The Light Between Us (15 page)

A click came over the line.  “Derek,” he heard Ruth say, and he felt his heart skip a beat. 
I didn't know that was a real thing
, he thought.  He found it surprisingly delightful. 

“
Hi,” he said, wiping a suddenly clammy palm on his trousers.  “I hope I'm not disturbing you.”

“
Not at all,” she said, and he thought he could hear a smile in her voice.  “I'm glad you called.”

He sighed with relief.  “Oh good.  I –”

But before he could get another word in, Ruth interrupted.  “Derek,” she said, a playful note entering her voice.  “Look up.”

He frowned, perplexed by her words, but his eyes obeyed, lifting.

And then it felt like the bottom dropped out of his stomach.

She was leaning against the front desk.  Ruth.  Waving at him with a smile as Jani gaped at him, eyes as wide as saucers. 

“
Oh,” he managed in a strangled voice.

“
Well, can I come in?” she teased. 

“
What?  I mean, yes, of course.”  He tripped over his words, practically leaping from his chair, smoothing his tie.  “Please.”  Hanging up the phone, he went to the door of his office and held it open, watching Ruth move toward him.  She wore a loose and billowy cream blouse with black polka dots over skinny jeans and black ballet flats.  A glamorous necklace of silver shards gleamed from beneath the flowing folds of the blouse, in pleasing contrast to the casual outfit.  Her curls tumbled over her shoulders from a black felt hat with a floppy brim.  Derek felt his breath come faster.  She looked even more beautiful than she had the night before, if that was possible.  Maybe Ridger was right – maybe he was falling in love, against all the odds. 

“
Hi,” she said, leaning in for a quick kiss.  He inhaled her now-familiar vanilla scent. 

“
I missed you,” said Derek, then immediately felt the back of his neck grow red with embarrassment.  “I mean –”

“
I missed you, too,” she murmured, leaning in close.  “In fact, I missed you so much that I got a substitute for my class and headed here to ask you out.”

“
Out?  Like on a date?  Now?”  He held his breath, hoping she'd say yes.

“
Mmm hmm.”  She nodded, eyes glinting.  “I mean, if you can.  I know you have work and –“

“
I'd love to,” he said, placing a hand on the small of her back, smiling down at her. 

“
Really and truly?” she asked, biting her lip and belying the nervousness that lay beneath her sashaying confidence, matching his own nerves.

“
Really and truly,” he repeated.  “Nothing would make me happier.  I haven't been able to stop thinking about you.  I'm absolutely useless here.”  Derek gestured at his desk. 

“
Your boss won't mind?”

“
No,” he replied.  “As long as I get my cases done and keep bringing in money for the firm, nobody cares what hours I keep.  I don't have much going on this afternoon anyway, and my clients won't mind me skipping a day.”

“
Excellent,” she said with a grin. 

Derek moved to his desk to shut down the computer and sweep a few files into their cabinet, closing it.  “I'm ready.”

Ruth extended a hand to him, and he took it, loving the softness of her palm against his own slightly more calloused one.  Setting the office door to lock behind them, they headed for the elevator, Jani still staring in an open-mouthed grin. 

* * *

They emerged onto the busy downtown Boston street, squinting and smiling at each other in the pleasant shock of warm but wind-laced autumn sunshine. 

“
What now?” Derek asked.  “Can I take you out for some coffee?”

Ruth shook her head, grabbing onto the brim of her hat to prevent the wind from dancing it away.  “Nope.  It's my turn to take you out.”

“
How intriguing,” he said, arching an eyebrow.  “But before we go wherever you have in mind . . .”

He leaned in close and kissed her, gentle but insistent, and gave a moaning sigh when he felt her press her lips back against his even harder.  She laced her hands up and around his neck, the pair oblivious to the stream of Boston foot traffic flowing around them. 

Derek pulled away at last.  “I've been wanting to do that since we parted ways last night.”

“
Me, too,” she said, arms still twined about his neck. 

“
I'm glad.”  He planted another kiss on the smoothness of her neck just below her jawline, enjoying the gasp the kiss elicited from her.  Ruth leaned into him, turning her head so their cheeks rested against each other for a moment.  Then she moved away.

“
Come on,” she said, catching one of his hands in hers and tugging.  Derek followed along her willingly, the way the wind moved the airy polka-dotted blouse about her body mesmerizing. 

“
You look beautiful,” he said, making her cheeks spot pink for a moment as she grinned at him. 

Ruth lead them through the tangled roads of downtown Boston, turning onto Beacon Street.  The Common spread out before them, and she pulled Derek onto one of its meandering paths.

“
I love coming here when I need a break at work,” he told her.

She nodded, their pace slowing as they meandered along the path.  “It's so beautiful.  I wish I lived closer to it.”

“
Do you like living in Cambridge?” he asked.               

Ruth nodded.  “Oh yes.  It's lovely – close to all this,” she gestured at their surroundings, “but without feeling too overwhelmingly busy.  And the school I work at is great, too.”

