Sweet Misfortune: A Novel by Kevin Alan Milne Page B

of lesser-known constellations of Asian origin. When Garrett asked what, specifically, she liked most about the stars, her answer intrigued him.
    Lying on her back on the hard concrete floor, she kept her eyes focused on the twinkling lights overhead. “Looking at stars is a glimpse of history,” she said dreamily. “Some of the things we can see in the sky are
millions
of light-years away. The Andromeda galaxy, for instance, is two and a half million light-years from earth, and that’s a relatively close one.” She took his hand in hers and pointed to a faint blur that made up one of the points in the Andromeda constellation. “So what we’re seeing—well, if we were looking at the real thing outside—is literally millions of years old. We’re living in the present, but in a very real way we’re staring at the past.” She paused, briefly glancing at Garrett from the corner of her eye. “Everything in the universe has a past, but stars don’t try to hide it. They just keep shining, for everyone to see.”
    Garrett studied those sections of Sophie’s face that were illuminated by the mock starlight. “Andromeda. That’s Greek, right?”
    “Very good. She was a princess in the mythological kingdom of Aethiopia. But she also went by a different name. The Chained Lady.”
    “Oh yeah? What do you suppose she was chained to?”
    Sophie’s eyes locked onto Garrett’s for a brief moment before answering. “The past.”
    Though Sophie looked away almost immediately, Garrett couldn’t help but continue staring at her. Everything about her captivated him. The subtle shift in her voice as she talked about Andromeda made him wonder if she somehow viewed herself as a modern Chained Lady, tied to some hidden past.
Or maybe she’s more like a star and less like the Greek princess
, he told himself.
Perhaps understanding her in the present means looking at her past.
But if she was a star—and just by the way Sophie shined when she smiled, Garrett knew that she was—then it stood to reason that they shared something fundamental in common: a
past that would eventually come to light
.
    He didn’t care. Looking at her profile, Garrett wanted to learn as much as he could about this woman. He wanted to take every opportunity to see her in the present, with a hope of getting a glimpse of that past, all while keeping an eye toward making himself a part of her future.

Chapter 9

    Don’t get caught up with a hopeless romantic.
The romance will end, and then it’s just hopeless.
    F OR GARRETT, A BLIND DATE SPINNING AROUND THE Space Needle followed by an evening gazing at faux stars from the comfort of a concrete floor was more than enough time with Sophie Jones to realize that his original plan to meet her only once was very shortsighted. Curiosity had given way to infatuation, and now he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. He felt slightly silly for allowing himself to be so completely affected by her, but ten minutes after dropping Sophie off at her house at the end of their second date, he decided it was time to ask her out again. He pulled into an empty parking lot and took out his cell phone. Sophie had mentioned earlier in the evening that she was getting good at texting back and forth with Evalynn, so for fun he sent her a quick text message. As he punched in the letters on the tiny keypad, it occurred to him that he hadn’t asked anyone out in writing since he left a note on a girl’s desk in fifth grade and told her to circle yes or no for a bike ride after school.
    While pushing send, he decided that the text-invite was much more to his liking, because he didn’t have to sit on the other side of the room and watch her reaction when she got the message.
    U free tomorrow? he typed.
    Thirty seconds later a reply came that made him laugh. Free? No. Not cheap either.
    Ha! Can I see u again? Dinner @ 7??
    Sorry. I have 2 work. My 1 employee is going out of town.
    Mind if I drop by your store