Page 26 of You Can't Fight Lightning
The answer to that was not one I wanted to contemplate.
“Then I take it you’re not working today?”
Roxy shook her head, making the hair in her ponytail swing.
I found myself riveted by the motion. By her hair. By the scent of her. She used a floral shampoo.
She was intoxicating.
Great gods. I would be lost if she made the moves I wanted her to.
“No. I have three whole days off. And it’s the best time of year here. Late spring always is. You know, that time before it gets hotter than hell, and no one wants to be outside?”
“I’m from Seattle. I have to say I haven’t experienced that.” Olympus was what would be called climate controlled, and most of us stayed there when the human realm wasn’t comfortable.
A movement to my left caught my eye. It was an older couple, sitting down with cups of coffee in their hands. The man held out the chair for the woman, and she gave him a look of pure love as she sat down. Once they were settled, he took her hand, the one not holding the coffee cup. They didn’t speak. They just sat together, connected without a word.
Connected by a lifetime, I realized.
I’d been with Hera for that long, but we weren’t lovers. We were friends, confidantes, sometimes outright enemies. Never lovers.
And watching this elderly human couple, I felt envy. Pure, unadulterated envy. They were beautiful in their care for one another. I could feel it from over here.
“That’s right. You mentioned Seattle the other night. You’re not dying from the heat?” Roxy’s question brought me back to my own life.
I glanced at the older couple once more. That was what I wanted. That surety, that love, that togetherness.
Never before had such a longing filled me. I’d been satisfied with my life.
But now?
It was safe to say I wanted something different. I wanted what was in the books I was reading. True love. The love of someone who knew you weren’t perfect and loved you for it.
“No.” I answered Roxy as I gave the couple one last look. “I’m not. I like the heat.”
“Stick around. You’ll get all the heat you want.”
That sounded suspiciously like flirting. “I just might.”
She looked at me as though she were trying to come to a decision and didn’t like any of the choices.
Well, damn. That wasn’t good.
“How long do you plan to stay?”
I shrugged, trying to be casual. For the first time, I understood why humans were a mess about romance. I was over analyzing everything, looking for nuance and meaning in every word, every gesture. As a god, I mean, when I lived out in the open as a god, I assumed everyone wanted me.
It wasn’t a bad assumption to work with.
But it hadn’t found me true love. There was one woman, Io, who I thought I loved. I had. And she loved me, eventually. Hera had made that difficult.
Which was a question for Hera. Why, if we weren’t in love, did she go after all the women I pursued? I tabled that for the time being. Io, for that was her name, had suffered for loving me, although she did escape to Egypt and make a life for herself there. I was glad for her, but I wished, even to this day, that it hadn’t taken her so long to find happiness.
Much as I wanted to, I couldn’t blame Hera. I didn’t stop her. I didn’t tell her mind her business. I let it happen, and let the women take the brunt of her anger.
If shame could drown, I’d be a dead man.
I realized Roxy looked at me with expectation. What? Oh, right. How long did I plan to stay? “I don’t know. I stopped here because of a guidebook recommendation, and then I saw the reviews for your bar, and now, I like the place.”
