Page 75 of Kiss Across the Universe
Alannah helped him pack up the rest of the gear they’d used to cook lunch, then stood back as he shouldered the pack.
“Do you need to be looking at the place where you’re jumping to?” he asked.
“Only in my head.” She held out her arm. “Arm over my shoulder,” she told him.
“I remember.”
She slid her arm around his waist. This time it felt easy. Comfortable. She looked up at him. “Bend your knees.”
He bent. So did she. She rebuilt the image of the bridge, the double tracks, the snow. The trees and valley three kilometers further east… “One, two, three,” she counted and jumped.
Chapter Thirty
The bridge was solid undertheir feet.
“Right on the money,” Kit said, his tone one of approval.
“Aran’s therealjumper.”
“Don’t do that,” Kit snapped.
“Do what?”
“Compare yourself to everyone else, and run yourself down. What you do is…literallyout of this world. You landed us here after looking at the specs with a pair of eight by twenty-five glasses. Don’t tell me you’re not a real jumper, because you are.”
Alannah drew in her breath, ready to argue. Then she let it out. “Okay,” she said awkwardly. “It’s just…that’s not how I feel.”
“We’ll change that,” he said flatly. “This imposter syndrome of yours just has to go.”
“Speak for yourself, big guy,” she tossed back.
Kit straightened with a snap, surprise skittering over his face. Then he nodded. “Yeah. I guess I got it too, in a way.”
“In all ways. ‘I’mjusta warden’.”
He grimaced, and looked around. “Light is fading.”
“And the wind is picking up.”
“No mountains to shield us,” he pointed out. “Walk behind me. I’ll cut the wind down a bit.”
She opened her mouth to protest at the overly male-protector sentiment.
“I have the heavier coat,” he reminded her. “And I’m used to the cold.”
Alannah nodded and fell in behind him. They followed the right hand track through the snow, as it wound in a slow curve heading for the copse of trees that marked the house.
They had been walking only a few minutes when flickering lights at the corner of her vision caught Alannah’s attention. She looked over her shoulder. A big white truck, possibly a Ford or a RAM 1500, was travelling along the road they were on. It was yet to reach the bridge, but it would overtake them in a minute or two.
Alannah caught Kit’s arm and pulled him around. He studied the truck for a moment, then grinned. “That’s Joe,” he said. “He’s traded in the Chevrolet since I saw him last.”
He stepped off the track and into the ankle-high snow and put the pack on the ground. Alannah moved up beside him.
The truck stopped next to them and the passenger side window wound down. A man with swarthy bronze-fleshed features and the same glossy black hair as Kit, only shot with grey at the sides, leaned sideways to peer through the window. “Kisecawchuck.”
“Uncle Joe,” Kit acknowledged.
“Figured you’d be around in the next day or two, after all the mystery messages Maryann has been fielding. Climb in.”
