Chapter 10
If asked, Pete would admit that he was testing the waters, hoping that Shanti Davis would light up at the idea of him moving to Virtue, so her oh don't do that came as a genuine surprise. He blinked at her, and she wrinkled her nose, gaze dropping in already-familiar shy embarrassment.
"I mean, I dream about getting out of here," she whispered, then looked up with a nervous smile. "Don't give me a reason to want to stay."
"I never liked it here anyway," Pete said without missing a beat, and Shanti's beautiful, soft laugh rolled over him.
"But that's not fair either, is it! It's a nice town.
It's just…" Shanti glanced toward the plate glass window behind him, and Pete turned to follow her gaze.
The bazaar workers had another dozen booths half built, and there were kids playing across the enormous square, their adults watching from a distance.
There wasn't much vehicle traffic yet, but there were a lot of people out, enjoying the snow-covered town center in the bright morning sunshine.
Customers were coming in and out of the doughnut shop, the old-fashioned metal bell jingling as the door opened and closed.
It looked, sounded, and, thanks to the cinnamon scent of doughnuts in the air, even smelled, almost picture-perfect.
Pete could all but hear Shanti's recognition of that in her sigh.
"It's just you've had to stay here a long time," he suggested. "It doesn't matter how nice a place is if there's some reason you can't leave."
"I don't mean to sound ungrateful," Shanti said, and this time her voice was ragged, as if she held back tears.
Pete turned to face her again, offering his hand, and she put hers into it without hesitation.
"I don't mind having cared for Gran and Gramp.
I really don't, I'm so grateful for the time with them, and I'm really glad my education let me do it well.
But I'm so tired of being…me," she finally said, hoarsely.
"I just want to go be someone else for a while. And I know I can't really do that."
"Why not?" Peter asked softly.
She gave a rough little laugh and pulled her hand back to wipe at her eyes. "Because wherever you go, there you are. I'm not a very exciting person to begin with, so even if I could afford to run to the far end of the earth I'd still be me."
Pete shook his head. "I don't know. You might be right, but from what you've told me so far, it sounds like you've been helping take care of your grandparents since you were a teenager? I don't know how old you are," he added hastily. "But you don't look all that old."
Shanti laughed again, this time a sort of endearing wet snort. "I'm twenty-eight. And you're kind of right, I mean, they weren't sick when I started college, but they weren't well, and I really focused on getting through school so I could be there for them."
"So you've basically been being responsible since your late teens," Pete said again. "Maybe you're more exciting than you think you are. Maybe you just haven't had the chance to find that out."
"I'm pretty sure at this point I'm just stuck with this.
I know twenty-eight isn't that old," Shanti said, sounding tired now.
"It's just, if you've been doing a thing for ten years, I don't even know how you stop.
By getting on the train and going so far away you can forget who you used to be?
Sure, maybe. If you have the money." She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders.
"But never mind all that. I'm being mopey and that's not how I want to spend the day.
Sorry. You're easy to talk to, which is a little weird for me.
I don't usually trauma dump on strangers. Or anybody."
"We all need someone to talk to, and I don't think I'd call any of this a trauma dump." Pete gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile, and got her small soft smile in response. "Anyway, I like to hear about you. You seem pretty great to me."
"So do you. I feel like I've known you forever. In a good way, not in an 'oh god, I can't avoid my elementary school best friend in this small of a town' way."
Peter laughed. "I feel that way too. In a good way, yes. Look, since you've shown me around town, is there anything you like to do that you haven't gotten to in a long time?"
"Oh…" Shanti closed her eyes, thinking about it, and to Pete's not-so-secret delight, she also reached out until she found another of the half-doughnuts that was left, and nibbled on it as she thought. "Ice skating on the river, but it won't be frozen up enough for weeks. Do you ice skate?"
"Do I ice skate," Pete said in a deep, amused voice that made Shanti open her eyes and lift her eyebrows.
"What? It's not a strange question! Lots of people don't!"
"Lots of people from Alaska do. Or at least, from very small towns where it's cold enough to have an outside rink at least half the year and there's nothing else to do. Lots of hockey in Shkalnik."
