Excerpt: Strange Things Are Afoot

I still don’t know why I stopped. There was no reason for me to stop, not really. I was only there to grab something to cook for dinner, not to talk to people. But with a single question, I was hooked.

“Excuse me, do you know about the wives of Henry the Eighth?”

The question was so out of the ordinary for the regular patrons of 7-Eleven that it penetrated through my post work funk of hating everyone. I stopped in surprise, and turned around to find the speaker. I didn’t have to look far. Two boys – men, really – sat on the curb outside the doors to the convenience store, not more than three feet away from where I was poised to enter the store. Both had dark hair and were dressed in the standard jeans and t-shirts of early summer. One had an open notebook and a closed textbook and was looking at me. The other faced the other side of the parking lot and –

The other was Jake Rivers.

I froze. And stared. The other man repeated his question when he realized he had a captive audience.

“Can you name the wives of Henry the Eighth? Of England?”

I answered without thinking. “When discussing the wives of Henry the Eighth, people pretty much know you mean the King of England. There may have been an eighth Henry in other countries, but England’s is the most famous.”

At the sound of my voice, Jake looked away from the rest of the parking lot and over at me. As I stared, his eyes focused on me and recognition dawned. “Megan, is that you?”

“Hi Jake. Good to see you again,” I responded, maintaining a cool expression while inside I jumped for joy that he remembered my name. “What’s going on?”

“Thank God you shop here. Aaron and I are studying for our history test and we’re stuck.” He stood up and walked over to me, casually brushing the grime off his perfect legs. I snapped my gaze back to his face, rather than watching the path of his hands.

“A history test? It’s June. School’s over, Jake.”

He grimaced. “It’s for summer school. Turns out I was a history class short of my degree.”

“We’ve got a test tomorrow on the Tudors during the English Reformation,” said the other man, presumably Aaron, who was still seated on the curb. “Can you help?”

“Of course she can help.” I heard Jake say as he looked into my eyes. I couldn’t look away. “Megan here was the smartest person in my freshman history class.” He reached out and took one of my hands. “You will help, won’t you?”

Like I said, I don’t know why I stopped. But I did. Not caring what path I may be hurtling down, I swallowed as I looked down at where Jake’s hand gripped mine. “Of course I will. "