Sweet Misfortune: A Novel by Kevin Alan Milne Page A

Garrett drove around in circles for an extra five minutes just to throw her off. When the car was stopped and the engine turned off, Sophie asked if she could take off the mask.
    “Not yet,” he told her. “There’s just a short walk, and then we’re there.”
    Walking around to the passenger side of the car, Garrett helped Sophie out, then he took her arm in his and guided her to a nearby building.
    “Where are we?” she kept asking, once they were inside. “It sounds like we’re all alone.”
    Garrett didn’t offer any hints as he led her through the building. They walked up a flight of stairs, down a long hallway, and through a set of thick double doors.
    Finally, he told her to sit down carefully. He helped lower her to the ground, where a large blanket was laid out. She felt with her hands to the edge of the blanket, noting with some concern that it was on a concrete floor. What was even more disconcerting was the complete lack of sound. There were definitely no other people around, and she started feeling like maybe the blindfold and secrecy wasn’t such a good idea after all, no matter what Ellen believed they were up to.
    Garrett could see the worry in the lines around her mouth. “You ready to take off the mask?” he asked, as he sat down next to her.
    “Very.”
    “Okay, then. We’re here. Take it off.”
    Sophie carefully reached up and broke the Velcro seal on the elastic band that surrounded her head. She squinted to adjust to the new light as the mask came loose.
    Only… it was still very dark.
    She looked all around the strange, bare room. There appeared to be only one continuous wall that surrounded them like a dome, curving to the center of the room as it got taller. In front of her on the ground were two empty plates beside a couple of small take-out boxes.
    “Go ahead, Vance,” Garrett said, craning his neck back toward the door. A few seconds later the lights dimmed even further.
    Sophie studied Garrett’s face as the room darkened. He was staring back at her with boyish glee. As their surroundings faded to near pitch-black, a new, subtle flickering began to emanate from the domed walls. Sophie turned her head in every direction and watched with amazement as thousands of tiny lights unexpectedly burst to life. And then she understood. “Stars!” she exclaimed. “Oh my gosh! I haven’t been to a planetarium since a field trip in fifth grade! How did you arrange this?”
    “I know a guy,” he said, smiling. “Vance is a patient of mine, and he runs the Pacific Science Center. I gave him a call last night, and he said we could have the whole place to ourselves.”
    “It’s amazing,” she said, taking it all in.
    “I’m glad you like it.”
    Sophie shifted her weight on the concrete. “I thought there used to be chairs in here.”
    “Yeah, sorry about that. They’re remodeling, swapping out the old seats for something more comfortable.”
    “Well, chairs or not, this is incredible. I can’t believe it.” She looked all around at the growing constellations. “Thank you so much for this.”
    Garrett smiled in the darkness.
    The remainder of the evening was spent doing exactly what Sophie had requested: gazing at the stars. Garrett hoped she found the setting romantic; he thought she did, but it was too dark to get a good read on her. While they gazed at the expanding universe around them, they also did a great deal of talking, mingled here and there with mouthfuls of pad Thai and coconut rice, using two small flashlights that Garrett had brought along so they could see what they were eating. It wasn’t quite the romance of flickering candles, but it was as close to a candlelit dinner as the fire codes would allow.
    During the conversation, Garrett learned that Sophie had a special affinity for astronomy. She’d even taken several elective courses on it in college and could easily name and identify the twelve zodiac constellations of the Western world, along with a handful