Page 45 of Crossroads Magic
Ghaliya straightened up and nodded back. “Trevalyan. That’s an interesting name. Where is it from?”
“Cornwall, I believe,” Trevalyan said. “Yours is just as interesting.”
“Don’t know where Mom got mine from.”
“I don’t remember,” I said. “I just heard it somewhere and liked the sound of it.” And Jasper had been less than happy about it. But we’d named Oliver after his uncle, so….
I realized that Judah had joined the little group at the bar. He stood behind and to one side of Trevalyan, not quite part of the group. His attention was on the conversation.
He was a solid man, thick with muscle. His chest, at the open vee of his button through shirt, rose into thick pectoral muscle, which disappeared under the shirt. The skin gleamed.
I raised my gaze up the width of his throat to his face, and realized he was staring at me. I grinned at him, for I had been caught squarely. “You must work out. There’s not a gym here, so…?”
Juda frowned. “Gymnasiums are for gymnasts.”
Trevalyan shifted on his feet, opening up the little circle to include Juda, who seemed unaware of the inclusion.
“Juda has his ways of staying fit,” Trevalyan said, patting Juda’s arm.
“Hi there, Juda,” Ghaliya said, leaning around me and holding out her hand. “I’m Ghaliya.”
Juda focused on her hand and for a moment I thought he would refuse to shake it, the way Harper had refused to take mine. Then he raised his hand awkwardly, as if he was not used to it, and gripped Ghaliya’s hand.
Ghaliya’s face glowed as she smiled at Trevalyan. “We just got into town,” she told him. “Although you probably know that. This town is so small, everyone knows everything.” She smiled up at him, and I realized with jolt that my daughter was flirting with him.
Judawasyoung-looking…young enough to catch Ghaliya’s eye.
I cleared my throat. “Anyway, have you eaten, Ghaliya? Since this morning, I mean?”
“Yeah, I’m good, Mom.” She didn’t look at me.
“Keep it down?” I asked as she opened her mouth to speak.
This time, Ghaliya’s gaze swiveled to me. Her eyes narrowed. “Yes. If I could pick up a decent network connection I would have told you that.” She turned her attention back to Juda.
“Juda is our internet specialist,” Hirom said. He pushed a glass of green sludge toward Ghaliya. “Drink that down, honey. It’ll give you energy to spare.”
“Gross,” Ghaliya breathed, looking at it.
“Lots of vitamins and minerals in it,” Hirom said. “Go on. Try it.”
“In a minute.” Ghaliya turned back to Juda, who was watching the interplay with a small furrow between his brows. Was he unaware that my daughter was drawn to him? Or just disinterested? Gay? “You built the town’s network, didn’t you? Mom mentioned your name.”
“I take care of the antenna and the routers, yes.” His voice was a smooth, deep tenor. He did have a slight accent, too.
“Then you’re the man I should be talking to. I couldn’t get onto the network this morning. It would be fantastic if you could fix it.” Ghaliya gave Juda a very warm smile, her eyes wide.
Juda nodded. “I can show you the set up, if you like. You can reset the router when you need to.”
Ghaliya closed the notebook up with a snap. “That would be great!” She leaned around me and plucked the poncho from the back of my stool. “I can borrow this, right? Thanks!”
She almost skipped across the floor to catch up with Juda, who headed for the curtained doorway.
I watched them pass through the doorway. I didn’t know what to say that wasn’t stupid.Don’t go far.Don’t leave the neighborhood. But the neighborhood was the whole town.Don’t get lost. In a town of ten people and maybe fifty houses, most of them empty, and a few minor cross-streets, even the most direction-challenged person in the world couldn’t get lost.
But what I really wanted to say, I couldn’t.Don’t let him bamboozle you.
I didn’t know Judah. But I hadn’t known anyone who had been part of Ghaliya’s life in the last two years. She had lived without my guardianship. I had to let her live her life now, too.
