Until the Stars Fall From the Sky (8 page)

“You know, I know a really smart math tutor. Some people have told me he’s pretty cute too,” I offer.

Kiera looks at me, nonplussed for a second, “You do? Who?”

“Me. My undergraduate degree
is in Organic Chemistry,” I explain.

“Why?” Kiera sputters. “Why would you do that to yourself?” Kiera slaps her hand over her mouth, “Don’t mind me. You know I have an appalling habit of blurting every thought as it comes into this vacant head of mine.”

Since we’ve safely pulled into a parking spot, I lean over to kiss her temple. “I know for a fact there
isn’t
a vacant spot in that head of yours,
Ms. Grad Student
and I don’t think anybody who puts themselves on the line every day for kids like you do could ever be appalling.”

Kiera flushes slightly as she fans herself, “My goodness; this
is
a full service date with compliments and everything.”

I retrieve her chair out of the back of the Blazer, taking care to assemble it correctly this time. As I lift her out of the SUV, I snuggle her to my chest and watch as her dark red hair falls in luscious waves over my arm. It never ceases to amaze me how a simple touch from Kiera ignites me faster than elaborate seduction scenes staged by other women. Instinctively, I embrace her a little tighter, and I run my thumb along the hollow of her waist. Kiera moans as she bites her bottom lip.

My body immediately responds to her throaty sound. “Pip, baby, you can’t do that if you ever want me to put you down,” I murmur.

Kiera tilts her head up and gently kisses the side of my jaw. “Where did you get the silly idea that I wanted you to?”
she whispers in my ear.

My whole body shivers in response. All
the blood in my body seems to have rushed to my groin. “Well, Kiera, I’m sorry,” I respond as I smoothly place her in her wheelchair and tuck her dress around her legs. “I’m not going to let you cheat. I promised you a date with all the trimmings and to do that we actually have to get in the door.”

Kiera sticks her bottom lip out in mock protest. It’s too much temptation to resist. I lean down to kiss her. I run my tongue along her bottom lip and gently suck
it into my mouth as I deepen the kiss. She even tastes like peaches. My hands reach down to cup her jaw and thread through her hair. Eventually, I have to stop to take a breath. I hear Kiera talking to me.

“Jeff, you’re not exactly helping to convince me here,” Kiera says with a gasp as she tries to fix her hair.

“You‘re right, let me get you inside before I do something very ungentlemanly to you in the middle of the parking lot.” I retort, angry at my own lack of control.
Smooth move, Romeo. Scare her the freak out, why don’t you?

Kiera winks and blushes, “I don’t know, under other circumstances that sounds like it might be fun.”

Then again, she may not be so scared.
I try to tame my thoughts and reign in my body. Right now, a nice formal reception full of idle chatter is the last thing on my mind.

After she stops in the restroo
m to fix the lipstick that I have so carelessly demolished, we took our places in the grand ballroom. I look around at the place cards and note that there is a former Oregon Supreme Court Justice slated to be seated at our table. I start to explain who he is to Kiera, but she surprises me when she assures me that she already knows. Before I can pursue the discussion further, the waiter offers us drinks. In stereo, we both say, “Oh, no thank you.”

“Jeff, you don’t need to do that on my account. Its okay, have whatever you want. I can call Heather if I need to.”

“Kiera, I would never do that to you. I not only don’t drink and drive. I don’t drink at all after seeing what alcohol does to my step dad. It’s a personal choice. I just don’t want any substance to have that much control over me,” I explain.

She nods as her eyes meet mine.
“I understand your choices better than you think. I don’t drink either. Partially, because I have autonomic dysreflexia. This makes it hard for me to regulate my body temperature and alcohol makes it worse. Also, my mom died of a brain tumor and I have cancer markers in my genes. So, why tempt fate?” she replies.

I try to process the information she just gave me. Yet, any combination of the puzzle pieces forms the same alarming picture in my mind. “Kiera, are you telling me the day that you
rescued the little boy, you were at real risk of dying of something other than drowning and nobody knew it except you?” I ask insistently.

