by Lizzy Ford
Kiera’s Moon
By Lizzy Ford
Edited by Christine LePorte
Cover art and design by Dafeenah
http://dafeenah-hiddentreasure.blogspot.com/
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Copyright 2011 by Lizzy Ford
Smashwords Edition
Cover art and design copyright 2011 by Dafeenah
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CHAPTER ONE
Kiera settled at an uncomfortable angle, the sandpapery red roofing snagging her polyester disco clothing and preventing her from sliding over the nearby edge of the three-story row house. A warm, late spring breeze held just a dash of chill, which was kept at bay by the internal warmth of the three margaritas she’d downed less than an hour before. Evelyn, her best friend and landlord, shifted beside her before waving a manicured hand at the clear night above them and asking,
“Ever wonder what’s out there?”
“Sure. I think everyone does,” Kiera answered.
“Do you think people reeeeeeally want to know?”
“That’s pretty philosophical for a blonde.”
“You’re so wroooong!”
Kiera giggled. The dinner party Evelyn threw to celebrate Kiera’s first commissioned piece of art had been a success, as was expected. The bombshell blonde always threw good dinner parties with fun themes; this theme had been Disco Night, complete with lava lamps, disco ball, tacky ‘70s music that still jammed out the open windows, and costumes for those who chose to wear them. They’d gone shopping at the local Goodwill for their polyester outfits.
“Well, do you?” Evelyn whispered.
Kiera’s thoughts, warm and fuzzy after too much of Evelyn’s special punch, drifted as she gazed into the quiet night sky.
“Do I what?” she asked.
“Think people really want to know what’s out there?”
“Probably not. People don’t know what they want, Evelyn, or life wouldn’t suck.”
“It doesn’t really suck,” Evelyn sang in such a happy voice that Kiera rolled her eyes.
“Not for you! You haven’t been home in, like, three months, and when you’re here, it’s all Rum-ass this, Rum-ass that,” she complained.
“Romas!” Evelyn corrected with another giggle. “Stop calling him that!”
“Whatever.”
“You’re so bitter!” Evelyn’s giggle turned into outright laughter.
“Don’t laugh at me!” Kiera managed a hurt tone and rolled on her side to frown at her blurry best friend of fifteen years. “Why are you laughing at me?”
Evelyn didn’t stop for a full minute. She wiped her eyes and drew a shuddering breath.
“You’re so cute, and so funny, Kiera,” she sighed, and giggled again.
“Puppies are cute. I’m fierce!”
“Yeah!” Evelyn snorted. “Romas says you’re as fierce as a kitten.”
“A kitten?” Kiera’s tone grew more hurt. “I’m not afraid of him, just because he’s twelve feet tall and can bench press me with his toes. It’s not nice of him to say that.”
“It’s nicer than your nickname for him,” Evelyn pointed out. “He wants to hook you up with his brother, by the way.”
“No!”
“You’ve never met him!”
“If he’s half as alpha-male as Rum-ass, hell no!” Kiera snapped.
“And why did you dump Brian?”
Kiera was quiet and flopped onto her back.
“Didn’t you say he was an indecisive sissy?” Evelyn prodded. “He wasn’t a lightweight either. I saw him box.”
“I’m not interested,” Kiera said. “Men are heartache and more trouble than they’re worth. Either they’re huge babies you have to take care of, or they want to lock you in their palace with eunuchs.”
“Well, you could at least meet them. He has seven brothers. Maybe one of them will fall somewhere in the middle of your man-scale.”
“Omigod. No!”
“What do you think?” Evelyn prodded again.
“I’m not going on blind dates or being hooked up with hairy alpha males.”
“No, about the aliens.”
“What aliens?” Kiera asked.
“You know, the ones out there.” Evelyn tossed a hand toward the dark night sky again.
“I don’t know,” Kiera answered. “I imagine if there are aliens, they’ve been discreet for a reason. I don’t see any reason to change that.”
“You don’t want to see other worlds?”
“Other worlds?” she echoed. “I want to explore mine first! I’ve never been to Europe, or Africa, or anywhere yet. I paint what I think they look like, but I want to see them. I like the sun and sky and ocean— what is there to say other worlds have those?”
“I guess.” Evelyn sounded unusually pensive. “But if it were a world like ours, I imagine it would be okay, right?”
“You mean a kind of other dimension thing, where it’s really earth just in a different way?”
“No, a different world completely, but similar in that it has a sun, moon, oceans, grass, and stuff.”
“Oh,” Kiera murmured. The conversation was almost too serious for her muddled thoughts to follow. She sensed Evelyn’s sudden melancholy and tried to focus. “You want to go to another world? Like, with aliens and stuff?”
“It would be neat, don’t you think? Hypothetically speaking …”
“Could you come home when you wanted?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Could you take your cat?”
“Probably not,” Evelyn replied.
“Would there be lots of people there with four arms or something freakish?”
Evelyn giggled, then said, “No.”
