Her margarita drained and her eyes tired, Teagan crawled inside the back of her truck. With a topper, a hunk of particle board creating a raised bed frame over the wheel wells, and a layer of thick memory foam over that, she had a comfy place to sleep and could stow all her books and belongings underneath. She opened her windows to let the air circulate, and gave a big sigh.
When she grabbed her phone and checked her email, all she’d gotten was a message from a student complaining that his grade wasn’t as high as it should have been.
Teagan rolled her eyes. “That’s what happens when you don’t show up to class, dumbass.”
Go to sleep. Tomorrow’s a busy day.
The next morning, the Arizona sun was already ablaze as Teagan slathered on sunscreen and put on a hat. She glanced around the campground, surprised by the number of campers and RVs visiting the area, even at that time of year. It was six in the morning and the temperature was comfortable. After filling her hydration pack with water and slipping it on, she stowed her key in her shorts pocket and walked to the trailhead.
Golden soil. A vivid blue sky. No flowers, though. It was too late in the season for that. When she spotted all the spiny succulents and silver-leafed shrubs, she recalled Grandpa Larry explaining how desert plants had evolved to survive in hot, low-water conditions. Her father had always found her grandpa’s scientific tidbits tedious, but Teagan loved them. Yet, as she grew older, she too learned that others didn’t always share her fascination with science and had learned to keep her curiosity quiet.
As she reached the main trail and began the hiking loop, she spotted another hiker ahead. A man. She hesitated for a moment. Growing up, her parents told her scary stories about women hiking alone. And although she’d never had any trouble in all her years of hiking the Four Corners states, wandering the trails with a strange man demanded caution, especially with no one else around. But then a smallish brown and white dog sauntered just ahead of him. Somehow, a man with a cute dog seemed less threatening.
Teagan hiked up the switchbacks of the steep hill. Despite her brisk pace, she never caught up to the guy and his dog. She was already sweating and had gone through several gulps of water, but the early morning breeze refreshed her and she already felt better after a handful of crappy days. Plus, the higher she went, the more amazing the views.
When she reached the loop’s highest point, it gave her a nearly 360-degree vista. It didn’t come close to matching the view from the top of a 13,000-foot peak in Colorado, but there was something about the vastness of the desert that impressed her. Suddenly, she wished Grandpa Larry were there, sharing it with her, offering up a factoid or two about the geology or plant life.
She continued on. After almost 90 minutes, it was already getting pretty hot and she looked forward to a cool shower. Once she reached the trailhead, the guy she’d seen stood near a white, full-sized Chevy truck, his muscular arms crossed in front of him. He stood with perfect posture, his chin up other than to glance down at his dog, who lapped up water from a nylon collapsable bowl. He wore a baseball hat and sunglasses, but she could see his blond, tightly cut hair. Definitely military. Teagan tried avoid staring, but it wasn’t easy. Not with those arms and that masculine confidence.
He wore a shirt that said “Army.” He was probably stationed at Fort Huachuca, just a few miles down the road. He glanced over at her, offering only a tiny nod before he drank from his water bottle and checked his watch.
Realizing someone else had arrived, Army Dude’s dog looked up from his water bowl and eyed her. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw how much he looked like Harry. She smiled at him and said hello, and he immediately ran over to her.
“Patton!” came a deep, commanding voice.
The dog ignored the command, as did Teagan. “Hey, buddy!” She kneeled and petted his smooth fur as his tail wagged wildly. He could be Harry’s younger brother.
She heard a sharp whistle. “Patton!” came the order again, louder this time. Patton hesitated for just a moment before scampering back. Army Dude leashed him, muttering something mildly chastising as Patton resumed lapping up his water.
Teagan grinned. “Patton, huh? Is he a four-star general, too?” She hoped Mr. Serious would appreciate her attempt at humor. But he didn’t. Not even a tiny smile.
“My wife—ex-wife—named him,” he said. “Wouldn’t have been my choice.”
“At least you got him in the divorce.”
“True.” He bent down to give Patton a vigorous petting and poured more water into his bowl.
“He’s very cute. I once had a dog who looked just like him.”
“He’s a good boy.” Even though he wore sunglasses, she could see him look her up and down. “Did you have a good hike?”
“I did. It’s a lot hotter than what I’m used to, but a sweaty hike is better than no hike.”
“Where are you from?”
“Denver.”
He nodded. “I like Colorado. I have a friend in Colorado Springs, in the Air Force.” When Patton finished drinking and sauntered toward Teagan again, his leash stopped him. Army Dude reluctantly let it go and she kneeled down to scratch Patton’s ears. “You’re such a sweetie,” she cooed to him. “Yes you are.” She glanced at her watch.
“Patton,” came the command again. “Time to go.” Patton obeyed this time.
Teagan stood up. “Can you point me to a place with decent coffee nearby, and maybe a quick breakfast?”
“There’s a place in Benson.” He gestured north. “It’s the only good one around here. It’s called Blake’s.”
“Great. Thanks.” She waved to Patton. “Bye Patton!” She offered a quick wave to Army Dude and left. As she headed toward the campground, she couldn’t help but glance behind her and sneak one last peek. When she did, she caught Army Dude watching her.
