by Robert Ross
“You guys were the only ones with Laser Disks and Internet, where else was I going to go?”
She smirked at him, “Whatever. Are you staying for dinner? I need to know how much chopping Mr. Herrick there needs to do. We’re having Carnitas.”
Thomas rolled his eyes at his wife as he slid next to her picking up a knife to begin chopping that assembled onions and peppers.
“No, I was really just here to talk with Juliet about something and thought you guys would be interested in, wait, what? Carnitas?” Kellan looked around and quickly spied a pressure cooker on the kitchen island. It was counting down with a bright 12 on its screen. “Twelve minutes to go? Hell, yeah, I’m staying.”
Rachel laughed, “Well then put that mystery envelope in the mail cozy and make yourself useful by clearing the crap off the table so we can eat.”
“Yes ma’am Mrs. Herrick.” Kellan said with a chuckle in his voice.
She gave him a sidewise glance. “Shut the fuck up Kellan.”
“See!” Kellan yelled triumphantly, “It’s all her fault.”
“It always is,” replied Thomas, “but not at all wise to point it out. Remember, don’t taunt happy fun-ball.”
Rachel glanced to Kellan, her face serious, as she nodded in agreement. “Table. Now.”
Kellan Thorne, second Sentinel of Creation, swallowed hard, deposited his folder on the counter and proceeded to clear the table.
Juliet slid to a stop, her sock covered feet scooting across the tile. Her eyes washed over the room. “Kel? What are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you, too, Juliet,” responded Kellan as he set the last plate down on the dark walnut trestle table. “I see you’ve taken to heart Lady Granthum’s guide for dinner dress: Meals taken between six and eight require XL Minnie Mouse t-shirts with matching pajama pants and socks.”
Juliet glanced down and her face reddened. “Kellan Thorne, you can just F—“
“Juliet—“ said Thomas and Rachel simultaneously, their voice steeped in mock seriousness.
“Frak off,” continued Juliet. Her parents nodded appreciatively.
“I will happily frak off after dinner, Miss Herrick, but right now I am about to enjoy your mother’s amazing carnitas. As for why I am here, that can wait a second, but I wager you are gonna feel really guilty for being mean to me once you find out.”
“No I won’t,” she responded petulantly.
“Harrumph,” said Thomas.
“Well, I won’t,” said Juliet again, her hands going unconsciously to her hips.
“You probably will,” began Thomas, “but that’s not why I ‘harrumphed,’” He stared and his daughter locking his eyes with hers. “Ha—rumph,”
“Oh,” Juliet said, her face breaking into a grin. “Sorry, Daddy, I didn’t hear you come home earlier.” Then she pranced over and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Better?”
“Yep. All’s right with the world.”
“Ok, everyone!” Rachel called out. “Grab a plate and have at it.”
“Woot!” yelled Kellan grabbing his plate and dashing to the counter where he slathered a tortilla with guacamole, pico de gallo, jalapeño, and a pile of shredded pork.
“Someone’s hungry,” laughed Rachel.
“Yeah and polite guests wait their turn,” chided Juliet.
“Pfft…I’ve known your parents longer than you have and I’m not a guest, am I Rach?”
“No, you are not a guest, Kellan.”
“See. The matriarch hath spoken.”
“If I had wanted a stupid older brother, I would have asked Mom and Dad to adopt someone,” Juliet grumbled. “You are as bad as Jonny and he’s half your age.”
“He’s no way as bad as Jonny,” answered Rachel and Thomas.
“Stop doing that!” yelled Juliet.
“What?” they said in unison looking innocent.
“God! I hate you all.”
Thomas laughed, “Ok, Julie-boo-bear, but Kellan really would have to be kind of a stupid Uncle. Since we were only around sixteen or seventeen when he was born. That about right Kellan?”
Kellan had already seated himself at the table and taken a huge bite of his carnitas wrap. “Yup,” he managed around the mouthful.
“And,” Rachel began, “I was pure as the driven snow at sixteen while your father was far too much of a nerd to even have touched a girl outside of his dad’s Playboys.”
