Kat Tales, page 1
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www.kathrynkaleigh.com
KAT TALES NUMBER FOURTEEN
In this issue:
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SHORT STORIES…
A PROPOSAL IN TIME
MOON SHADOWS
JUST ONE NIGHT
FRACTURED
KEY STONE PRINCESS
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NOVEL…
JASMINE KISSES
Kat Tales
Number Fifteen — May 2021
Kathryn Kaleigh
Contents
A Proposal in Time
Moon Shadows
Just One Night
Fractured
Key Stone Princess
Jasmine Kisses
Also by Kathryn Kaleigh
Chapter 1
I walked alongside my current boyfriend. Garth.
We were both wearing shorts and t-shirts. Dark sunshades. I was wearing a white floppy straw hat and Garth was wearing a BMW baseball cap.
It was hot. Nearly ninety degrees.
Nothing less was expected in Nashville, Tennessee in August.
It was a Monday and we should have been at work. But it seemed like the whole state had closed down for what they were calling the Great American Eclipse.
Our sneakers crunched on the rocky path that led from the parking lot to the Cumberland River bank.
It smelled a bit like rotting fish in a hot oven.
There were already at least a hundred people here, older people sitting in their lawn chairs, teens sitting on the ground, and kids running around like crazy.
Garth and I had driven up from Memphis this morning in his new little BMW sports car.
The drive that should have taken us three and half hours from my door step to the park on the Cumberland River had only taken three hours.
Garth drove like a wild idiot.
My hands were sore from literally holding on to the edges of the seat.
To be the outwardly conservative vice-president of a bank, he had something of a wild side.
I sometimes wondered if that was what had drawn me to him.
It was probably just his sinfully good looks and undaunted persistence.
We worked together for a year before he asked me out for a drink. I said no for six months.
We’d been dating for six months.
So I’d known Garth for two years.
He’d been planning this trip to Nashville for the eclipse for months.
I hadn’t planned on coming, but in his usual way, he’d been persistent.
Garth always seemed to get his way.
During the time I’d known him, he’d moved up to vice-president and was essentially one of my bosses.
It made our relationship complicated, at least in my mind.
Anytime I tried to talk with Garth about it, he just changed the subject.
Fortunately, we had some things in common.
We both grew up in small southern towns, watching the same televisions shows and commercials.
Perhaps that wasn’t enough to base a relationship on, but it worked.
Sometimes I felt like I was numb on the inside.
I liked Garth well enough, but that flame I’d carried for my college sweetheart had never been matched.
And the truth was, I didn’t expect it to be.
So here I was.
About to witness the Great American Eclipse with a boyfriend that I could take or leave.
“There’s an empty spot,” he said, pointing to an empty spot beneath the trees, a few yards from the river.
He spread out the blanket he’d brought on the ground and held my hand while I sat.
We might could have done well to graduate to the lawn chairs.
But apparently, Garth wasn’t ready for that category.
Chapter 2
I leaned back on my elbows, looking up at the clear sky.
I was deep in thought about how I should have brought some sunscreen.
I rarely went outside, so I burned easily.
Outside just wasn’t my thing.
I had a degree in finance and I preferred to spend my time indoors. Working mostly. When I had time off, I wanted to spend it watching a good movie or reading a book. Not baking in the heat.
That’s why we had air conditioning.
Garth had spied a concession stand and had gone off to get us corndogs or whatever he could find to eat.
It was amazing that Garth, with the way he never missed a meal, stayed as lean as he was.
Sometimes I’d forget and go all day without food.
That was just how I was raised. To punctuate my days in ways other than meals.
And that was another way that Garth and I were different.
Anytime I let myself think about that, I found myself comparing Garth with Justin.
Garth was distant whereas Justin had been warm and affectionate.
Sometimes I didn’t know from one week to the next whether Garth and I were still a couple.
We’d never even discussed exclusivity. Not really. Not to the point that I had it all clarified in my mind.
With Justin it had been different.
Justin and I had gone through the whole process.
In fact, I still wore the engagement ring he’d given me around my neck.
It was a lovely diamond ring and I’d wear it on my finger, but I didn’t like answering the inevitable questions.
Besides, wearing it beneath my shirt made me feel closer to him.
It was starting to get a little bit dark. Sort of like an early twilight.
Everyone was staring up at the sky. A lot of them wearing goofy glasses.
I glanced at my watch. According to Garth, it was supposed to start getting dark around noon.
