“But see, that’s the beauty of real skating,” Jenna protested as she untangled her legs from his and stood back up on the ice. Jimmy tried to follow, finding it much more difficult. Jenna finally reached out and grabbed him to help his balance.
“Real cold, real ice, real accomplishment when you finally learn how to skate without falling.” Her tone turned teasing.
“Real bumps and bruises to show for your effort,” Jimmy agreed wryly.
“So often we do things virtually, you know?” She pulled away from him and skated in a slow circle around him, her eyes closed and her face lifted up as if she could feel snow drifting down. “It’s not the same. I like to experience real life.” She opened her eyes, her tone more somber. “You never know when it will end.”
Jimmy heard the heartbreak behind those words. She had lost someone too.
“Anyway, you’re doing quite well for a beginner, Jimmy,” she encouraged, changing the subject.
“I’m holding you back though,” he said. “And I can tell you love this. Go ahead and skate, Jenna. I’ll keep trying to figure this out, but I’d love to see what you managed to learn on a real pond,” he added with an encouraging smile.
She protested a bit, but he insisted, and she took off on her own. He managed a few more laps before retreating to the bench and watching her for a while. She was so graceful. It was like watching a dance as she went around and around, switching front to back, spinning in circles, and skating on one leg while she raised the other. Eventually she must have tired of it (though she didn’t seem weary), and she came to join him at the bench.
Her cheeks and nose were ruddy, and her bangs were a bit damp with sweat. It didn’t lessen her attractiveness in the least. “I wish I could do that every day,” she lamented.
“Why can’t you?” Jimmy asked.
Jenna snorted. “Well, you may have free run of this place like Zane does, but I only get to come as an invited guest. There’s no way I could afford it. You do realize it costs a small fortune to visit? Let alone to pay for any activities you do. I’m a lowly staff architect, not a rich playboy.”
“Who are you calling a rich playboy?” Jimmy protested in mock offense.
“So you have a job then?” Jenna asked innocently.
Jimmy grimaced. “I just arrived in Omphalos this morning. I haven’t had time to get a job.”
“But you had one on Terra?” she persisted.
“Um, well, see . . . I was kind of part of the family business . . .” he stammered.
“Right,” she responded with a smirk. “Playboy,” she taunted in an undertone.
“I actually prefer the term lazy,” Jimmy rebutted with a grin. “Playboy has a whole different connotation.”
Jenna snorted again. Then she smiled. “Whatever you want to call it, I expect it will be the same here. You’ll wander around the QE, pretending to supervise or manage or whatever you want to call it, while in reality that’s just a cover for you to play around.”
“Oh blast!” Jimmy swore in mock horror. “You figured out my angle. I came all the way from Terra so I could pretend to work and instead go ice skating every day.” He was rewarded with another laugh.
He wished he could make her laugh all night.
3. The Move
Lilah swept in through the sliding door and slammed her bag down on the entry table. Jenna looked up from her architecture journal, startled.
“Lilah!” she exclaimed. “I thought you were working tonight!”
“I was supposed to, until I got a call from that class-act creep.” Jenna sat straight up and shut off her tablet, concerned. That creep could only be Lilah’s ex-fiancé, Armando. Armando officially held the contract on their apartment. He had signed for it, intending it to be his and Lilah’s home when they got married. Lilah had moved in while waiting for him to finish his drilling contract across the continent. Only Armando had fallen for one of the local girls out where he was and then told her he wasn’t coming back. He didn’t mean it personally, and to prove they were on good terms, he offered to let her continue to live in the apartment so long as she paid the rent for the duration of the contract. Lilah had begged Jenna to move in with her so between the two of them they could afford the rent, and Jenna had been ecstatic to leave behind her former rodent-infested dive. It had worked out perfectly for both of them. As far as Jenna knew, Lilah hadn’t heard from Armando since the night he’d broken their engagement half a year ago. The contract wasn’t up for renewal for another year.
“He commed me and told me that he’s going to be here in two days,” Lilah informed Jenna, her eyes stormy. “With his new bride. And thank you for holding their contract, but can I please move out and make sure it’s clean when they arrive?”