Thomas feigned sadness and slowly nodded.
“Gross, Mom,” said Juliet as she filled her plate.
“But, five years later,” Rachel continued, “boy he sure knew his way around the ol’ TARDIS. Right, hunny-bunny?” she asked going up on her toes to give Thomas a quick peck on the lips.
“If you say so, babe.”
“Bigger on the inside,” said Kellan around another bite of food.
“Oh, shut up, Kel,” sail Juliet with a glare, “You are just trying to upset my stomach so you can have seconds.”
He grinned.
Moments later everyone was contentedly eating, the lively banter having given way to the easy small talk common to families and intimate friends. To his joy, there ended up being enough extra for Kellan to have the seconds he wanted so desperately.
“Babe, that was the bomb,” said Thomas sliding his end of the bench seat back from the table and standing up. Juliet and Kellan murmured words of agreement as they, too, moved to stand.
“Kel, you mind hanging out and helping me clean up so Rach can chill out on the porch?”
Kellan flashed a smile, “Sure thing. Small price to pay for such awesomeness.”
Juliet peered over her half-full wine glass at her mother. She had her legs folded under her in the chair and rocked back slightly.
Rachel snickered. “Why do you look so anxious?”
“Mom, have you met me? Anxious is my middle name. Juliet Anxious Herrick. Now what do you think he has up his sleeve?”
“I’ve really no idea.” Rachel said and Juliet stared at her in clear disbelief. “Honestly, I have no earthly idea what he wanted to talk to you about. I bet it has something to do with that folder he brought.”
“You didn’t tell him about Glenn, did you? Oh my god, Mom, tell me you didn’t. He’s going to make my life a living hell.” Juliet took a gulp of wine and reached for the bottle.
Rachel laughed again. “Relax, you asked me to keep it to myself so I have, but I really don’t see what the big deal is. You’re nineteen and nineteen year old women date men. I mean if your father is ok with Glenn that why are you nervous about Kellan?”
“Because Daddy is all smoke and no fire.” Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Ok, yes, if Glenn were to actually hurt me, Dad would dig a hole, fill it with lye and we’d never see Glenn again, but barring that…”
“And what do you think Kellan will do, exactly?”
“He’s going to tease me mercilessly, for one.”
“He does that already.”
“I just don’t want him doing something stupid.”
“Like what,” asked Rachel smiling.
“I dunno,” began Juliet as she drained her second glass, “light him on fire, pepper him with icicle daggers, send him back in time to live to death.”
“What?”
Juliet froze, her hand on the wine bottle and forced out a laugh.
“Nothing, just kidding, Mom. I don’t know what he’ll do but it will be something stupid and embarrassing.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes and took the bottle from her daughter. “I think you’ve had enough, lightweight.”
“Who’s a lightweight,” asked Thomas as he and Kellan strolled onto the porch, “Certainly not you, my love.” He bent down and kissed Rachel. “Kitchen is all spic and span!”
She smiled up at him. “Thanks babe. Your daughter is the lightweight.”
“Oh, well, I should hope so since she’s only 19 and wouldn’t be drinking at all if not for your corruptive influence.”
Both Herrick wome
n rolled their eyes in unison.
“How do they coordinate it like that,” asked Kellan?
“It’s just one of their many super powers, Kel. They also get their periods at the same time which is all sorts of fun.”
Rachel and Juliet shook their head while staring daggers at Thomas.
“Yeah, that one should be filed under TMI,” said Kellan as he sat down placing the folder on the table before him.
Juliet reached for it, saw his eyes flash green for the barest of seconds, and felt the folder adhere to the table as if weighted down. Kellan gave her a subtle shake of the head and his mouth curved up slightly.
She glanced at her parents, but Rachel had turned to give Thomas room to sit down. Juliet sighed in relief. She looked back to Kellan who wore a smug expression that made her want to smack him, mouthed the word, “Idiot,” then crossed her arms and glowered at him.
“Ok Kellan,” began Rachel. “You’ve been fed and you’ve tortured our daughter with your mysterious folder.”