“I guess you’re right. I was
freaked out by the situation and not really giving you all of the details,” Kiera concedes with an acquiescent shrug.

I gaze into her big, light-bluish-green eyes and plead earnestly, “Pip, promise
me you’ll get a medical alert bracelet so that we know how to help you if you get into trouble.”

“I promise, my PC. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Kiera replies as she grabs my hand and interlaces her fingers. I smile contentedly as she places our joined hands on her lap. Gradually, more people begin to arrive at our table, and Kiera adopts the role of table hostess.
I’m amazed at her ability to connect to everyone. Not only does she remember everyone’s name, she seems to be able to draw out obscure facts that draw everyone together. How she brought two ham radio operators together from four tables apart is beyond me. Just then I see former Justice Gardner.

“Your Honor,” I stammer. I look over at Kiera, and I note that she is beaming from ear to ear
.

As I am about to shake his hand, he leans over and collects Kiera in a bear hug. As she recovers, she chatters happily, “William, it’s great to see you. How is Grace doing? I miss her. PT just isn’t the same without her.”

I was worried about her being uncomfortable because she didn’t know anyone, yet she seems to be on a first name basis with people I’ve only admired from afar. I watch her in awe as she introduces me. His Honor teasingly asks her if I’m a good guy and if her daddy would approve.

She nods and answers solemnly. “Yes sir, I believe he will. Jeff is one of the few men I’ve ever known to even try to stand in my daddy’s shadow, let alone his shoes. He is a great guy. Your profession is better with him in it.”

I am profoundly touched by Kierra’s public declaration. Not since my grandfather was alive has anyone truly rooted for me. Now, I have Pip and the merchants of Blue Lake. At this moment, it’s abundantly cool to be me.

The former Justice scrutinizes me carefully before sagely pronouncing, “I hope you have enough smarts to keep this one. I met a girl like her once at the Five an
d Dime. We’ve been married for 42 years.”

I smile broadly as I reply, “Trust me, your Honor, I plan on it.”

As we eat our mediocre banquet food, I watch with growing pride as Kiera manages the conversation at our table like an accomplished conductor of an orchestra. She makes sure that everyone is comfortable contributing to the conversation and balances the topics between work and other things. It is amazing to watch because she does it with such ease. I have to consciously work to be engaging at social gatherings because I’m naturally shy. As the former Justice is sharing a funny anecdote about his grandson’s gymnastics tournament, Kyle Best, an associate in our office, bursts into our conversation.

“Jeffery, my man, who’s your hottie?” he asks
, leering down Kiera’s dress.

“Kyle, you interrupted someone that was speaking,” I reply tartly. “The
woman
is my girlfriend. If
she
chooses to share her name with you, it’s fine with me.”

I look over at Justice Gardner. He gestures for Kyle to continue. “Something tells me this may be more stimulating than what I was saying,” he adds wryly.

Kyle pumps Kiera’s hand roughly “Hi, I’m Kyle Best, and when you get tired of this schmuck, you can just call me the ‘
The
Best Man’,” he says as he laughs loudly at his own joke.

Kiera raises an eyebrow at me. “I’m Kiera Ashley. You may call me Ms. Ashley,” she responds primly, trying to ease her hand out of his death grip. She grimaces suddenly.

“I know you!” Kyle exclaims, “You’re that head-shrinker over at county. I heard you guys picked up a gnarly case last week. You guys got some kid to spill her guts using naked dolls or dirty pictures or something…” Kyle trails off as he sees the look of shock on everyone’s face.

“Put a cork in it
,” I growl, dropping my voice to a menacing whisper. Kiera rests her hand on my arm and flashes me a reassuring smile.

“Actually, I am a social worker that specializes in childhood trauma. As such, I couldn’t possibly talk about any cases that we may or may not have pending. However, I am glad to see you have such an interest in the welfare of children, Mr. Best. It’s encouraging to see, since attorneys are mandatory reporters in Oregon
,” Kiera says in her best public service announcement voice.