He quickly looked away.
Chapter Three
Teagan pulled into Blake’s parking lot at 8:15. The place was busy, its wooden tables strewn with newspapers and packed with people chatting and sipping their coffee.
She ordered a medium latte and a breakfast burrito, deciding to take it with her. There were no empty tables in the entire place, and she needed to be at the convention center by ten to set up before the showroom floor opened at eleven.
As she stood aside and waited for her order, she spotted a familiar cute dog under one of the tables. When Patton saw her, he lifted his head and his tail began to wag. She smiled and waved at him. Army Dude sat reading the paper, his hat on the table, revealing a head of sandy blond hair. He didn’t see her.
The barista called Teagan’s name and she grabbed her coffee and burrito and headed toward the door. She glanced over at Army Dude again, wanting to acknowledge him for recommending Blake’s… and to catch one last glimpse of him. What was it about him, exactly? He wasn’t even her type, not that she had a type anymore. This time, his eyes met hers. Still no smile or any sign of welcome. Before she could mouth her thank you, he motioned to his other chair.
Teagan hesitated, suddenly feeling self-conscious. She decided to take the offered seat. Army Dude glanced at her hair, staring at it for a moment. She knew why. He was surprised at its pinkness, something far less obvious on the trail, when she had her hat on. But he said nothing about it.
“Thank you for sharing,” she said, reaching down to pet Patton again, who’d come over to her side. “It’s busy in here.”
Gray-blue eyes gazed at her for a moment. “You’re welcome,” came the deep voice. He returned to his newspaper.
Teagan unwrapped her burrito, deciding not to force her silent table partner into conversation just because he shared his table with her. As she ate, Patton watched her, his big brown eyes zeroed in on her breakfast.
“Patton,” came the warning voice. Patton left Teagan’s side and resumed his place under the table.
Teagan giggled and glanced at Army Dude, whose eyes met hers again. A tingle ran through her, and she couldn’t
tell if she was intimidated or turned on. Finally, he put his newspaper aside and sipped his coffee.
“What brings you to Arizona?”
“Tucson Comic Con. It starts in a couple of hours.” She didn’t ask if he knew of it. These days, the average person knew about comic conventions.
He nodded. He had long eyelashes. Really long. The kind women envied but only men seemed to get. “What goes on at one of those things?”
“They’re for people who like comic books or superheroes, or for anyone who loves science fiction or fantasy.”
“What do people do there?”
“They go to panels about topics pertaining to nerd culture. They dress up and enter costume contests. It’s a good place to buy art or books or other stuff… and at most of them, you can meet celebrities and get photos with them. Like William Shatner or other actors from TV and movies…”
“They don’t have comic con in your neck of the woods?”
“They do. A big one, actually.”
“Then why come all the way out here?”
To avoid my asshole ex. “Oh… well, I’m not attending as a fan. I’m exhibiting. I’m an author… I write science fiction.”
He nodded again, not appearing particularly interested. That was the thing about her vocation, and about going to conventions—people either got it, or they didn’t. And it didn’t surprise her that a military man had no interest in such things.
“What about you?” she said. “Wait, don’t tell me. Military. And if I had to guess, Army. And—I’m really stabbing in the dark here—you’re stationed at Fort Huachuca.” She grinned, hoping he might appreciate her humor this time around.
The right side of his mouth turned up just slightly. His version of a smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
“And what do you do there, Captain?” she asked, choosing a rank that sounded high enough to be flattering but not so high as to seem ass-kissy.
“Major, actually.”
“Is that higher?”
He nodded.
“Sorry, I only know naval ranks.”
“Why’s that?”
She shrugged. “They use them in Star Trek.”
He stared at her for a moment. “So you aren’t just working these nerd conventions. You’re one of them.”
She laughed. “Pretty much.”
“I thought ‘nerd’ was an insult.”
“It used to be. Times have changed.” She paused. “What kind of work do you do at Fort Huachuca?”
“I work at USAICS, the Intelligence Center and School.”
“Oh, so the fort has a school to train intelligence officers?”
“The school. We’re the headquarters… we train everyone.”
“Wow. That’s… impressive. Do you like working there?”
“I do.”
She nodded, about a hundred other questions rolling through her mind. But she stopped herself, not wanting to grill him, especially with questions he probably got tired of answering for ignorant civilians like herself. She checked her watch: 8:35, which meant she needed to get on the road.
Army Dude noticed. “Time to go?”
“I’m afraid so. I have a long day and weekend ahead of me.”
“This thing goes all weekend?”
She nodded, finishing off her burrito before she stood up.
“Maybe I’ll come check it out,” he said. “I always liked comic books as a kid.”
Teagan halted, staring at him. “You did? Then you should come!” An idea came to her. “In fact, I have an extra exhibitor’s badge if you want it. It gets you in for free all weekend, and you won’t have to wait in line.” When Army Dude hesitated at that, his brows raised in surprise, Teagan backpedaled. “Don’t worry, this isn’t some nerdy ploy to hit on you. I’m done with men.”
