Page 40 of Luna

“Do you think a soda or ice cream might make you feel better?” Hunter asked, taking Luna’s elbow in his hand again and guiding her toward a drugstore they’d passed earlier.

“Most definitely,” she said with a grin, her good humor apparently restored. “Oh, look, there’s a moving picture theatre. Too bad we didn’t notice earlier, or we could have watched a show.”

“Have you gone to many shows?” Hunter asked. He and Jeff had been fascinated when moving picture shows became available. The first one that came to their area, they watched a dozen times. The novelty soon wore off, though, and he rarely went anymore, although he’d heard there was a funny picture show currently playing in Pendleton.

“I’ve attended a few. They are such a marvel, aren’t they?” Luna asked, although he didn’t think she expected a reply.

They stepped into the drugstore, ordered sodas, and sat at a table outside in the shade. Hunter positioned himself where he could keep watch for Barnaby the bear and his sidekick if they ambled their way, but the street was mostly quiet as they enjoyed their beverages.

Hunter checked his watch. The train would start boarding soon, so they made their way back to the depot. Luna ducked into the women’s lavatory to freshen up while he stopped in the men’s room.

It would be nearly dinner time when they made it back to Pendleton. After stuffing himself with Italian food that wasn’t nearly as good as Caterina’s, Hunter wasn’t hungry, but he figured he would be in a few hours. He considered the options for taking Luna out for the evening meal.

Then again, she might be weary of his company and ready to escape to Tony and Ilsa’s by the time they arrived in Pendleton. The best course of action seemed to be to wait and gauge her interest in dining together when they were nearer to their destination.

When he stepped back into the depot’s lobby, he purchased two boxes of Cracker Jack from a boy selling snacks and stuffed them in his suit pockets.

“Keep the change,” he told the lad as he handed him a dollar.

“Thank you, sir!” The boy offered a crooked grin, then scurried off toward his next customer.

Through the open depot doors, Hunter heard the conductor make the first call to board the train. He turned and saw Luna step out of the lavatory. Her gaze connected to his, and she headed toward him.

Unable to stop himself, Hunter felt his cheeks stretch with a broad smile as she neared him. The expression on her face and the sparkle in her eyes made him consider that she perhaps might like him more than he’d assumed.

Hunter knew whatever attraction danced between them was far more than mere interest in one another. Far more than the friendship they’d struck up, regardless of how strange it might seem.

He didn’t know what it was about Luna, but being around her was both comfortable and unsettling, familiar and mysterious. The more he got to know her, the more she intrigued and fascinated him.

Fully aware of the challenges she dealt with when it came to reliving the trauma of the day she was shot, Hunter felt optimistic that she would recover from the experience, perhaps never fully, but to the point she wouldn’t worry about going out in crowds for fear of her anxiety getting the best of her.

Hunter had peppered Nik with dozens of questions about trauma and knew, from what his brother-in-law had shared, it was different for everyone. Still, he could tell Luna had improved just in the short time she’d been in Pendleton.

Not that her troubles dimmed his interest in her. Not in the least. His heart ached for her, though, for everything she’d gone through and continued to face.

Determined to bring as much joy to her as possible, Hunter held out his arm and bowed to her. “Your carriage awaits, milady,” he said in his best impression of an English nobleman.

Luna laughed and placed her hand on his arm. “So it does, kind sir. Shall we board?”

He guided her over to one of the passenger cars and helped her up the steps. Inside, the front seats were already occupied, so they took seats toward the center of the car.

“Would you like to sit by the window?” Luna asked as she stood in the aisle, glancing at him over her shoulder.

“No. You go ahead.” Hunter wanted her to be as comfortable as possible in the hot, stuffy car. The closer a person sat to the window, the more fresh air they could enjoy.

Luna adjusted her skirts as she took a seat, and Hunter sank down beside her. They were quiet during the cacophony of people boarding. They both looked out the window at the sound of a baby crying. It appeared the child didn’t want to let go of the man carrying the little one. A woman pried the baby loose, and the man kissed the woman’s cheek, then the baby’s before he boarded the train.

“That would be so hard,” Luna whispered, watching as the woman tried to console the screaming child. “The husband is probably heading off to try to find a better job, to make more money to support his family, and the wife is staying behind. Maybe she has relatives willing to take her in during his absence. Oh, what if he’s on his way to Alaska? Or traveling to the Orient?”

Hunter chuckled. “You do have some fanciful notions, don’t you, Luna? What if he’s on his way to say goodbye to his beloved granny, who is on her deathbed?”

Luna grinned at him. “Now, who is being fanciful?”

Hunter shrugged and shifted in his seat to find a more comfortable position as the train chugged away from the depot. “At least it will be a short ride in this heat.”

“It is hot, but it’s so much more bearable here than in New York. There, when the temperatures rose, so did the smells. And the heat just radiates off the streets and sidewalks. In Pendleton, there are so many lawns and the park, as well as the farms and ranches, of course, to absorb the heat instead of reflecting it. It might be equally as hot, but the heat doesn’t feel as terribly stifling.”

“I know what you mean. In Asheville, we battle the humidity in the summer. Sometimes, it is brutal. That’s another reason I prefer to be in Pendleton. The humidity is low. Other than during wheat harvest, the air is clean and crisp and fresh.”

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