I watched the sky, curious now to see just what was going to happen.
I saw Garth heading back, a bag of food in his hands.
He dropped the bag to the blanket and sat down next to me.
“I almost didn’t make it,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s something you can miss,” I said.
“No,” Garth said, “but I wanted to be with you when it happens.”
Oddly enough, that was one of the sweetest things he’d ever said to me.
To avoid thinking about that, I dug in the bag of food and chewed on a French fry.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” I asked.
“I think I’ll wait until after the eclipse,” he said.
“All right.” I pushed the bag aside. I didn’t have a problem with waiting either.
Besides, since we were here, I really wanted to watch the eclipse.
I stretched out on my back again and Garth stretched out beside me, nestling his hands behind his head.
“Do you ever wonder,” he asked. “how we got here?”
I looked over at him.
“Of course,” I said. All the time. I didn’t say it, but I didn’t think he ever did.
That didn’t seem like the kind of thing Garth would think about. He was so… ESTP.
A speaker had come in to talk with all of us working in the bank a few months ago and we’d all taken the Meyer Briggs Type Indicator.
I very specifically remembered that Garth and I was completely opposite on four of the scales.
He liked to be around others. I liked to do things alone or with one other person.
He was logical and concerned with rules. I tended to go with my gut.
He liked to keep his options open. I liked to have everything planned ahead.
Actually, I considered myself to be doing quite well with Garth and his free-spirited ways. It helped that I was still emotionally unavailable.
Looking over at me, he smiled.
I couldn’t see his eyes behind the dark glasses.
“Is something troubling you?” I asked, for a loss of anything better to say. He was acting rather odd. Even for him.
He reached over. Took my hand and squeezed.
“I’m just so glad you’re with me,” he said.
I took a deep breath.
“I’m glad I came, too,” I said.
It was getting darker. It was strange how it seemed like evening in the middle of the day.
“I didn’t expect the eclipse to be so fascinating.”
He smiled slowly.
“Maybe we can talk about our future,” he said.
My breath hitched. Our future.
I wasn’t ready to have this conversation with Garth.
I had a memory flash.
I was with Justin. We were in an upscale restaurant on Valentine’s Day.
Then he was on his knees.
Tugging at the chain, I pulled up the diamond ring I wore around my neck and wrapped my fingers around it.
The accident happened on the way home that night.
Garth was talking, but I wasn’t listening.
It was an odd juxtaposition to have my hand linked to Garth’s while Justin was front and center in my head.
My ears were ringing and my heart was racing.
I closed my eyes.
I typically managed to not think about Justin when I was with Garth. It was silly, maybe, but somehow it helped me to keep Justin’s memory pure and untainted.
As I lay there, I felt the darkness of the eclipse moving over me.
It was one of the oddest sensations I’d ever felt.
It felt like every single one of my nerves was on fire.
I had the sensation of falling, even though I was lying down.
I grabbed at Garth’s hand to hold on tighter, but I couldn’t feel his fingers anymore.
I tried to clutch the blanket, but instead, I only grasped at… nothing.
I tried to open my eyes. I wanted… needed…. to see the eclipse.
But mostly I needed grounding.
I felt like I was slipping away. Out of my body.
Chapter 3
I woke slowly.
In a cold sweat.
It was dark.
I slowly opened my eyes.
The eclipse.
A diamond ring in the sky.
The moon was directly overhead, surrounded by a ring of light.
And on one side, there was a circle of light, with rays of light shooting out in all directions.
Exactly like a diamond ring glowing in the sky.
I was mesmerized.
First, I felt my back against the ground, then the palms of my hands against the ground.
But instead of a blanket, I felt blades of grass.
I stretched out my left hand for Garth, but couldn’t reach him.
As I stared at the moon, it continued its trek across the sun.
I felt the shadow of darkness as it moved over me. Then I was in the sunlight again.
I blinked against the light.
Then I sat up.
The Cumberland River was in front of me.
But there were no other people.
No adults sitting in lawn chairs. No teens sitting on blankets. No children running.
Just trees and a pathway leading down to the river.
The sun reflected off the water.
The clear blue sky.
No one was here.
No Garth.
Not even the blanket.
I was still wearing my shorts, t-shirt, and sunshades.
“Melissa?”
I put my hands over my eyes.
I was hallucinating now.
If I just sat here for a minute, maybe two, I would open my eyes and everything would be right again.
