Talisman (21 page)

“I guess I haven’t had enough
fancy book learnin’ to figure that out. 
Thank ya for the tip!”
  I vocalized in my best hick accent and flashed a slick grin of my own.

I could tell by his smile, he was definitely amused.

“So, have you picked a college yet?”  A hush fell over the table.  “You are planning to go to college,
aren’t you?
” Professor Grey questioned.  I was surprised to see he had a serious side and not all smart-assy.

I grimaced.  “I’ve
picked
plenty.  I just haven’t
heard
from any of them yet.”  Anyone could tell I was frustrated by that fact.

“I’m sure you will,”
Professor Grey stated confidently.  “Have you applied to Yardley?”

My mouth fell open.  “Are you
serious?
”

“Why not?  You have the grades and the SAT score,”
Professor Grey added casually.

Crap
, I thought. 
He’s seen my grades and my SAT score, too?  Is there no confidentiality at that school?
  For a second, I felt like I was having lunch with a stalker.

“Yes,
I do
…but unfortunately, I don’t have the
money
for it.  Isn’t Yardley like the top Ivy League school for sciences — with a pretty $95,000 a year price-tag?”

“You have plenty of options,” Professor Grey insisted.
  “Financial aid…student loans…scholarships…grants.  Take your pick.”

This guy seems to have an answer for everything
, I thought as shook my head and took another bite of my stromboli.

Shelia
stopped by our table and took his order.  She seemed just as smitten with Professor Grey as every other female who had laid eyes on him.  I’d never seen her act like this before.  You’d think she was having a seizure by the way she was flipping her head around and batting her eyes.  Professor Grey acted very nonchalant about the attention — which made her flirt
even more
.

The sun started shining through the window.  He wasn’t wearing a tie
, and his cornflower blue shirt was unbuttoned at the top.  The intense rays beaming from the midday sun were reflecting off a gold chain that lay around his neck.  I’d never seen light dance so beautifully before.  His necklace trailed down his chest into a point under his shirt instead of circling it.  Without realizing, I reached for my little gold locket and started twisting it, back and forth.  His stare deepened when he noticed me staring at his chest.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted, embarrassed by his observation. 
“I was watching the light reflect off your gold chain.  It’s almost hypnotic.”

“Oh,
is it?” Professor Grey asked.

“Mine has never sparkled like that.”  I
lifted my necklace to show him what I meant.

The charming professor’s
eyes narrowed as he leaned in for a closer look, studying my locket meticulously.  I thought he was going to touch it at first, but he didn’t.

“
Tell me what’s in it,” Professor Tanner Grey insisted in a soft-spoken, yet adamant tone.

His
order
surprised me, but I passed it off as general curiosity.  “
Um
…There’s a picture of my mom on one side and my dad on the other.”  I let out a laugh and added, “I
think
.”

“What do you mean,
‘you think’?
” he countered.

“My sister has one like it.  We got them at the same time.  The lock on mine is broken, but I saw the pictures in hers.  My dad wanted me to get a new one, but I didn’t see the need.  It was somet
hing both of us shared.  Anyway…it’s just one of the few special things my mom has ever done for me…out of the blue.”

Immediately I thought to myself,
Uh, ramble much?  You shouldn’t have said all that.  It’s one thing to talk about family problems with Katie, but you don’t know this guy.  And you certainly don’t need to discuss any of your “mommy issues” with him
.

“Is there s
omething on the end of yours?” I asked, changing the subject.

He was in deep thought about something, but he fin
ally acknowledged my question.

“Oh,
yes
…Yes, there is.  It’s kind of my…
good luck charm
.”  Professor Grey started to pull the chain out from under his shirt, but he paused.  “Would you like to see it?” he teased.

I squinted my eyes and gave him a nod. 
Professor Grey continued to tug on the glistening chain until a striking, tumbled stone appeared that featured a medley of rich browns and lustrous golds.  Each swirly streak faded into the next, blending the various hues perfectly.  My eyes were drawn to the depth of the golden tones, which seemed to pop out in the sunlight.  For some reason it reminded me of eating chocolate fudge-marble ice cream drizzled with caramel when I was a little.  Without a doubt, my attention had been captured.  The stone was absolutely bewitching.

“What is it?” I asked
, full of suspense.

“It’s a tiger’s-eye…
Well,
not literally
,” Professor Grey remarked with a grin.

I felt myself wanting to hold it, almost craving to touch it. 
But how rude would that be?  To reach over and just grab it?
  I really didn’t know him at all.  However, he sure did know a lot about me.

“Where did you get it?”
I inquired.

“It was given to me by a dear friend
…
years ago
.  I’ve had it longer than I can remember.”  He held it up in the air and swayed it back and forth.  “Legend has it that a tiger’s-eye can conceal you from harm…by protecting your
psyche
.”

I could sure use one of those
.

Strangely, it wasn’t fastened to a traditional setting.
The gold simply outlined the edge of the stone and wrapped around its top.

“Does it work?”
I asked.

Professor Grey
glanced down at his tiger’s-eye and then up at me.  “Well…
I
wasn’t the one running scared through the woods last night…
Was I?
”

That was blunt
, I thought. 
Truthful, but blunt
.