“You know she has anxiety issues, right?” asked Thomas with a smirk.
“Really?” asked Kellan, “Well if only I had known…”
“Have I mentioned that I hate you all,” growled Juliet. “Hate, hate, hate—“
“Loathe entirely!” all four said in unison with a laugh.
As the laughter faded, Kellan said, “Well, you know how Juliet has been getting her degree in American Sign Language, right?”
“Really?” began Thomas, “Is that what all that finger waving is about? I thought she was developing a tick.”
Rachel punched him then said, “Go on, Kellan. My ex-husband knew that was rhetorical and is just being an ass.”
Kellan nodded, nonplussed, and continued, “Well, I’m going to have to be traveling a lot more over the next year or so because I’ve been asked to accept a fellowship at Emory in their Humanities department. I’ll be seeking out rare books and helping the University curate them.”
“Wow, that’s great, Kellan,” said Rachel. “You must be very excited. Sounds like it’s right up your alley.”
“Yeah it is pretty cool, but that means I’m going to be away from the shop for long periods of time.”
“I can manage the store, Kel. You know that,” said Juliet warily, unsure where he was going.
“I know you can. I know that. But it may be hard with your studies and just normal life stuff to cover all the times I will be gone. And, there may be decisions to make while I am,” he paused, “um, unavailable.”
“Unavailable?” asked Thomas. “Kel, there are these amazing devices called mobile phones. You carry them with you and people can reach you anytime they want.”
“Not any time, Dad,” Juliet said as she locked her eyes on Kellan’s, worry entering her voice. “How long would you be unavailable Kellan?”
“Well, there’s really no telling. Just depends on where I have to go. You know, for the books.”
“Right, for the books,” she echoed.
“Anyway, here’s the deal. I’d be asking a lot of you Juliet and I don’t want to unduly distract you from your studies, especially since your parents are paying for your tuition. So, I want to make some changes at the shop.” Kellan opened the folder and took out a sheaf of papers, placing them in front of Juliet. “I want to give you half ownership of my bookshop. We’d be partners not employer and employee anymore.”
Juliet raised her hand to her mouth and her parents both glanced at each other. They all knew how much the bookshop meant to Kellan and how hard he had worked to make it successful.
“Kel,” said Juliet, “No, Kel, that is crazy talk.”
“It’s not crazy talk at all. You will be running the place when I’m not around and I’ve thought this through. I know you. You will drive yourself crazy wondering what I would do if I were there because you wouldn’t want to screw up my bookstore. This way when you screw up, you’ll be screwing up our bookstore.”
Juliet became noticeably pale and Kellan caught himself and said, “That sounded better in my head.”
Rachel reached over and patted Juliet’s hand, “Breathe girlie, it’s gonna be fine.”
Juliet looked down, eyes running over the partnership papers in front of her:
Belove’ed Books LLC
Kellan Thorne, Proprietor — 49%
Juliet Herrick, Proprietor — 49%
Thomas & Rachel Herrick, Tiebreaker’s N Chief — 2%
She snorted despite herself and spun the papers so her parents could read.
“Ha, Tiebreakers N’ Chief,” said Thomas. “I like the sound of that. Sounds important. Then again, I have no idea why it would be needed. I mean you two always agree on everything and never fight.” Rachel nudged him and he fell silent.
Juliet had turned the papers back around and they saw her trace her fingers along her name, eyes welling up as she turned to Kellan. “For true, Kel?”
He smiled at her and reached over to set a pen on the papers, “For true and always, Juliet.”
She looked up at her parents who both smiled and nodded then took up the pen and signed, Juliet Herrick, Proprietor.
“Congratulations,” said Kellan clapping his hands, “You own a bookshop!”
Juliet slid out her chair and wrapped her arms around Kellan’s shoulders giving him a kiss on the cheek while whispering directly in his ear, “Mr. Sentinel, if you get yourself killed while I’m tending this shop, I’m going to burn it to the fucking ground.”