“There’d have to be some sort of difference, wouldn’t there?” Kiera’s brow furrowed. “If no two people are alike on our planet, how could we be like anything from somewhere else?”
“I don’t know,” Evelyn admitted.
“I bet they’d be ruled by spiders the size of your car,” Kiera said with a shudder. “Could you imagine?”
“They don’t have spiders,” Evelyn said firmly. “And the people are pretty normal. I imagine I’d want to know if I could come home to visit you.”
“Yes, that’d be cool. I’ll take care of your house while you’re gone,” Kiera offered. Drowsiness was beginning to take hold of her. She closed her eyes, content.
“And the cat,” Evelyn added.
“Okay.”
“But wouldn’t you want to go, too?”
“I’m not sure,” Kiera murmured, hovering at the edge of sleep.
“Would you be afraid?”
“Probably.”
“Maybe you should stay.”
“Probably,” she said. “I guess I could visit for a week, if it means so much to you.”
Evelyn’s happy response was lost as she faded into sleep.
Kiera dreamt of a planet filled with spiders and dinosaurs and awoke in her bed a couple of hours later to the soft sound of her alarm clock going off. She blinked her
bleary eyes, unwilling to move for fear of the distant headache intensifying. The lingering images of recliner-size tarantulas from her dream made her shudder and look around self-consciously to make sure none were in her room. The scent of bacon reached her from the kitchen.
Romas was there. Evelyn only cooked when he spent the night, which would also explain how she ended up in her bed. She recalled falling asleep on the roof and knew Evelyn to be too tipsy to carry or drag her down to her room. Romas had tossed her in bed more than once over the past three months, though he had stopped lecturing her on how unbecoming a lush was to a man looking for a wife.
He had some unworldly views on things, she mused. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, where she had pinned one of her inspiration posters above the bed. This one showed a determined kitty hanging from a tree branch and always made her smile, even when she was hung-over.
“K-K!” Evelyn sang, her voice muffled through the door. “I’m sending in Romas!”
Kiera scowled at the closed door. Romas had no qualms about invading her bedroom to drag her out of bed if Evelyn directed him to. He had no qualms about ordering dinner for her when she went out with them or telling her what to do with her life. He despised her video game playing and art, instead saying she needed a man capable of keeping her feet on the ground long enough for her to focus on doing something real with her life.
“I’m up!” she shouted.
The fact that he worshiped the ground Evelyn walked on and took care of her made Kiera jealous. She’d never dated a man half as handsome, annoying, or caring as Romas, and she expected there were very few men like him to go around.
She stumbled up and crossed to her bathroom to brush her teeth before going out to breakfast. One look at her disheveled ‘70s garb, and she decided to change into pajamas.
When she walked into the kitchen, Evelyn was gazing with adoration up at the huge man, leaning against him in a purely anti-feministic way. Romas was a towering example of male perfection: blond with golden skin and bright blue eyes, a chiseled face and buff body, and tall. Evelyn was six feet tall and Romas a full head taller than her. They made a perfect couple, and Kiera was disgusted at the perfection before her that represented everything she had no hopes of ever attaining.
“Hel-lo, I’m here!” she called. Evelyn gave a brilliant smile, and Romas eyed her. She eyed him back. “You again.”
“Hello, kitten,” he said in his thick accent. She sometimes thought his accent sounded Russian, sometimes Irish.
“Everyone sit!” Evelyn ordered.
Kiera took her usual chair, and Romas ruffled her hair as he passed her. Evelyn brought the last of three trays to the table.
“You didn’t come to the party last night,” Kiera said as she helped herself to eggs before Romas could fill her plate. Serving them was another of his annoying habits. She couldn’t yet determine if the action were pure chauvinism or old-fashioned civility.
“I had business,” Romas said, serving a glowing Evelyn.
“Tell her what kind,” Evelyn urged, squirming in her chair. They exchanged a heated look so intense Kiera blushed. She focused on her food and banged her fork against her plate.
“Romas proposed!” Evelyn exclaimed.
Kiera’s eyes flew up.
“We’re getting married!”
“Wh … bu… ah …” Kiera stuttered. “But … you’ve only known each other for three months! It takes you longer to plan a dinner party, Evey!”
Evelyn laughed. Stunned, Kiera tried to figure out what to say as they both looked expectantly at her.
“Well, what do you think?” Evelyn prodded.
Evelyn had been so happy the past few months, and having Romas around was not that bad. After all, he could fix things around the house that she and Evelyn ignored.
“I think it’s really neat,” she said. “When are you getting hitched?”
“Saturday.”
“Saturday when?”
“This Saturday.”
“In two days?” she asked. “Wow. That’s … wow! Well, congrats!”
Evelyn looked ready to burst. Kiera found she truly was happy for her, though her own happiness was clouded by a sense of sadness and yearning. She’d known Evelyn since they were in elementary school, and she’d been renting a room from her for the past two years since graduating high school. She didn’t want to lose the friend she regarded as a sister.
“Oh, but wait!” she exclaimed. “You won’t kick me out?”