Jenna’s jaw dropped.
“Two days?” she whispered, stunned. “They want us out in two days?”
“Yes, and you can imagine I told him that wasn’t possible. But then he got all snippy with me and reminded me that the apartment was legally contracted in his name, and that if we weren’t gone in time he was going to call us in for trespassing! That bastard!” Lilah’s voice had risen to a shriek.
“But with the housing shortage, we’ll be on a waiting list for several months!” Jenna exclaimed. “Assuming we can even get all our stuff packed up, where are we going to go?”
“I don’t know,” Lilah answered grimly, the fire out of her voice. She sounded dreadfully tired now. “But I figured we’d better get started right away. Took the night off for a personal emergency.”
She shook her head as she looked around their comfortable living room. “We’re going to need every minute if we’re not going to end up in the city detention center.”
Both girls worked frantically for most of the night. Jenna made a midnight run to one of the local shipping warehouses and arranged to borrow some crates from the night crew. They were more than willing to do a pretty girl a favor. Gratefully, Jenna decided that beauty did occasionally have its uses. She sent a text comm both to her parents and to her Uncle Mark asking if any of them had any contacts who could help them find a new place to live on short notice. She had her hopes pinned on her uncle; he was an instructor at the Armada Academy here in Omphalos and had contacts with military recruits going through training and leaving for new assignments. Most of them lived on base, but she hoped that her uncle would know someone who lived off base and had a contract they were willing to sublet. She also sent messages to some of her coworkers. The only way they were going to find a place to live on short notice was by networking like mad. Once she’d sent out all the messages she could think of, she dove into the packing. Luckily, she and Lilah had not lived in the apartment long enough to accumulate a bunch of clutter. Still, when she finished packing up their living room, she looked in dismay at the six large crates. This had been the room with the least stuff—at least the smallest amount of packable items. (It also had some big furniture, like a sofa, recliners, end tables, and Lilah’s large terminal screen.) Yet even this deceptively small amount had filled such a large number of crates. She couldn’t even imagine what it was going to take to pack the kitchen.
Near dawn, Jenna gave up and crawled into her bed for a few hours of sleep. She knew Lilah would keep going since her sleep cycle was set for the night shift anyway. Jenna barely had time to pull her blanket up before she was asleep. She woke feeling bleary and vaguely panicky, not rested at all, but she dragged herself out of bed and commed her office, letting them know that she wouldn’t be in. Fortunately, the QE West project was in a bit of a lull while they waited to hear on their final bid, and she could take a few days of leave without creating a work emergency to follow her personal emergency.
She found Lilah in the kitchen, carefully wrapping their dishes in pieces of recycled foam cloth and packing them into a crate. “There’s a Blue for you on the counter,” Lilah said by way of greeting.
She worked with manic energy. Clearly, Lilah had already drunk some Blue of her own. Jenna picked up the bottle and twisted the lid off. Zenithian Blue was not her favorite drink—and she was going to hate the crash—but under the circumstances, she was going to need thirty-six hours of raw energy.
Jenna was about to grab some foam cloth and start on a new cabinet when her flipcom signaled. She pulled it out and answered distractedly, hoping that it wasn’t her boss calling to demand that she come into work anyway—or worse, head over to the QE and try to charm Zane one last time before he announced the winner of the bid.
“Hi, Jenna,” greeted Jimmy cheerfully. “I didn’t get to see you again last night, so I thought I’d check in and see how you’re doing.”
“Oh, well . . . it’s not my best morning ever,” she admitted while she removed a glass serving bowl from a shelf. After her initial night at the QE with Jimmy, she had seen him almost every day for a week straight. Leading up to the final bid presentation, Carter had insisted she spend as much time as possible with Zane. Luckily, between Zane’s invitations and Jimmy’s, she’d managed to fulfill Carter’s requirement without shamelessly throwing herself at Zane. Last night had been the first night she’d had to herself—and it had ended up being filled with packing endless boxes.
