Chapter14
Harper was overwhelmed by what she saw. “Oh, Rusty,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”
“Told ya.” He pointed to the black-velvet sky covered with sparkling stars. “You can see the Big Dipper over yonder, plain as day. Orion looks close enough to touch, don’t it?”
Orion was the only constellation she recognized due to its signature belt. She nodded. “I’ve never seen so many stars in my life,” she whispered. Then again, other than occasionally glancing up at night, did she ever bother to really look? Or take the time just to gaze at them like she was doing now? “This definitely lives up to the hype.”
“Yeah,” he said softly. “It sure does.”
They lay in silence for a long while as they viewed the twinkling white dots above. The air was colder than it had been earlier, and even though she still had on her jacket, she started to shiver a little. But she wasn’t about to go inside, not anytime soon, no matter how cold she got.
A short time later Rusty said, “You’re chilled.”
It wasn’t a question, and there was no reason for her to fib about it. “A little.”
“Here.” He picked up the other blanket and spread it out over her. “Better?”
“Much.” She snuggled under the wool, the fabric softer than she anticipated. Turning her head to the side to look at him, she asked, “What about you?”
“I’m warm enough.” He put his hands behind his head.
“There’s plenty of room under here if you change your mind.”
Oops. She probably shouldn’t have said that. It was an innocent offer but could be easily taken the wrong way. When he didn’t say anything for a moment, she was sure she’d made him uncomfortable again.
“Thanks,” he said quietly. “But I’m good.”
Relieved he didn’t seem bothered, she looked up at the sky again. But another feeling niggled at her. Disappointment. Because the idea of snuggling with Rusty under the stars suddenly became extremely appealing.
“Do you know which planet is the brightest at night?”
Whew, he was changing the subject. “Venus,” she said, happy to focus on anything except, um, him.
“Correct. Obviously, you paid attention in school.”
“Of course I did. You’re in the presence of a valedictorian.”
“Really?” He turned to look at her, although there wasn’t enough light to see his expression.
“Yes. Top of my class... of fifty-four.”
“Hey,” he said. “That’s nothin’ to sneeze at. I was a C student myself, although I did pretty good in my math and science classes.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” She continued to stare at the ocean of stars. “How many do you think are up there?”
“More than one hundred billion,” he said without hesitation.
“You sound confident in your answer.”
“I also paid attention in school. Science, remember?”
She watched the sky, feeling small and insignificant in the presence of so much starlight. After a few minutes, she said, “My parents are getting divorced.”
Seemingly unfazed by the abrupt change of topic, he responded. “I’m sorry, Harper. That’s tough.”
“It is.” She hadn’t planned to tell him, but she felt a little lighter having said the words out loud. Still, she was surprised when tears formed in her eyes. Shoot. The last thing she wanted to do was cry over her mother and father’s disaster of a relationship.
“Are you okay?”
