Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Hadn’t she thought Jackson loved her once? Hadn’t she believed all his promises when she was young, only to find herself years later doing every bit of cooking, cleaning and child-rearing while he complained that she was too fat and then left to sleep around with other women?
People could fool you. Men, especially, could fool you, and Terra had two children depending on her. She couldn’t afford to be stupid just because an enormous alien with beautiful golden eyes had made her feel safe for a little while.
The argument sounded completely reasonable inside her head, yet by the time the golden shuttle descended through the Florida sky and Tampa spread out beneath them, Terra felt sick with something that seemed suspiciously like regret.
Taurex landed in front of her mother’s little bungalow as gently as he had when he picked her up, converting the shuttle back into its terrestrial configuration before settling onto the driveway.
Almost immediately, the front door burst open and two small figures came racing out.
“Mom!” Lisa shrieked, her little legs pumping as she flew down the front steps. Cody was right behind her, moving with slightly more dignity until Terra opened the shuttle door, at which point he abandoned dignity entirely and ran the rest of the way.
Terra barely had time to step onto the driveway before both children slammed into her.
“Oh, my babies!” she cried, wrapping both arms around them and squeezing so hard that Lisa squealed.
Terra buried her face in her daughter’s hair and breathed in the familiar scent of strawberry shampoo while Cody’s arms wrapped around her waist from the other side. Her eyes burned suddenly, and she had to blink hard to keep from crying.
“God, I missed you. I missed you both so much.”
“You were only gone one night,” Cody pointed out, though he didn’t let go.
“I know.” Terra kissed the top of his head anyway. “It felt longer.”
Lisa squirmed backward and looked past her toward the shuttle.
“Did you bring me something from space?”
“Lisa!” Terra exclaimed, laughing despite herself. “Hello to you too.”
“Well, did you?”
“Yes, you little heathen. I brought you something.” Terra finally released the children and turned toward Taurex, who had already opened the rear compartment of the shuttle and was taking out her bags along with the gifts they had bought at the Market.
He carried everything over without speaking and put it all gently down at her feet.
Lisa’s face lit up when she saw the tiny living bracelet nestled inside its protective leaf wrapping. “Is that mine?”
“It is,” Taurex said quietly, crouching so he was closer to her height. “The flowers change color according to your mood.”
“Oh my gosh!” Lisa breathed as Terra fastened the delicate vine around her wrist. Almost immediately, several tiny blossoms opened in brilliant yellow.
“That means excited,” Terra told her, remembering what the vendor had said.
“They know I’m excited?” Lisa demanded.
“Yup.” Terra nodded.
“That is so cool!” she exclaimed.
Cody was trying very hard not to look jealous, so Taurex reached into another bundle and handed him the small silver seed.
“This is for you.”
Cody squeezed it, and the little object unfolded in midair into a complicated floating geometric puzzle.
“Whoa!” His entire face transformed. “How do I solve it?”
“You will have to discover that on your own,” Taurex told him, and Terra remembered with painful clarity how he had chosen the gift because Cody asked so many questions and liked puzzles.
Then Taurex lifted Lucy’s glowing plant from the shuttle.
“Oh, now what in the world is that?” Terra’s mother asked as she came down the porch steps, one hand resting over her heart.
“It is for you,” Taurex told her. “It helps purify the air and requires very little care.”
Lucy gave Terra an accusing look.
“Did you tell him I kill plants?”
Terra tried to smile.
“I might have mentioned it.”
“I do not kill all plants,” her mom protested.
Terra rolled her eyes.
“Mom, you killed a cactus.”
Her mom made a shooing motion.
“It was temperamental.”
Taurex’s mouth twitched, and for one brief second Terra saw the man he had been yesterday—the Taurex who laughed with her in the Market and bought gifts for her family because he wanted to.
The sight hurt her heart more than she wanted to admit.
Lucy accepted the glowing plant with obvious delight, but Terra couldn’t look at Taurex anymore.
Every gift reminded her of him. Lisa’s bracelet hadn’t been Terra’s purchase—Taurex had insisted on paying for it because he wanted to give her daughter something. Cody’s puzzle had been chosen because Taurex had remembered what kind of child he was after meeting him only once. Even Lucy’s plant had been his idea.
He had paid attention to the people Terra loved because they mattered to her, and now she was standing in her mother’s driveway wondering whether she had completely misunderstood everything about him.
Taurex carried Terra’s luggage to the porch and set it carefully beside the door. For a moment she thought he might say something about work or about when he would see her again, but he only looked at her with that same bleak expression he had worn all morning.