He got up and walked over to the other side and saw her.
“Abbi?”
Caught by surprise, she turned her head. She’d been looking in the other direction. She had a notebook with her and compact binoculars. She almost dropped them when she saw Chase. She looked so cute as if she’d been caught doing something she ought not to.
“Oh, my God! I had no idea I wasn’t alone. When did you get here?” she asked.
“Not long ago,” he admitted.
“You’re awfully quiet. I didn’t even hear footsteps.”
“Maybe you had your ear plugs in.” Chase pointed to her iPod on the table beside her.
“Oh!” Abbi grinned, looking sheepish. “I had these plugged in earlier.”
He sat down on the empty chair next to her.
“I sometimes like looking up at the stars,” she said. “I know it sounds all crazy but…”
“No. It doesn’t sound crazy at all.”
Abbi smiled. “Thanks for being kind. Everyone thought I was nuts when I was little because I said I wanted to be an astrologer.”
“I think it’s pretty cool. I haven’t met a girl before who liked looking at the stars at night as much as I do.” He noticed her notebook and her handwritten notes. “You taking notes?”
“Yes. I…I’m always writing things down. I like the place. I’m taking notes about the facility, my surroundings. How I feel about the place. I figure, I’ve got some time before my first real shift so why not relax a bit? So glad they offer contract staff a free accommodation considering it’s an isolated location.”
“Yeah, I made sure of it.”
She looked at him funny. “You?”
Chase caught himself. “I mean, I had suggested it in the past to management.”
“And they took your suggestion?” Abbi looked surprised. And rightfully so. Chase was so not good in this deceptive business. Maybe that was a good thing. He could never understand how some guys he’d known in school could be such players and cons when it came to girls. He was a straight shooter and would be up front about everything. He wasn’t used to pretending to be what he wasn’t. “Long story, anyway…” he said, changing the subject. “How did you like the training so far?”
“It’s quite good actually. We don’t have much time to clean the rooms but I think I can get used to it.”
Chase glanced at the binoculars resting in her lap. “You could see much better using a telescope, you know.”
She sighed. “I know. This is all I could afford at the time.”
All I could afford?
Chase was ashamed to think about how he’d never known financial constraints. Money was never an issue. Anything he’d wanted, he’d have handed to him on a silver platter. His folks were always wealthy and well off. Heck, they’d owned almost everything—and the township was named after his ancestors. Here this pretty young thing wanted nothing more than to share a dream he had by looking up at the stars at night, a romantic and relaxing hobby and she couldn’t even afford a telescope. Hardworking and yet the money wasn’t enough. He wanted nothing more than to buy her one—a gold-plated high-optic lens, hand-designed and personally engraved to her. He knew what he was going to surprise her with later.
“Wow,” she continued, then lifted it up again and pressed the lens to her eyes to glance upwards. “It’s breathtaking,” she whispered glancing up at the star-blanketed sky, then sighed again and removed the binoculars from her eyes.
“I know.” Chase gazed into Abbi’s lovely brown eyes. And he wasn’t kidding. The stars weren’t the only beautiful wonder that captured his vision.
“Want a look?” Abbi offered him her binoculars.
“Sure,” he said, taking the binos from her. Their fingers brushed for a moment and he felt a tingle erupt inside him. A grin curled his lips. Even her touch stirred a reaction inside him. Chase thought about what his hands might feel like over her smooth naked skin.
Then he blinked away the thought from his mind. That should be the last thing on his mind, dreaming of his beautiful co-worker naked. But man, wouldn’t he like to romance her beneath the starry night sky out here in the country.
He could see the moon clear as day; the constellations were merely twinkling stars spread in a particular pattern in the dark night sky.
In the distance, Chase could hear music and laughter coming from the main lodge dining room. He guessed they were lucky to be alone right now this evening, since most of the guests and staffers were still inside having dinner.