She felt him tense and smiled beatifically as she returned to her seat then pointed at the bottle. “This calls for a toast dontcha think?”
Kellan jogged up the alley stairs that led to the back of the bookshop, unlocked the door and slipped silently inside as an evil grin spread across his face.
“Just because she’s my partner now doesn’t mean I can’t scare the shit out of her, now does it?” he whispered to himself. Kellan paused for a few heartbeats with his left hand on the knob to his small back office, reconsidering. Then he shook his head slightly, “Of course it doesn’t.”
Twisting the knob, he rushed into the room, eyes blazing and a ball of sparking energy rotating in his outstretched right hand. “Arrrahhhh wha?” His primal yell cut off before it he could really get it going as Kellan’s eyes took in the scene and he instinctually bent time to a crawl.
Juliet sat on the desk, facing the door, her eyes locked on Kellan’s. Her head was tilted as she was clearly engaged in kissing the person in front of her. Her ankles were crossed behind his calves as he stood between them. One of her hands gently cradled the back of his neck while the other held a handful of short black hair.
Kellan cocked his head. She clearly likes him, he thought. Then, glancing down at the still rotating ball of pure electrical power he held, I’m gonna kill him.
Time was slowed, but not stopped, and Kellan saw Juliet’s eyes slowly widen as the young man’s head tried to turn, reacting to the sound of Kellan’s noisy entry. She increased her grip, keeping him facing forward as Kellan strained to slow time further.
He walked into the room and circled around the two, careful to keep enough distance between himself and the unknown man to prevent him from being caught in Kellan’s time distortion bubble.
He looked to be in his early twenties, was wearing jeans, some kind of imprinted t-shirt, a hoodie, and red converse high tops.
Props for that Kellan thought, then added, Don’t get attached to the boy you are about to vaporize. Be analytical.
Kellan knew that even with time slowed to a trickle, he could be seen if he stood still for too long so continued circling while taking a few unnecessary back and forth steps. He would just appear like a blurring outline to them both, but Kellan saw how Juliet’s eyes tracked him.
Uh oh, those eyes are starting to look mad, he thought as he moved past the boy’s line of sight once again standing behind them.
“Careful Kellan,” he said softly. “Focus and be very careful or this could
go very wrong.” With that self admonition, Kellan dismissed the energy ball and tightened his time distortion so it felt almost like a second skin with even some of the hairs on his arms extending past it causing a tingle up and down. Kellan reached out and gently touched the back of Juliet’s hand bringing her into his frame of reference. Instantly her face slid to his left just enough to she could see him fully.
“Hi Juliet!” Kellan began brightly. “I see you are working hard to keep our business humming along. As you may recall, we were going to review Quickbooks this morning and I was going to give you all the various account codes n’ such.”
“Well,” she began, but he interrupted.
“Oh, yeah, by-the-by, who is the Korean boy that you’ve attached yourself to like the Kraken pulling down a ship.”
“He’s Glenn. Glenn is my boyfriend.”
“Oh, great. He seems nice.” Kellan gestured with his right hand and a portal rotated into view through which could be seen deep alien looking forrest of huge trees and twisted ferns. “I’m gonna send him back in time to live to death.”
“No, you are not going to Weeping Angel my boyfriend, Kellan Thorne! I’m a grown woman not some adolescent. Stop being an asshole before he picks up on something. If you screw this up because of your Sentinel’ness, I’m never going to forgive you.”
“Pffft, you totally would forgive me.”
Her face went hard. “Not for a very very long time. I’m serious. I really like him and you will too.”
Kellan stomped his foot. “Fine, but why couldn’t you just stay fourteen?” With that he returned to the door and turned, keeping an thin tendril of power connected to Juliet like the finest spider silk. “Get ready and, for the record, I hate you being 19.”
“I am ready,” she growled.
Kellan smiled tilting his head, “Really, you want our asian Romeo there to wonder why he’s been kissing your chin? Put your lips back.”
“Oh, crap.” Her face disappeared from view until only the eyes were visible again. She winked at him and Kellan snapped back into normal time.
