the past semester…sometime during all of our long talks after my almost mugging. Yes, he might be a little odd, but in a very adorable way and it was sweet that he was willing to be my date for the lecture.

We entered the main auditorium through the east door and walked down the aisle toward the stage. I was glad Gilbert got there early because the place was packed. I wondered if it was because everyone was interested in eastern philosophies or simply because Dr. Edwards’ was such a hottie. His long thick hair and wonderful deep blue eyes set him apart from the other fuddy-duddy college professors, and the students clearly liked the image he projected, especially the girls.

Gilbert pointed to our seats and I shuffled in, excusing myself along the way. We were front and center when the lights began to dim. Gilbert nudged me and handed me the program. Based on the bulge of his backpack, it was evident that he had smuggled in some contraband for us to munch on. Gilbert lowered his voice to a whisper as the introduction for Dr. Edwards droned on.

“What do you feel like Hillary? I’ve got salted and unsalted nuts, Dr. Pepper or Arizona tea and of course, chocolate.”

Gilbert used the applause to cover up the noise and had everything open by the time Dr. Edwards walked on stage. Wearing a sports jacket, jeans and a white shirt opened at the collar, the girls were holding their breath; he looked
that good
walking up to the podium. His Oakley sunglasses atop his head swept his long hair back from his chiseled face. He picked up the microphone and stepped to the front edge of the stage.