I stand up and give a half bow in front of Kiera. I grasp her hand and kiss the back of it as I say, “Well said, milady. May I have this dance?”

Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise as she replies, “You understand that dancing is not a God-given talent for me, right? You are taking your life in your hands. It could be downright catastrophic,” Kiera responds with a laugh.

“
Hey, you don’t know what my skill level is. People assume that I have rhythm because I’m black. They forget about the half of me that’s white. I could end up riding in your lap before the night is over,” I answer with a teasing grin.

“Am I supposed to find some bad news in that scenario?” Kiera
replies. She arches her eyebrow as she allows me to escort her to the dance floor.

The DJ is playing
Celebration
by Kool and the Gang. After a couple of cringe-worthy false starts, Kiera and I end up developing a modified swing dance where she twirls her chair in a tight circle under my arm at the end of each pass. Her control of her chair is something to behold as she spins it deftly on two wheels and stops it on a dime. She is remarkably strong and her strapless dress highlights the long toned muscles in her back, shoulders and arms as I glide her through the arcs at lightening speed. Her hair is trailing behind her like a comet made of fire. Kiera has an expression of unbridled delight on her face. Her eyes are glowing with contagious joy and her smile is so wide it practically covers the width of her face. I can’t help but laugh with her. This is the most fun I’ve had in ages. After two more fast dances, the DJ takes pity on us and plays
Heaven
by Bryan Adams. I wheel Kiera to the side of the dance floor and kneel down to murmur in her ear, “Do you trust me, Pip?”

She pulls back and glances at me sharply, “You know I do. If I didn’t we wouldn’t have done what we just did,” she says with confusion and exasperation in her voice.

“Okay, I am just checking because I really love this song.” With that veiled warning, I gently scoop her up in my arms. I walk to the center of the dance floor and start swaying in a waltz-like rhythm. Kiera buries her nose in my neck, breathes deeply, winds her arms around me and threads her fingers in my hair at my nape. I feel her purr like a contented kitten. I struggle to keep my response in the PG-13 range and remember that this is a business event. I study her long eyelashes and her flushed cheeks. I notice that she has a red blush on the top of her breasts as they peek out from her dress.
Hmm, they weren’t red earlier.
My inner EMT perks up. I survey her carefully throughout the rest of the dance.

Kiera catches my increased scrutiny and blushes as she touches her face. “What? Do I have something between my teeth or a booger hanging out of my nose?” she demands in a distressed voice.

I kiss her, but not nearly as meticulously as I would like too. “Relax Pip, I’m a guy. I’m just checking you out. You are so captivating that it takes a while,” I say in a teasing voice.

“Nice cover, but that doesn’t explain why you’re looking at me like my dad does when he thinks I’ve caught the latest bird flu,” she retorts.

“All right, I’m busted. I’m concerned because you look a bit feverish. You know, you can send the life guard to law school, but he’s never truly off duty,” I answer with a self-deprecating shrug.

“Promise me you will not make a huge deal of this… Okay?” Kiera pleads in a resigned voice. “I am a bit overheated. But, I can deal with it. This isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.”

My heart stutters. “Pip, it
is
a big deal! I can’t just conveniently forget my EMT training because you ask me to. I know that the autonomic dysreflexia can be fatal if ignored. Please let me help you,” I plead in an urgent voice.

She opens her purse and takes out a couple of pills from an antique looking case. I cringe as she swallows them dry. “My head hurts too much to argue with you. I need to get some place cooler with a cold drink,” she says, sounding tired and defeated.

“I’ll put you in Ty’s truck. His AC is as efficient as a walk in freezer. I’ll grab you a drink and some Motrin for your headache,” I reply. Kiera starts to take an ice tea off of the serving tray. “Pip, we really need to get some water and some electrolytes in you first” I snag an apple juice and a salt shaker from the table. I mix the apple juice with a very small pinch of salt and some ice water from a pitcher on the table. I hand the concoction to her as we head out the door.