Chapter 2 MOONLIT GALA

CHAPTER 2

JEREMY'S POV

MOONLIT GALA

Corridors smelled of steak and red wine. You could hear some music being played as the conversation was made in the background, I was unable to decipher anything amidst the numerous sounds. Raven's End loves gossip disguised as fundraiser galas.

I stood at the champagne fountain,my shirt halfway buttoned, badge off duty but still in my pocket. I had been here today because my father insisted, not because I wanted to see this group of townspeople feign interest in each other. And then she emerged and the mood shifted immediately, she caught me off guard, Grace Bennett, the new girl in town.

I don't even know her up close and personal but from her name. Rumors around the station was a ghost story from the past. The girl who came back after ten years. The woman with a past nobody could quite place.

I caught one look at her, at the library some time ago. She was writing in register, her hair tied up with that black claw clip, working with dedication like she didn't care about anything. She did not see me and I knew that it hadn't been important. But now gazing at the face, arranged in the golden warm lights. Her dark silk gown flattered her body like sin, that's when I knew she's the one I've wanted my entire life. She didn't belong here. She sat rigidly like she'd be anywhere else but here.

People whispered, stared, gestured and turned their backs away from her, as if she was a plague. Maybe she was and that's why I'm drawn to her.

My dad's voice stopped my line of thought. "Jeremy."

He stood against the stage socializing, shaking hands and giving that Mayor smile that didn't reach his eyes. When he caught sight of me staring back at him, he clenched his jaw before he looked away. All i need to know is that he's aware of everything.

I moved closer to her, giving myself a reason to talk to her. She was nearby at the far end of the hall, fingers running around the rim of her drink she hadn't touched. And I cleared my throat to get her attention.

"You're not having a good time," I said to her.

She turned slowly and her hazel eyes caught the golden lights. Her eyes were tired and there was something sharp in them too. She seemed like she's going to blurt out any moment now.

"Do I have to?" She says gently but firmly.

"Depends on who you ask. Father will always say it's a duty."

I've had a bit of my duties." she said, her lips twisted up at the corners, not a smile at least.

The music thundered around us, and there was a figure laughing out loud too. For a moment now we were here, cut off from everyone and everything. I catch the scent of vanilla and ancient paper on her skin. My heart rate doubled once with a jolt.

"Grace Bennett," I said before I could stop myself. "You're the new librarian."

A flicker of emotion appears on her face briefly, something between recognition or irritation that I couldn't tell. "And you're………

"Jeremy. Jeremy Meyers."

She shuts her eyes with a tiny smile, the name falling between us like a stone into a pond. "The Mayor's son."

"That's me," I said, though it sounded more like an admission than an introduction.

Her gaze led me to my father's, to where he was standing pretending not to look at us. She is so worked up that I could tell it from her voice.

"You two are a lot alike," she spits. "It's got to be the genes or a small town thing."

I laugh silently. "Same genes, Small town."

Grace stared at me for a little while, as if deciding if I am indeed one of the town folks or worth her time. I wanted to tell her that I am not one of them, that I am actually one of the good guys.

But instead I said, "Can I get you another drink?"

She shook her head. "Nay, if I have a sip more. I might say things that I ought not."

"Maybe that's not a bad thing at all."

Her mouth opens to answer, the Mayor, my father knocks on the microphone, calling for quiet and attention. The room inclines toward him, I step back as Grace curls her hand, concentrating on nothing.

Father begins to talk about community legacy, all the old good lines. The crowd applauds at the appropriate moments. I glanced back to find Grace already making her way through the terrace door.

I stepped outside behind her. It's a chillier and quieter night. Crickets hum over the lake, the same lake people still get spooked over. She's resting against the railing, gazing out and far into the black water.

"Always follow women out of rooms?" she asks without turning around.

"Only the ones who want to leave me.".

She breathes a laugh that's not a laugh. "Perhaps it's not so bad, leaving after all."

I step in closer to her. "You'd leave again?"

She turned her head, her eyes shone in the dimness. "You make it sound like I went away forever."

"What was it?" I demand.

"Exile," she shrugs and that strange air hangs suspended between us.

Something in her voice melts around in me, maybe she's lonely, or guilty. I don't know where she comes from, but I want to know and not know at the same time.

There was silence between us,until my father's shadow stopped across the doorway. He lingers and looks at us for too long. Then he is gone himself, leaving only the sound of his footsteps.

Grace gets up and looks at me, "You should head back inside. You're the Mayor's son. People will talk."

"Let them."

She looks at me whole now, sparkling eyes with something I don't know how to name. "Watch yourself, Jeremy. This town talks things into existence."

And before I could even respond, she was lost, disappeared into the crowd and gone. Standing alone with me, the sound of the lake, and the sensation of her name on my lips.

The moonlight glittered off the water, and for the first time I recognized how she impacted me.