To See You

Chapter 8

It took only a minute for Zelda to reach the door and then the sidewalk. Another rain had fallen, and the streets were wet, reflecting the lights from the bars, and it was wall to wall people that didn't feel any less constricting than the bar.

"Miss," a young woman, who she recognized as one of the bartenders, rushed out the door after her. "Would you wait, please, just one moment?" Zelda thought it was an odd request since the girl disappeared back into to the bar. Unsure what she should do, she checked all of her stuff to make sure that it was accounted for but could find nothing missing.

"Ah, thanks for waiting," Boone said as he joined her a few moments later.

"Did I forget something?" Zelda asked, confused.

"Yes, me," he grinned as he tucked her arm through his and started walking, "which direction are we going?"

"I'm going home, Boone. Where's Zebadiah, and why this complete about-face with your mood again?"

"Well then, I'm going in your direction, Zebadiah went home, and I'm not sure what you mean about my mood," he answered all of her questions as he guided her across the street.

"This is the wrong way, and I would prefer to see myself home, if you don't mind?" she insisted.

"I do mind." Boone stopped and looked down at Zelda. There was a red light shining down on him from a bar sign, and he looked like the devil himself as he stared her down, daring her to challenge him.

She could hold her own, though, and she stared right back.

"How about we make a deal?" he suggested, pulling Zelda towards him and obliterating the space between them as someone pushed up behind them, allowing him to take the chance to pull her close and into his arms. "I'll tell you one of my secrets if you let me walk you home?"

It was a very tempting offer, and Zelda bit her lip as she thought about it.

"Is it a good secret? It's not a lame one like you kissed Suzy Whosit behind the dumpster when you were six, is it?" Zelda demanded as she wondered why she wasn't pulling away from him. It should feel like he was moving to fast, they hadn't seen each other in years, and here she was in his arms after only one week.

"It was Janie Marks, it was in the supply closet, and I was ten. No, this one is much juicer," Boone promised, watching her while he waited for her to make her decision.

Blues music was pouring out of the bar behind them, there was the occasional sound of a car sloshing through the water, and hundreds of people pushing past them, but Zelda didn't notice any of it. All she noticed was Boone's brown eyes looking into her own, begging her to take a chance.

She desperately wanted to trust someone, to trust him.

"I want to trust you, Boone. I do, but it's hard," Zelda admitted. "Why the mood swing? You have ignored me all week."

"You're my student Zelda, and while I don't need the job, or particularly want it, I do want you to graduate. There are some people that I don't trust." He took her chin in his hand. "Now, can I walk you home?" he asked.

"That better not be the secret!" Zelda insisted, narrowing her eyes.

"Do we have a deal?" Boone asked.

Zelda caved and nodded. She wasn't pleased with the idea that he would know where she lived, but there was no reason to invite him inside.

"You asked me why I returned to teaching. I did it so that I could see you." He watched Zelda as her eyes grew large in shock at his revelation. "Zebadiah mentioned that you had gone back to school, and they had been asking me to return and teach a class." He shrugged.

"They wanted you to teach English because of your books?" Zelda asked.

"No, they wanted me to teach economics, but I told them it was English or nothing." Boone shrugged. "I knew it was the only way I would get to see you."

Zelda's mind raced at his news. "But you saw me at the meeting the other day. You would have seen me there even if we hadn't met in the coffee shop." Her mind raced as she tried to piece it all together.

"No, I had no intention of going to that meeting. I was invited but had no interest. When I discovered it was where you were going, I followed." His smile had a touch of embarrassment at the admission.

Zelda took a deep shaky breath. "What does this mean, Boone? I don't understand." She knew what she wanted it to mean, but she was too afraid to hope.

"It means that I would like to spend time with you, Zelda. Get to know you again." Boone pulled her close and looked down at her. She could tell that he was going to kiss her, and she desperately wanted him to kiss her, but she had to know one thing.

"And you want to get to know Eden too?" she softly asked.

Boone froze as she said the words.

"She's part of the deal, Boone." Zelda pushed with her words despite still being held in his arms. "I noticed you weren't happy with the conversation when we discussed her last week at lunch."

"It's hard to perceive you as a mom," he admitted.

"I am a mom." He would continue to want to get to know her or not, but part of her was afraid to push the issue too far for fear that he would change his mind. "Come on, a deal is a deal, this way." Zelda put her arm in his and turned him in the opposite direction. It was a short walk to her house and they talked a little about his music and the bar.

"Is there anything you can't do, Boone?" she teased as they neared the house.

He didn't respond to her teasing, and she had a feeling that she had hit a nerve as they arrived at her doorstep in silence.

"This is me, thanks," Zelda said as she stopped and turned towards him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak the door to the house flew open and Eden came racing down the steps then hid behind her mother's leg while looking up at Boone with wide brown eyes.

"Boone, this is Eden, my daughter. Eden, this is Mr. Boone Norris. He's a very old friend of mine and Uncle Zebadiah. He also teaches me at school." Zelda reached around her and placed a comforting hand on Eden's shoulder.

"Hello, Eden," Boone said in his deep voice. "You look just like your dad."

Zelda tensed at his words, but Eden didn't notice as she looked up at the stranger, transfixed. She stepped forward towards him.

"You knew my dad?" Eden asked in a hushed tone, her eyes wide.

"I did," he nodded. "I used to work with him when he taught your mother." He was just as transfixed by Eden as she was by him, and they stared at each other.

"He taught Mommy too?" Eden asked, awed. The she did the most amazing thing, she walked towards Boone and held her arms up telling him she wanted to be held.

"Eden, you're too old to be held," Zelda insisted, afraid that Boone would deny Eden. She wanted to give him a way out just in case he didn't want to pick her up.

"Only by you, Uncle Zebadiah holds me all the time," Eden countered.

Boone looked at Zelda and then at Eden before he picked her up with little effort just as the heavens open and the rain poured down. Eden shrieked to be taken into the house and Boone compiled while Zelda could only hopelessly follow.

She had wanted to keep him out of her house.