Animal attraction is immediately evident when an adjunct professor accidentally walks into the Croton University event planner’s office on Halloween. But Hugo and Zane are both hiding secrets right from the start.
Hugo has a special bond with his sister Hallie. She thinks the connection between her brother and Zane is both natural and magical, and therefore goes to extreme measures to convince the pair they belong together.
A year later, just before the next Halloween, Zane insists he must leave Croton. Devasted, Hugo wonders if he can go with him. Zane claims it’s impossible. Animal instincts still draw the pair together. Once all truths are revealed, will that lead to a clear path at love? Can animal instincts and a little magic make the impossible possible?
“You know ...” Despite the rustle of sequins that came with the slightest movement, my sister had somehow quietly appeared beside me, almost out of thin air. Her words made me jump. “Clean-up could happen in an instant with more help.”
“You offering?”
“In a way.” She shifted the huge handbag she toted from one hand to another. “I’d like to help you get past your reluctance to let Zane into your life as more than a friend, too.”
I walked away.
“Hugo!”
Not looking back seemed the best option. Still, I stopped and turned. “What?”
Instead of tossing bon mots or unwanted advice, Hallie lobbed something else. “Nice catch.”
I had to bend over to retrieve the multi-colored pebble. “What am I supposed to do with this?” It was pretty, mostly white, with tiny striations of pink, gray, and shimmery blue.
“You’ll think of something.”
“Will I?”
“Here.” An insulated lidded mug from her tote was Hallie’s next offering.
“Tea?”
“A special blend, with extra lavender and fermented berries. I figure you’ll be especially restless tonight, my precious brother.”
“My old ways do fight me still sometimes.”
“You deserve quiet slumber and sweet dreams, especially after this wonderful event you created for Zane.”
“I can’t really see anything wonderful about it.”
“I know.” A brush of my sister’s fingertips showed her love and devotion but brought little comfort. “Maybe you will before it passes evermore.” With that, Hallie vanished into the night.
By nine, just about the time the students on campus were ready to start partying, those of us forty and over were ready to go home and get into bed. Unfortunately, as the stragglers numbered less than twenty, Claire, Janelle, and I had a few hours to go.
Floodlights took the place of candles, the space now bright as noon instead of an ambiance resplendent for an eventide of celebration or romance. I liked that word -- eventide. It reminded me of a different time, a bygone era. Zane used it often. Eventide cookies and tea is my favorite daily event, he’d said just days prior.
At least we had tunes. Janelle also worked in the computer lab, which included the music library. The eighties, she’d revealed, was a musical era she’d come to appreciate through her grandmother.
Bopping to Cyndi Lauper, I walked the thermos my sister had given me over to the buffet table. Curious, I unscrewed the top, and with my baser instincts taking over, inhaled sharply for an inquisitive sniff.
“Is the aroma pleasing?”
I was startled by a voice like before and ended up spilling a trickle of pink tea down the front of my white shirt.
“I’m sorry.” Zane put his hand on my elbow. “Sneaking up on you was not my plan, and now I fear this music might not have the charms a softer genre would for soothing a most anxious fox.”
“Huh?” The outdoors again, the way it stirred me and amplified Zane’s essence, the timing maybe, and Zane’s words, something had me saying, “Fuck it, bruh,” before I grabbed him rougher than the gentle hold he had on me. Zane was leaving. Either way, he’d be gone, so whether my truth drove him away or it gave us one night to be together, why not spill it, I figured. “I have to tell you something.”
“It seems important,” Zane said. “Maybe even explosive. Shocking.”
“It’s all those things.” I was not overselling.
“Well.” He took a deep breath. “I guess I’m ready. Tell me.”
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