“Not if you behave,” Romas said.
“Of course not! We’re a package deal, right, Romas?” Evelyn grinned. He said nothing. Kiera frowned, concerned by his silence.
“You really don’t like me, Romas?” she asked.
“You’re tolerable,” was the response. Kiera stared at him. He winked with a faint smile, and she relaxed.
“Because I know how alpha males like you work,” she retorted. “You’ll have everything of Evelyn’s put in your name and lock her in her bathroom or something.”
“The bathroom is big enough for both of you,” Romas said.
“Well, congrats anyway,” she said with a sigh. And she smiled, happy for her friend and not too unhappy with her choice of husband-to-be. The couple gave each other another heated look, and she wolfed down her food before leaving them in peace.
An hour later, she dismounted her bike and leaned it against the brick front of the art gallery where her work was displayed. The quaint streets of Pacific Grove were quiet during the weekday, with a small group of women lingering in the midmorning sun at the café on the corner.
“Kevin!” she called as she entered the quiet art gallery. From the outside, it looked like the other small mom-and-pop stores lining the street. Inside, the first and second levels had been combined to create a large, tall space whose walls and ceilings were lined with paintings. She maneuvered through sculptures and other exhibits on the floor to the small office in the back.
Kevin, a small man with a quick smile and trendy glasses, smiled as she opened the door.
“Good to see you, Kiera!” he said, rising to kiss her cheek. “I guess you got my message.”
“Made my day! How many did you sell?” she asked.
“Two of the three you left me. And the best part— one of my best customers wants you to paint Cannery Row. This is your second commissioned art project in two weeks!”
“Awesome, awesome, awesome!” she exclaimed, and clapped her hands. “I can start whenever!”
“I did the paperwork for the sales. Just need your signature,” he said, pulling a file out of one of the drawers in his desk. “Sign away, and I’ll get your cash.”
Thrilled, Kiera looked over the paperwork outlining her first sales. Kevin’s cut was hefty, but she didn’t care: she was a real artist! Kevin crossed his office to the small safe and drew out a small pile of cash.
“I’ll have him come in next week to sit down with you and discuss the project.”
“The same guy bought the paintings?” she asked.
“No. The guy who bought your paintings I’d never seen before. His name is on the paperwork, if you’re curious. It took me some time to convince Mr. Hardy you were the best painter in the area for his Cannery Row project.”
She looked more closely at the paper she’d just signed and flipped the page to the receipt he’d stapled there.
Romas Qatwal.
“Oh, damn you,” she muttered, irritated her first sale was a pity sale and yet thinking even better of Romas for supporting his fiancée’s hopeless friend. “I hope you charged him full price.”
“He didn’t even flinch. Here’s your cut— two thousand and forty three dollars,” Kevin said, and counted out the money on the desk.
She looked at the money, unable to remember when she’d last seen that much in one place before. Her bank account was rarely over two hundred. Her first thought went to Evelyn’s wedding, and another thrill went through her as she realized she could
actually afford something nice for her friend.
“Congrats, Kiera!” Kevin said.
“I know, right? Took long enough. You want me to bring you a couple more paintings? I’ve got three more completed.”
“Definitely. The Cannery Row project will make you a hot commodity around here. Then maybe, just maybe, you’ll go out with me.”
She laughed at his latest attempt to hit on her. With his small frame and bright eyes, he’d always reminded her of an elf of some sort. She’d even included him— in his elf-like form— in one of her paintings depicting a fantastical scene of sea creatures frolicking on a beach.
“Sorry, Kevin,” she said. “You should know better than to date moody artists by now. You’ve been burned by enough of us.”
“I wouldn’t own an art gallery if I didn’t love artists. The art is a bonus,” he said with a wink.
“Keep trying,” she replied with a flirtatious smile. “And thank you for talking me up to Mr. Hardy.”
Kevin shrugged. She leaned forward to give him a quick hug, gathered her money, and left. Rather than return home right away, she explored several small jewelry stores, looking for the perfect gift for Evelyn before she took her daily trip to the gym.
By the time she returned to the large row house, she was looking forward to an addition to their home who may not fear killing spiders and other bugs. She walked into the living room, puzzled to see Evelyn boxing up her bookshelf.
“Making room for Rum-ass’s stuff?” she asked, flinging herself on the couch nearby to watch.
“Um, not really. You might have the house to yourself,” Evelyn said. She pushed blonde hair from her face. “We’re thinking about returning to his place to live.”
“Really?” Kiera frowned. “He’s from San Francisco, right?”
“No, his real home.” Evelyn watched her digest the information.
“You’re leaving me,” Kiera said.
“You can come,” Evelyn offered. “I’d like for you to come.”
“To where?”
“You know how you said you’d like to explore other places?”
“I did?” Kiera asked, thinking hard.
“Last night, on the roof.”
“Vaguely,” she said. “You mean he lives really, really far away?”
“Yeah. Pretty far,” Evelyn replied.