“Why’s that?”
“You aren’t the only one dealing with a recent divorce, Major.”
It was like his tough-guy facade suddenly gave way. His entire expression changed, like he was glad to know that someone else had experienced the special joy that only divorce could offer. “No shit,” he said.
“No shit.”
He managed a smile at that.
“So you do smile!” she teased. “Good to know.”
He chuckled, despite some effort to avoid doing so. Teagan laughed too. Making serious people laugh was one of her favorite activities in life. She dug through her leather hobo bag for the badges Willy had mailed her. She found one and handed it to him. “There you go.”
“You don’t have to do that. I can pay you.”
She shook her head. “No need. I get two free badges when I do these things. I have no use for the other one, so you might as well take it. If you decide to come, great. If not, nothing lost.”
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Teagan put her bag over her shoulder and gathered her trash. “It was nice talking with you. Thanks again for the seat.” She offered her hand. “What’s your name?”
“Aaron.”
When he put his warm hand in hers and gave her a firm shake, a current of electricity spread from her hand to the rest of her body.
“I’m Teagan,” she finally managed to say. “If you go, come by Author Row and say hello.” Teagan said goodbye to Patton, waved to Aaron, and left.
As she got into her truck and drove off, she could still feel the tingling from his hand touching hers.
Chapter Four
“I know you! You’re Teagan McAlister! I loved your Mulgong Valley trilogy!”
Teagan grinned at the young woman with the thick glasses. She was still a relatively unknown author, so when a comic con employee recognized her name, it brought a smile to her face. “I’m so glad! If you like stories about aliens, have you read the first book in my other series?”
“I haven’t. Is it on Amazon?”
Teagan dug through one of the boxes stacked on her dolly, pulling out a book and handing it to the bespectacled woman. “Here you go. Enjoy.”
Her eyes lit up. “Thank you! You’re so sweet.” She searched her list of names until she found Teagan’s. She highlighted it and handed her a program. “Willy sent you your badges already, right?”
Teagan nodded. “Got ‘em.”
She pointed. “Just follow the others to the showroom.”
Teagan lugged her heavy dolly across the convention hall to her table, still sweating from having to haul it three blocks in 100-degree heat. And she still had to go back for a second load. On the showroom floor, exhibitors pushed carts and carried boxes in all directions, scrambling to set up their displays of goods before the doors opened to throngs of people in less than an hour. Teagan found Author’s Row and dumped off her stuff. After retrieving the second load, she gulped her root beer, thankful for the AC, and began setting up her display banners and stacks of books.
The other author tables had books of all kinds, their covers showing everything from vampires to dragons to dark planets with looming spaceships. She introduced herself to the authors on either side of her as she rushed to get set up, knowing she wouldn’t be quite ready when the showroom opened. She preferred setting up earlier, giving her a chance to talk with other authors and look around before she got stuck behind a table all day. Her lingering to chat with Army Dude—Aaron—had cost her that time.
She giggled to herself. So serious, that guy. Was he always so reserved, or was he still nursing a few bruises from getting pummeled by divorce? Hell, he probably couldn’t stand the thought of women any more than she could stand the thought of men.
Yeah, he was hot. The way he looked at her sent currents through her, the good kind. She was off men, but she wasn’t blind. She had needs, for crying out loud, and she could almost imagine him quenching them. But then she shook her head. Nope. That was the last thing she needed.
He wouldn’t show anyway. He was probably too busy to brave the heat, the hour-long drive, and all the crowds. Only a true nerd would go to such efforts.
Which was kind of too bad. A guy like Aaron could inspire a character for a future book. Handsome, military, interesting job… he even had leading man potential. Of course, she’d have to switch him from Army to Navy. She wrote sci-fi, and sci-fi took place on starships. Starships were ships, and ships were Navy domain. At least that’s what she told herself to avoid learning a new set of ranks.
She giggled at Aaron’s reaction to her explaining how she knew naval ranks. The look on his face was priceless, as if the notion that she was a hardcore nerd—a nerd with pink hair—had fully cemented in his mind. At one time, admitting her love of Star Trek would have embarrassed her, especially around a hot guy. She cared about such things once, and look where it got her—hiding behind tacos while her ex traipsed by with Harry and his purple-flowered lady, and Hannah looked at her like everyone did. With pity. So, now, she no longer cared what men thought of her nerd-dom.
Shawn had never understood her nerdy side, either. Near the end, he’d made a couple of cutting remarks about it in front of his friends, including calling her a dork. “Dork” was still considered derogatory, and even one of his friends grimaced at the comment and glanced at her. She laughed it off. What could she do? Get angry? Then she’d be humorless bitch instead of dork. If she had it to do over, she’d toss a few choice names right back at him. Or just have Big Ben go rough him up a little.
Although, there were better ways to exact revenge. In her next book, she could cast her ex as some hapless warrior who gets charred by an energy beam. Or, even better, a hapless warrior who gets kidnapped and placed in some dark room, where a hot military intelligence officer with long eyelashes grills him with questions until he cracks…
Afterglow (Four Corners Book 1) Page 2