“Work?” Jimmy asked. “I can straighten them out for you if you need. Just say the word, and I’ll be down there with my gorilla arms to throw my weight around.” Jenna smiled slightly in spite of herself. It was funny trying to imagine Jimmy marching into the office, cracking his knuckles, and facing off with Mr. Carter.
“No, it’s not work,” Jenna answered as she tried awkwardly to wrap the bowl with one hand. She needed her earpiece, but in all the frantic work the night before, she had forgotten to charge it.
“What’s wrong?” Jimmy asked, his voice concerned. “You didn’t go into work?”
“No, I’ve got kind of a personal crisis going on here. The owner of our apartment contract is unexpectedly returning. We’ve got to be out in two days,” Jenna explained, choosing not to burden Jimmy with all the drama. Behind her, Lilah snorted at her diplomatic description of the dilemma.
“So you’re packing?” Jimmy was clearly shocked. “Right now? When did you find out?”
“Last night,” Jenna answered, her blood pressure rising. Who had invented this stupid foam paper? It was impossible to work with! Suddenly the bowl slipped from her grip and shattered on the tile floor. Lilah shrieked in surprise.
Jenna stood staring at the glittering pieces of crystal sprinkled all over the floor and among the half-packed open crates that were scattered around the counter. She cursed loudly, and then her eyes filled with tears.
“Well, I’ll assume that wasn’t directed at me,” Jimmy said calmly.
“There goes my grandmother’s crystal bowl,” she sniffed. “I’ve got to go.”
“I’m coming over. You shouldn’t have to do this alone. Give me half an hour, OK?”
“OK, Jimmy,” Jenna agreed, too disheartened to even protest. He said goodbye, and she ended the comm with a heavy sigh. “We haven’t packed the hand vac yet, have we?” she asked Lilah, discouraged.
“Nope. I knew we’d need it.” Lilah was already dragging it out from the small storage closet.
Jenna took it and began sucking up the millions of shards of sparkling glass. One less thing to pack.
*
Jimmy was true to his word. The door chimed only thirty-five minutes later. Jenna was busy trying to shove a lid on a crate full of skillets and pots that had handles sticking up in awkward directions, so Lilah went to answer the door. She could still hear everything from where she was stuck trying to figure out how to hold down the crate lid and lock it in place at the same time.
“Hi! I’m Jimmy! I’m your knight in packing armor,” he greeted at the door.
Lilah laughed. “You must be Jenna’s new friend.” Lilah ushered him in. “Jenna’s right around the corner, waging war on a stubborn crate.”
“Looks like you’ve got all the hard work done,” Jimmy observed, coming around the corner. “I guess you don’t need my help after all.”
“No you don’t!” grunted Jenna. “Get over here and hold this lid down. Now that you’re here, we’re going to put you to work.” With Jimmy helping her, she secured the crate in just a few seconds.
“Thanks,” she said, taking a swig of her drink and grabbing a new crate. “We’re just working on the kitchen cabinets now.” Jimmy swung open a cabinet and pulled out a stack of plates. Jenna handed him some foam paper, and they began to work, wrapping the plates and placing them carefully in the crates.
“How did you find us, anyway?” Jenna asked as she worked. “I don’t remember ever telling you where we lived.”
“I’m a top secret spy with unlimited resources,” Jimmy said loftily. “It was a simple manner of asking the right source.”
“What are you blathering about?” Lilah asked skeptically. “A spy with unlimited resources?”
Jenna smirked. “Let me guess. You asked Zane.”
Jimmy hesitated. “Well, not exactly. Zane is an impeccable resource, but an unavailable one this morning. Otherwise he’d probably be here too, trying to help.”
Lilah snorted. “Right, the one and only Zane Quintan would miss work to help us pack? I don’t think so.”
Jenna rapped Lilah lightly on the arm with a long serving spoon. “Come on, Zane would help us if he didn’t have to work. Only playboys like Jimmy have nothing else going on.”
“Thanks a lot,” said Jimmy.
