This scene was in the first draft of Shards at the end of chapter one, but when I began editing, I cut it for two reasons:
1) It’s out of character for Sam in a couple of different ways, and
2) It destroys the pacing of the story.
But I did like the hints dropped between Sam and Rafe, and I was a little sad that there wasn’t a place for this conversation in the final version of the book.
Disclaimer: This is a first draft and has only been edited for obvious misspellings.
Note: If you’ve come from the bonus material page and have had this page stuck in a tiny pop-up window, you can scroll by using the up and down arrow keys, or feel free to copy the url (http://kitcampbellbooks.com/?page_id=1519) into another, fully functional, window.
~*~
The bell chimed again, but Eva didn’t even bother this time. She had an essay due in a few days and she’d barely started. Essays were not her strong point, as her grades would attest to. Maybe Rafe was right, and she should look into a major that relied less on writing and more on rote memorization or something along those lines. She just needed a couple more sources and then hopefully she’d have enough information to put everything together, though she suspected the professor would just hate her thesis again. Even when she tried to write a cookie cutter “Yay, Christianity!” essay, things tended to go horribly awry. She wasn’t quite sure why – after all, she had grown up in a large, religious family where God was the head.
“Didn’t we go over that chapter two weeks ago?” said a voice.
Eva smiled and looked up at the dark-haired man leaning over the counter. “Yes, but I’m looking for sources for Dr. Curtis’s essay, and I remembered there being something about the timeline of Old Testament construction in here.” She tapped the page. “Of course, now I can’t find it, so perhaps it was a different book, or somewhere on Wikipedia.”
“I think it was actually the next chapter,” he said, eying the book.
“Really?”
He laughed. “No, I’m full of it. I haven’t actually been reading the book.”
Eva frowned and tucked her pencil behind her ear. “That’s so unfair, and you’ve been doing so well.”
“You forget that I’ve already taken this class once.” He pushed himself up off the counter.
“Did you flunk the first time?” Eva asked, flipping through the pages in search of the information she needed. It was indeed in the next chapter over.
“No, I just like to drive Dr. Curtis up the wall. She gets this lovely face when she really wants to say something horrible to you and is holding it in.” He winked at her and smiled widely, showing off a perfect row of teeth.
Eva found herself smiling too, but that smile faded as she noticed the shade of his eyes. Green again! Why had she never noticed before that the shade was so common?
“Is that Sam I hear?” came Rafe’s voice from somewhere in the stacks.
The smile faded from Sam’s face for a moment before it gamely returned, though Eva thought the expression was strained. “Thought I’d drop by and say hi. Lily says hi too, and she wanted me to pick up a book for her.”
Rafe emerged from the stacks, the dust trail up the side of his nose having expanded considerably. Eva wasn’t sure how he couldn’t notice it; if she’d had that much dust that close to her nose, she would be sneezing. “Lily, eh? Figures she wouldn’t do her own work. She still into that occult crap?”
“We all need hobbies,” replied Sam, sticking his hands in his pockets. “She wanted something Lovecraftian. Nothing specific, of course, so if I bring home the wrong thing I’ll just be in trouble.”
“Well, that sort of thing would be in the horror section, if you can find it. Last I saw it it was somewhere near the mysteries near the back of the store.” Rafe gestured vaguely with one hand and came over to stand behind the counter right next to Eva. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Sam.
Sam frowned. “Still no organization, Rafe? You’d think with how long you and Gabe have had this store, you’d have something that works better by now.”
“I like to be surprised,” said Rafe stiffly.
Eva eyed him out the corner of her eye. She’d never seen him act so coldly towards anyone.
An odd half-smile spread across Sam’s face. “That so,” he said. He leaned back, tossing his head carelessly. “Good to know.”
Rafe scowled at him.
“Well, maybe I will just go tell Lily to get her own book,” Sam continued. “Though we all know she wouldn’t bother to step foot in here. Gabe’s still mad about that last bit, isn’t he? Well, I can’t say I blame him, but I think he went a little too far with the whole thing. There aren’t that many of us left at this point, to be going off like that.”
“If you’re not going to buy a book, you need to go,” said Rafe. “We’re busy this time of the year, and we don’t have time to just stand around chatting.”
It was such an obvious lie that Eva almost laughed, though she had no idea what they were talking about, but it was something big, judging by the tension in the room. She’d never seen Rafe so upset. Sam she knew from class, but there was an odd edge to him too. Rafe loved to talk to his customers, sometime continuing the conversation as he hauled books around the store, or even recruiting them to help with the endless moving.
“Fine, fine, I’m going,” replied Sam. He rested his elbows on the counter, lowering his head to Eva’s height. “Hey, you busy later? I know a nice coffee shop not too far from here, and maybe we could go over some stuff for class.”
“Get out of here, you little devil,” roared Rafe, startling Eva almost off of her stool.
Sam grimaced. “Geez,” he said. Without another word, he turned and stalked towards the door, though he did give Eva a wink on his way out. The door slammed behind him, and all of a sudden it was oddly quiet in the store. Eva’s thoughts drifted distractedly to the students that were lurking about somewhere. How embarrassing.
Rafe let out a breath and rubbed one temple. “Watch out for that one, hon,” he said. “He’s nothing but trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?” Eva found herself asking. He had been pretty nice to her in class, to be honest, and sometimes would help her with homework and whisper answers to her when Dr. Curtis called her name in class. Plus he was cute, if she had been looking for something along those lines – exotic almost, with his dark hair and brilliant eyes.
“All kinds of trouble,” replied Rafe unhelpfully. “Trust me, darling, you don’t want to get caught up in that.” He ruffled her hair and wandered back to the stacks, grumbling to himself under his breath.
Eva tucked her pencil into her book to hold her place and leaned forward, resting her head on her hands. What an odd confrontation.
~*~