He fixed her with a shrewd look, squeezing her hand.  “There it is again.”

“
There's what?”  She frowned in confusion.

“
The last time you talked about your job . . .  you know, before all the insanity we accidentally put each other through,” he said with a snort, “the last time, it sounded like there was a 'but' that needed to follow.”

“
Oh, really?” Ruth said, distance entering her voice.

Derek squeezed her hand.  “Yes, really.  Don't change the subject this time.  What's the real reason you don't love your job?”

She sighed, lips pursing for a moment.  “It's not the job that's so bad.  But . . . it's not
me
.  I thought teaching could be my thing, and while I'm pretty good at it, it's not what lights me up.  It's what I do to pay the bills.”

“
So what does light you up?”

A long moment passed before she finally replied in a strained voice, as if the admission took effort.  “Writing.”  A light blush crept into her cheeks.

“
Writing,” Derek repeated, nodding in encouragement.  “Well, that certainly does seem to fit you better.”

“
What do you mean?” Ruth asked, wrinkling her nose.

“
Well, I don't know you all that well,” he said with a shrug.  “Yet, anyway.  But I can see that there's this . . . 
something
to you.  Like you're drawing your life from a deep well within.  It's what makes you so mysteriously, wonderfully attractive.  Writing just makes sense with that.”

Her blush darkened.  “Well.  I don't even know what to say.”  She smiled up at him.

“
Then don't say anything,” he murmured, pulling them to a halt on the dirt path.  “Just let me kiss you.”  Derek lowered his face to hers, blood roiling through his veins faster as her breath wafted against his skin.  But before he could land a kiss, she pulled her hand from his and dodged away. 

“
Only if you can catch me first,” she said with a grin, then turned on her heel and took off down the path, away from him.

Derek stood stupefied for a moment.  Some inner voice of derision spoke,
Catch her?  How immature
.  But immediately a playful spirit rose in him and drowned that starched voice, and he raced after her, tie flapping over his shoulder.  Maybe it was childish, but he didn't care because it was also fun.  And it'd been so long since he'd had such fun with a woman – or anyone, really.  It was an innocent kind of fun, and felt deliciously refreshing.

His breath came faster as he dashed along the path, his feet unused to running in dress shoes.  Ruth's hair billowed out behind her, leaping up and down in time with her movement.  She looked back at him over her shoulder, laughing.  “Come on, slow poke!” 

Something grew inside of him as he ran, something that felt old but also young, and familiar in a distant sort of way.  An enjoyment of the movement for its own sake, his arms and legs pumping, heart pounding in his rib cage, the air flowing through his hair, streaming over the skin of his cheeks . . .

Delight
.  The word came to him, and it seemed laced in magic and an alluring unknown.  He was delighting in this, reveling in the game, in the exuberance of breaking out of the expected.  When was the last time he had been able to use that word to describe a part of his life?  He couldn't remember, and though he might not have thought so a week ago, that suddenly seemed like a very bad thing.

Ruth disappeared around a bend in the path up ahead, and he recognized that they were entering the Public Garden.  The damp, lush smell of loamy, well-tended earth filled his lungs as Derek pressed himself to run even faster, feeling a sheen of sweat build up under his shirt collar. 

He rounded the bend, and suddenly she was right there, catching him by surprise, throwing her arms around him as he tumbled into her, pressing her lips soft and hard against his.  He gasped, reeling from the shock for a moment before returning the kiss, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her body against his. 

His hands were everywhere, traveling the valleys and peaks of her body with a mind of their own, urged on by the desire coiling crimson and hot in his gut.  He felt her pelvis press against his, and groaned.  Her fingertips massaged into his back, tantalizing his neck, his ears, making him pull her all the closer as if they could literally become one body.

At last, reluctantly, Ruth pulled away, she left her head tucked close in to his, their breath a symphony.  Her curls brushed against his cheek, and he shivered. 

She smiled and took his hand, leading him again, this time through the Garden.

They walked in silence along the manicured, twisting paths, past oaks and elms and other trees whose names Derek could have learned if he'd cared to stop and read their accompanying plaques.  But he didn't want to interrupt the intimate quiet that had fallen between himself and Ruth.  He shivered again, savoring the feeling. 

A final turn in the path gifted them with a view of the lagoon that spread across the center of the Garden. 

“
Come on,” Ruth said, tugging at his hand insistently when Derek paused to take in the sight. 

He smiled, intrigued.  “What's the rush?” 

“
That,” she replied, extending an arm.  Looking at where she pointed, he saw one of the swan boats that ferried passengers about the lagoon docked, with a handful of people boarding.  Smiling even wider at this unexpected adventure, he followed.

Ruth dropped his hand as they neared the dock, moving to the ticket booth and purchasing them seats on the boat.  Then the pair boarded, choosing seats at the very back, well away from their few fellow passengers.

Derek drew Ruth closer to him along the bench they were sitting on.  She rested her head on his chest.  “This is quite the treat,” he spoke into her hair, the tendrils tickling his lips.