Faerie Tale Queen - Chapter 19

19

Kieren woke much more rested and in a far better mood than she had been in a long time. She showered and dressed, then wandered her way to the kitchen. When she arrived she was surprised to see her coffee pot had just finished brewing. Almost simultaneously, she heard the first sounds of banging come from the back deck. She poured two mugs of coffee and headed toward the clatter.

“Good morning,” she greeted.

Logan eyed her as he took the proffered mug, “I’m glad I didn’t wake you.”

“You didn’t mention you would be working on the deck today.”

“I hadn’t planned on it, but when the opportunity arose, I decided to take advantage.”

“Oh?”

“The meeting I had scheduled was postponed until later in the week, and since the sun was shining, I thought what better way to spend the day than on an outdoor project?”

“What is it that you do?” Kieren asked.

Logan flipped the hammer in his hand, “What, you don’t believe I’m a carpenter by trade?”

“You’re definitely a carpenter.” She surveyed his handy work, “and a rather gifted one at that, but no. I don’t think your day to day job is carpentry.”

Logan arched an eyebrow, “And what is it you imagine I do?”

Kieren took a seat on the deck, tipped her head to the side and deliberated, “Since you already told me you weren’t a doctor or a medic, which would have been my first guess, I’ll need to work through this.

“You’re physically strong, so you could be a law enforcement officer of some sort, but then again, your strength may very well be a byproduct of your extracurricular activities. Even in work clothes, you are always clean cut and you carry a sense of power and authority with you, so I could say a lawyer or an executive of some sort, but somehow, that doesn’t feel quite right. You are extremely analytic, yet surprisingly open minded. You appear to have a fluctuating work schedule, something far more forgiving than your average nine-to-five Joe would have.”

Kieren pursed her lips and furrowed her brow, then on a nod she said, “I’m going to go with a consultant of some sort, but not just an average consultant. I think you either own, or are a partner in, a consulting firm.”

Logan raised his eyebrows, “I’m impressed. My friend Richard and I started a security consulting firm a few years ago when we were straight out of university. Although we handle all types of security systems, we have developed a special knack for building impenetrable firewalls for computers. I’m more the engineer and Richard is more the computer geek, but the combination seems to work for us.”

“Now I’m impressed.” Kieren stood, “Have you eaten?”

“I have, thank you.”

“Alrighty then, I will leave you to your hammering.”

“And what is it you have on your schedule today?”

Kieren sighed and shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s so nice out, maybe I’ll go explore the cliffs and the beach.”

Logan’s face clouded, “It would make me more comfortable if you didn’t do that alone for your first time.”

“I’m a big girl Logan. I can go explore if I so choose.”

Logan shook his head, “I would have said the same thing to anyone, young or old, female or male. No one should explore those cliffs for the first time alone. Please?”

“Fine,” she grudgingly relented.

“I’ll tell you what. After lunch, we’ll both go down. Deal?”

As she turned to leave, she nearly tripped over Sebastian. She bent down, scooped up the cat, and practically stomped to the door.

“Where are you off to?” Logan called after her.

“To find something to occupy me for the next four hours,” she retorted as the door closed firmly behind her.

Take a breath you ninny, you’re overreacting.

“Maybe I am, but I still don’t like being told what I can and cannot do.” She held the cat up so they were nose to nose. “You’d never do that to me, would you buddy?”

“Merrowww.”

“See I knew you wouldn’t.” She cuddled the purring ball of fur for a few minutes, then placed him on a kitchen stool. “I don’t know about you, but I could use some breakfast.”

“Meee.Owww.”

“I’m thinking pancakes.”

“Meee.Owww.”

“Why can’t all the men in my life be as agreeable as you?”

After a shared breakfast, a knock sounded at the front door. Much to Kieren’s delight, her boxes from the States had arrived and the driver was nice enough to deposit them directly into her office, so she happily spent her entire morning unpacking and arranging.

Satisfied with her productivity, she sought out Logan to see if he was ready for lunch. They made quick work of the light fare and set off on their adventure. After a few slips, and reluctantly having to take Logan’s hand to help her negotiate part of the decent to the beach, Kieren was thankful she did not go alone, and she told Logan as much.

“I wasn’t trying to be overbearing.”

“I realize that now.”

They walked for miles, climbed a few outcrops of rocks, and explored a few caves. Kieren gathered a few shells and stone that caught her eye. She even found what appeared to be an old coin near the mouth of one of the caves.

“It will be interesting to find out where it came from.” She mused as she turned the coin over in her hand.

“Ah, it’s pirate’s booty for sure. Heaven knows these shores have seen more than their fair share of buccaneers and brigands.”

Kieren laughed, “You sir, have an active imagination. I thought I was the fantasy writer in this group.”

“That you are. I may not have heard the legends of Grá, but I could tell you legends of pirates that would make your hair curl, more than it already is, that is.

“What do you say we start heading back? We could get cleaned up and have an early supper at Shenanigan’s if you’d like. You haven’t been yet, have you?”

“To Shenanigan’s? No, I haven’t. That sounds like fun.”

“And then I was thinking, maybe tomorrow, if you haven’t any plans, I could show you about the island a bit.”

Kieren sighed, “Oh, I would love that, thank you.”

“It’s settled then.” Logan reached for her hand and gave her a little tug. “Come on, I know an easier way to get back up to the house than the way we came down.”