“You can touch it.  I can
tell
you want to.”  Apparently my desire to hold his tiger’s-eye was more evident than I’d realized.  “It doesn’t bite,” Professor Grey insisted in a frisky tone.  “
I promise
.”

My curiosity overcame any of my doubts as I leaned across the table.  Professor Grey moved closer, dangling the mysterious stone in front of me like a hypnotist.  In a delicate manner, I reached for the gold chain that secured it.

“
No
.  The stone needs to make a connection to you. 
Touch it
,” he advised in a tempting tone.  “You have to draw its energy into your own.”

I sat there thinking how kooky his words were, but in light of recent events, I found m
yself wanting them to be true.

“That’s how the legend goes
,
of course
,” he added, taking my skepticism into account.

I carefully stroked my index finger across the face
of the stone.  Though part of me still thought it was a bunch of hocus-pocus, the tiger’s-eye was surprisingly warm to the touch.  I secretly reasoned it was because it had been lying against his chest.  I caressed it gently, and for a second, I could have sworn I felt the tips of my fingers tingling a bit.

I do
feel a little more secure and somewhat safe with it in my hands  — but it’s all psychological
, I rationalized.

I looked up at Professor Tanner Grey and found myself instantly dumbfounded.  The
pair of wide hazel eyes that I’d been staring at merely seconds ago were now a deep shade of violet.  They didn’t have just a “fleck” of purple —
this time
— they were saturated in the regal hue.

“Do your eyes always change color like that?” I blurted suspiciously.

Straightaway, Professor Grey shied his head down towards the table.  “
Like what?
” he asked abruptly as he jerked away from me, pulling the tiger’s-eye out of my grasp, and then tucked the mysterious stone back inside his shirt.

“Last night…
I saw a
little
purple in them,” I began to probe as I watched him lift his head, “And now, they’re…”  My mouth fell open.  “
Back to
HAZEL?!?
  But they were
completely VIOLET
a second ago,” I insisted.

“You must be mistaken,”
Professor Grey challenged.

“
NO
.  I
know
what I saw,” I argued.  “Your hazel eyes turned purple.  I’m not
crazy
.”

“Maybe you saw som
ething being reflected off them?” Professor Grey posed.  “My eyes are kind of light.”

I decided to cross-examine his
cockamamie claim.  “
Okay
…Then
where
did the purple come from?”

His
hazel eyes remained locked with mine as he lifted up
Anthony’s
dessert menu and waved it in the air.

Disappointed, I thought,
Crap…It’s purple
.

At the rate I was going with strange occurrences, I’d need a straight jacket —
not a dress
— by tomorrow night.  Another quick change of subject was what my humiliation demanded.

Happily the universe provided one.  A black SUV was pulling up across the street.  Once it
had parked, the driver hopped out and opened the rear passenger-door.  There was the mystery man himself, Lazarus Xcavare.

I pointed out the window.  “What’s his deal?  Is h
e businessman making a purchase or a philanthropist who’s here to save the town?”

While Professor Tanner Grey secured his necklace under his shirt, he glanced over at his boss, wh
o was now strolling pompously down the street.

“Oh, Lazarus is
all business
.  He’s extremely ambitious and…
very persistent
.”  I didn’t get the impression that Professor Grey genuinely liked him.  “I think he’d buy up the whole planet to get what he wants,” he added.

His s
tatement stumped me.  “So he wants one more mine to…
add to his collection?”

“Something like that,” he stated
while his eyes remained fixed on Lazarus Xcavare.  Professor Tanner Grey finally redirected his gaze back to me.  “I think his attempt to revitalize Welch is really just—”

“To look good for his shareholders?” I quickly interrupted.

Professor Grey grinned.  “See, Kristine was right. 
The smartest one in the class
.”  He glanced back over to Lazarus Xcavare, who was now talking to one of Welch’s local residents.  “Who’s that man Lazarus is talking to?  Do you know him?” he questioned.

I knew exactly who it was. “That’s Kyle Parsons.  He works in the County Clerk’s office.”

Professor Grey’s eyes widened slightly.  It was subtle, but it was still obvious that he was in deep thought about something concerning the meeting transpiring on the street.

I looked down at my watch.  “Well, I should be going.”

“So soon?” Professor Grey asked.

“I have
to get to work,” I stated with a pandering smile as I rose out of the booth.  I quickly threw down a tip, slung my purse over my shoulder, and grabbed the basket of goodies for Charlotte.  Shelia promptly arrived with his calzone and placed it in front him.  She practically shoved her breasts in his face as she leaned across the table and threw him a suggestive wink before she headed back to the kitchen.

That was obvious
, I thought as I shook my head.

Professor Grey
rose from the booth.  “Don’t be a stranger, Ms. Wallace,” he chuckled.  “Maybe I’ll see you around town again?”

“Well,
it is
small
,” I answered as I strolled towards the door.

“
Oh, if you do run into me again…Not
so hard
next time. 
Okay?
” he called out, loud enough to turn more than a few customers’ heads.

Slightly embarrassed,
I turned to see him grinning as he lowered himself back into the booth.  I shook my head and rushed out of the restaurant, giving the glass door a gruff push.  As I walked to my car, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I would be seeing him again —
somewhere
and
somehow
.