"Oh, of course. I didn't think of that. Well, maybe when the river freezes up we can go skating, then.
In the meantime…" Shanti glanced outside again, then ducked her head as a man about her age came up the steps to the doughnut shop and pushed the door open.
Pete shot him a wary glance, trying to decide if Shanti had a reason to avoid him.
Shifter, his bear said, and then, thoughtfully, Prey species.
We're not hunting him, Pete told the bear dryly, though he was right: the guy wasn't a predator species, although he was also close to six and a half feet tall and built like a wall.
He also said, "Hey, Shanti," in surprise as the door closed.
"Long time no see, how are you doing? I'm sorry about your grandparents. "
Shanti raised her gaze like she was startled to have been noticed, much like recognized, and smiled briefly. "Thanks. I'm okay, all things considered. How are you? This is Luke Jones," she told Peter. "I went to high school with him. Luke, this is Peter Baranov. He's working on the railroad."
"No way! My girlfriend is the station architect." Luke offered a hand to shake, and although he clearly wasn't making an effort to be a strong man, he still had a grip like an iron vise.
"Really?" Shanti asked with surprised eagerness. "Sabrina Keep? Please tell her she's done a really nice job."
"Come tell her yourself," Luke invited. "She's over at the bookstore helping them unpack."
Shanti blinked at him, then at Pete, then back at Luke. "The new one? I thought it was only supposed to be open on Saturdays?"
"Technically they're not open right now," Luke said in a near-conspiratorial tone.
"But I guess it'll be open over Christmas, so they're getting their ducks in a row.
Anyway, I'm sure Sabrina would love to meet you.
Although if I come back with two people and zero doughnuts she'll probably murder me, so I gotta take a minute to fill their order. "
"We have a lot of extra doughnuts," Shanti began, and Pete made a sound of protest.
"We have a lot of doughnuts. We have no extra doughnuts!"
"I can't eat another five!"
"We don't have to eat them right now!"
Luke laughed at them both and went to the counter to put in his own order as Pete grinned at Shanti. "I'll carry the box," he promised. "I'd like to meet Ms. Keep, though, if you don't mind? I don't get to meet people involved with the stations very often."
"I don't think I'll be very interesting to her, but sure."
Pete shook his head as he started tidying up their table. "People always like to be told they've done a good job on something, so that'll make you interesting all by itself. And I think you underestimate yourself."
"You're judging me by how much brownie sundae and doughnut I can eat," Shanti said a bit tartly, and Pete laughed out loud.
"There are probably worse things to judge someone by, but no, I don't think that is what I'm judging you on." But it was a little early, or difficult, to explain that he knew in his soul that Shanti was so much more than she thought she was. "I might be judging you by your ear muffs."
Shanti clapped her hands over her ears like she was wearing them, but her smile brightened. "That's okay, then. I have really cute ear muffs."
"You do. If I ever start to need them, I'll consult you on which ones I should buy."
"Somehow I don't think a man who forgets his winter coat most days is going to need ear muffs."
"Probably not, but a guy should be prepared." Pete closed the doughnut box, picked it up, and immediately turned it sideways so he could tuck it under his arm. Then he winced, and Shanti smiled.
"At least none of them are frosted. Those are the worst to turn over because the frosting gets smeared around."
"I'll catch up to you," Luke called, and Pete gave him a wave as he and Shanti left the doughnut shop for the brisk morning air.
He was curious about the other shifter. There weren't a lot of non-predator shifter species, and aside from moose, he wasn't sure he'd met any before.
And moose weren't predators, maybe, but given the size of them they were pretty close to the top of the food chain anyway.
Wolves and bears did prey on them, but really only on the old, sick, or newborn.
Nobody in their right mind, even a shifter grizzly bear, wanted to take on a full-grown, healthy moose.
"The bookshop is that one, on the boardwalk," Shanti said with a gesture.
"Honestly, sometimes it's like walking through a whole new town.
Kate's has been there a long time, but the massage therapy business is new, or at least, new since I was in high school.
The storefront beside it belongs to Zane Bellamy and doesn't get used much because he's usually in Hollywood—"
"Wait, what?" Pete laughed incredulously. "Does Virtue get a lot of Hollywood types?"