He set down the binoculars, and his mind drifted for a moment. He remembered the night when his father showed him how to look up at the stars. A bonding father-son moment. One he may never get again when his father’s illness consumes him. His heart squeezed thinking of losing his old man. And wanting nothing more than to make him proud and honor his last wish. But that wasn’t going to be as easy as it sounded. There was still a part of Chase that was broken after what Giline did to him. How could he ever trust another woman?
“Penny for your thoughts,” Abbi’s smooth velvet voice interrupted his reverie. “Sorry, but that’s all I can afford right now.” She grinned. Her dimpled cheeks looked so pinchable in the moonlight. The evening sunset had gradually turned to night as they conversed. The calm breeze caressed their skin.
Chase drew in a deep breath filling his lungs with the crisp mountain air. “I was just thinking about my dad,” he said, his voice low.
“Really? What about?”
Chase looked out at the stars in the distance. “How much he taught me. Stuff like appreciating nature. Not taking anything for granted.”
“Sounds like your father is very wise.”
“Yeah, thanks. Tell me about it.” Chase paused for a moment then continued. For some strange reason he felt oddly comfortable spilling his soul to Abbi. There was something about her in her eagerness to listen to him talk about sentimental stuff, the look of excitement in her eyes.
“You know, he taught me all I needed to know about stargazing. I find it to be kind of relaxing and therapeutic at the same time. And I must admit, I’m addicted to stargazing, just lying back and watching the heavens unfold before me, the sky like a canvas filled with shimmering stars.”
“Oh, God, that sounds so…poetic, Chad.” Abbi seemed genuinely impressed, though he’d been quoting other poets and was probably rambling on.
“It’s nothing. I just say what I feel sometimes. I love it out here, away from the hustle and bustle of city life.”
And that was the truth. He’d been to the craziest nightclubs frequented by only A-listers and who’s who in the upper social circle. He’d been to fashion week in New York, Paris to Milan with his model girlfriends and traveled the world on conventions on super luxury jets decorated in gold-plated fixtures with the most blinged-out assets, but none of that held a candle to appreciating the miracle of the universe.
“I hear you. I feel the same way.” Abbi dreamily looked out on the horizon. “So you like this kind of stuff. Tell me,” she asked, “are you a Trekkie or a Star Wars fan?”
“Both.” Chase grinned. “I love Star Trek and Star Wars. Seen every episode of each. I think you’re my kind of girl. Not many women would even think to ask me that question. What about you, Trekkie or Wars?”
“Both for me too, and I’ve seen every single episode, believe it or not.” Abbi brimmed with pride. “Gosh, look at us two grown sci-fi nerds.”
“I don’t think there’s anything nerdy about you and if there is then that’s got to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said, his voice low. He caught himself too late. He saw goose bumps spring up on her skin. God, was he embarrassing her?
“Thanks,” she said, sheepishly.
Chase wanted to change the subject quickly before Abbi got the wrong impression, though he had been telling the truth. He found her to be more sexy than anything now that he’d found out about her common interests with him. “Out in the country is where I learned about stillness and calm when separated from all that city chaos. Dad told me it’s a great way to be in tune with nature, the planets, constellations, galaxies visible by telescope…”
“That’s true,” Abbi agreed.
“Astronomy’s more than just a fascinating hobby.”
“Hear, hear.”
“My old man read me a psalm once and told me that we’re mere speckles of dust floating about in the cosmos. Being out here in nature, seeing the stars, it puts things into perspective that we’re not alone and we need to appreciate the precious fragile nature of life and nature itself. In the city we can’t even get to see the stars as much because of the pollution. That’s why I like being out here.”
“That’s so sweet, Chad. I mean, my ex always said it was dumb to go look at stars.”
“Seems like someone needs to learn a lesson about appreciating the finer things in life.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” she said.
“My dad always told us the best things in life are free. The air we breathe, being able to appreciate our surroundings with our senses and our imaginations. So many things we take for granted ‘til it’s compromised.”