“Well, security let you in, so I’m guessing you had someone familiar with you,” mused Jenna. “I bet Grier is playing chauffeur for you again today.”
“Give the lady a prize!” exclaimed Jimmy. “Grier knew exactly where to take me. He must really like you guys. Or Zane comes over a lot.” Jenna blushed. She didn’t want Jimmy to assume that things were more serious between her and Zane than they really were. Of course, she had invited Zane over more than once.
“Chauffeurs,” grumbled Lilah. “Yeah, you guys live in the real world, all right.” Jenna rolled her eyes. Lilah could get a little miffed about people she saw as “the rich.” Zane in particular seemed to rub her the wrong way. Probably because he was the son of the richest man on the planet, and it showed. He drove a fancy new transport, wore designer Terran fashions, and always had the newest tech gadgets. His every movement showed up on society feeds that fed juicy details about the wealthy, famous, and well-connected to the public.
Jenna sighed. She wished Lilah were a little less hostile toward anyone she classified as rich. Lilah had practically grown up on the streets; her mother had died at a young age, and she had been raised by a father who had fallen victim to every money scam known to humankind, leaving her to scrounge for every crumb of anything she could get. It had been sheer luck that Jenna had ever crossed paths with Lilah at all—they were that different. However, during Jenna’s service year (anyone wanting to attend the University in Omphalos was required to put in a year’s worth of community service before they could even apply) Jenna had chosen to escape her home by coming to Omphalos to work as a receptionist during the day and getting her service hours in a community crisis center at night. She met Lilah while working at the crisis center. Lilah had come in with her two younger brothers after her father had made the mistake of trying to renege on a deal he’d made with a loan shark who operated out of the Red Zone. With their father murdered, they’d had nowhere else to go. Lilah had an aunt living back on Terra, she thought, but she knew of no other relative to turn to. While they were living in the crisis center, Jenna and Lilah got to know each other very well. Jenna was fascinated by Lilah’s tough-talking street smarts and her knowledge of how to avoid the dangers of the city. Lilah had been curious and impressed by Jenna’s passion for learning and ability to confidently handle
the “grown-up” world of Omphalos—especially with things like managing money, a skill Lilah had never been taught. Lilah had taught Jenna the ins and outs of avoiding the criminal element of Omphalos, while Jenna had taught Lilah how to negotiate a contract, interview for a job, and get bills paid.
When Jenna had entered the University, she, Lilah, and Lilah’s brothers had gotten an apartment contract together in a dilapidated section of town, but it was near the University, and it was their own place. Lilah had worked in a nightclub, at first just waiting tables, and then performing (she had an amazing voice), while Jenna had attended classes and relentlessly pursued her goal of becoming an architect. Her brothers had both managed to finish second school (something Lilah never did), and they had both enlisted in the Armada when they came of age at seventeen. Lilah and Jenna had been together so long now that they were practically sisters—and Jenna felt that she was closer to Lilah than she had ever been to her sister Andie (though that thought made her cringe guiltily). Eventually, not long before Jenna had met Zane, Lilah had managed to get hired on at the trendy Marquee nightclub in downtown Omphalos. She now made considerably more in tips than Jenna did as an architect. But she still had that old childhood resentment—originally imparted by her grumbling victim of a father and later grown from her own desperate covetousness when she’d had nothing—against anyone who had a lot of money.
Jimmy didn’t seem bothered by Lilah’s semihostile attitude toward him at all. He was the most even-keeled man she had met yet. It was kind of a nice change. He offered right away to pitch in and help them get things packed.
With Jimmy’s help (including calling in some takeout dinner), they finally packed the last of the boxes not long after sunset. It had been a long, exhausting day.
“Now what?” Lilah groaned. “Did you get lucky and find us an apartment?”
“No,” Jenna said. “I commed everyone I know, but so far no one knows of any open contracts, or even anyone willing to sublet to us. I did rent us a storage unit for tomorrow, though. We’ll just have to find a way to get all of this stuff over there.”
The Quintan Edge (Roran Curse Book 2) Page 3