I’d be sitting here with other people around, all watching the eclipse.
Garth would be sitting next to me.
And I wouldn’t be hearing Justin calling my name.
Justin had been dead for just over two years.
Chapter 4
I gazed tentatively from beneath my lashes.
Though it was quiet, I was still hopeful that the universe had righted itself again.
But instead, I opened my eyes to see Justin kneeling in front of me.
Oh God.
That’s so how I remembered him.
Kneeling at my feet.
Asking me to marry him.
Only instead of looking happy and hopeful, he looked perplexed.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
I licked my dry lips. Looked around again.
But Justin was the only one here.
And he was the one who shouldn’t be here.
“The eclipse,” I said, mostly to myself.
I swallowed then looked directly into his blue eyes.
And it nearly took my breath away.
His clear blue eyes had rays of green shooting through them.
Some would call his eyes hazel, but the green streaks only showed up in bright sunlight.
Everywhere else, his eyes were perfectly blue.
They’d been blue that night.
That night when he’d proposed.
And later that night when he’d looked into my eyes as they loaded him into the ambulance.
The last time I saw him.
He set down an armful of kindling that I hadn’t even realized he’d been holding and lightly held out a hand in my direction.
A few more inches and he would have touched my arm.
But he didn’t.
“What is this?” I asked, my throat dry.
I wanted to touch him.
But even more I feared it, just as perhaps he did.
He ran a hand through his hair.
The Justin I knew kept his hair short and stylishly cut.
But this Justin badly needed a haircut.
Oddly enough, though, it was becoming on him.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he said.
“Where is here?” I asked.
He shook his head, telling me he wasn’t ready to tell me just yet.
“Justin.” I reached for him, but didn’t touch, just as he’d done. “They told me… you… that night.”
He nodded and sat down on the ground. Stared at the river for a minute.
“I have a cabin a few yards behind you,” he said. “I built it myself.”
I didn’t answer. I had no words.
“I worked for a while as a lumberjack.” He glanced at me, then his gaze skittered back to the river. “It was hard work.”
“It sounds like it,” I said.
I was having a hard time picturing Justin—the man I knew as an airplane pilot—sawing logs.
It wasn’t something he did.
We went to operas and symphonies.
The closest we came to the outdoor was a walk in the park.
He looked back into my eyes.
“I don’t think I’m supposed to remember you,” he said.
“What do you mean?” My heart was pounding too hard. My thoughts were darting about, but couldn’t find a safe place to land.
“I think I died,” he said softly, “and went back in time.”
I almost forgot to breath.
There were so many things—important things—wrapped up in that sentence.
I’d grieved for him. Was still grieving for him. But I’d found a way to move on.
Garth was a good example of that.
Sort of.
But if Justin was in another time, that could only mean one thing.
I was in another time.
And that meant I had died.
Chapter 5
I had never considered myself to be fearless.
Quite the contrary.
I was the only who’d sat white-knuckled while Garth sped along the interstate from Memphis to Nashville.
And now the thought of reaching out and touching the one man who I’d loved with all my heart terrified the living daylights out of me.
“Then how?” I asked, then started over. “Why do you think you remember me?”
I could barely speak the words. I was so afraid of the answer.
Though I had no idea what that answer might be.
“I don’t know,” he said.
We just stared at each other as the sun started its downward trek behind the trees.
Just like the eclipse all over again.
I noticed then that his hands were trembling.
He was as nervous as I was.
But this was Justin.
We’d been through so very much together.
I held out my hand.
And held my breath.
Without taking his gaze off mine, he took my hand in his.
Just as he had so many times.
But this time the feel of my skin against his sent shock waves through my system.
I wasn’t supposed to ever see him again, much less feel his hands on mine.
What game was the universe playing on me?
Something had happened during the eclipse.
I couldn’t shake that feeling.
“What does this mean?” I asked.
I like to have things figured out.
He smiled at me. A wistful smile.
Then he pulled me into his arms.
I could no longer hold back the tears.
He held me as I silently wept.
I wept for his loss.
I wept for being with him again.
I wept for the notion that I, too, must have died in my other life.
Then as the moonlight swept over us, my tears stopped.
And I was calm.
I tried to remember what Garth looked like, but his image had faded.
I could no longer remember what he looked like.
At first it frightened me a bit.
But then as Justin swept my damp hair out of my eyes, I was no longer frightened.
