Page 18 of Starrily (Perks of Being #2)

Chapter 18

W ith the break called, the cast members and crew headed for the buffet tent. Simon and Callie joined them, keeping in the back, and finally got a hold of some waffles—and an idea of how to capture their runaway cat.

They waited until people feasted and vacated the tent. Callie positioned herself on one side of the long buffet table, and Simon on the other. They laid low and waited.

Five minutes later, there was a silent hop, and Theia landed on the buffet table. She nimbly moved between half-empty plates and leftover cans of soda and stopped at the plate of burger patties. Simon readied himself; Callie waited until Theia was busy taking a bite of the beef, then whistled.

Theia’s ears perked up, distracted. Simon moved fast and grabbed the cat, holding her victoriously in the air.

“Hello, menace.” He held Theia up to the level of his face. She was totally complacent, as if admitting defeat was beneath her.

“Nicely done.” Callie approached from the other side.

Simon turned Theia to face Callie and said, with a higher-pitched voice as if coming from the cat, “This is not over, Master! I will not be contained! I shall be free again!”

“Dork.” Callie’s tone might’ve been admonishing, but her smile let him know what she actually thought. Oh, the things that smile did to his insides.

And his slightly-lower sides.

Callie took Theia from him. “Needless to say, you’re not leaving your carrier again. Understood?”

With their adventure successfully concluded, they headed back to pick up their clothes, then mingled in with a group of extras and left through the main entrance. Theia was secured in her carrier, and as evening descended, they drove off towards the nearest lodging that allowed pets.

Simon whistled the catchy pop melody from the set as he drove, and sang, “The sky has come to greet me …”

“And I’m rising up,” Callie continued, then grunted. “That stupid song is so infectious.”

“I know. I can’t get it out of my head.”

“Who makes a sci-fi musical?”

“Your favorite actor, apparently,” Simon mused. “Good thing he didn’t hear you calling his movie C-list.”

“Oh, no.” Callie hid her face in her hands, then laughed.

Their place to stay for the night, a small inn, wasn’t far. Callie checked on Theia while Simon went inside.

“One room?” the innkeeper asked.

Simon opened his mouth, then considered. It was one kiss. Maybe he should wait with joined accommodations until they talked about what exactly they were to each other, and where they stood.

Or until another kiss. He could go for that.

“Two rooms, please,” he said.

Simon had been brushing his teeth the next morning when the toothbrush slipped out of his hand and clanked into the sink. He went to pick it up—and his fingers passed through.

No, no. Not you again. He’d been doing so well—a whole four days without an incident. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. It’ll pass. It always has, thus far . A memory from his life—the other life—intruded: he used to have nosebleeds as a kid, and even though they were harmless and would pass quickly when they happened, every time he felt the iron in the back of his mouth and watched the blood drip into the sink—one, two, three drops—he worried it wouldn’t stop. That he’d just keep on bleeding.

What if, one day, he’d just keep on fading?

He gripped the sink with his good hand and focused on the pristine white porcelain. One, two, three. It’s going to stop any time now. He didn’t know how many minutes passed, but at last, he tentatively pressed his hand against his cheek, breathing out in relief as it made contact. Solid, warm. Real.

His face looked back from the mirror—worried, but flushed with a healthy glow. How long before he wouldn’t be able to see himself anymore?

It’s gonna be fine. Callie’s family would fix him. Be optimistic.

He rushed through the rest of his morning routine, eager to get back on the road—and to his solution. As he was checking the weather and road conditions, Callie joined him, waving her tablet.

“I have to proposition you,” she said as she sat down, wiggling in her seat excitedly.

He raised his eyebrows. “Not what I expected to hear first thing in the morning, but—”

“I meant …” she shook her head. “I wanted to say ‘I have to ask you something,’ but then I changed my mind to ‘I have a proposition,’ and …” She clutched her tablet. “You said the Bucket List can be ours. Could we do an item from it today?”

Look at her, taking the initiative. Simon felt a strange sense of pride, but also curiosity, and his worries about fading were temporarily pushed away. He wouldn’t tell Callie about his morning episode and bring down her mood. He could carry the fear alone for a few more days. “Go on.”

“The ‘find gold’ one. I was thinking truffles.”

“A fine dining experience. I suppose adventure can be had in different ways,” he admitted.

“No, I want to go dig for truffles.”

His eyebrows rose higher. “I think we’re a bit too far south for that.”

“Not according to my research.” Callie pulled out her tablet. “Different kinds of truffles can be found in specific climate zones. We only need to find a forest at the proper elevation, with either junipers or pinyon or ponderosa pines.”

“According to your research.” Good to know she was thinking about digging in the dirt while he’d been pondering complex life choices, such as why he went with two rooms in the end.

“Yes.”

“There’s gotta be more to this. Why suddenly truffles?”

“Ava and I went on a truffle digging course once—yes, such things exist. She was full of ideas, like how we’d find a bunch of truffles, start producing them, and have a big business. We found none.”

“So one could say you have unfinished business with the truffles.”

She snorted.

“Don’t worry.” He started the car. “We’ll go get you some.”

They drove further east, past the borders of Las Vegas, as Callie guided him toward areas her research marked as fruitful. In the early afternoon, they headed into the mountains until lush, dark green pine forests surrounded them. Callie took Theia in her carrier, Simon took a backpack with supplies, and they headed into the forest on foot. They hiked for about twenty minutes until Callie stopped to catch her breath.

“Is this where they are?” Simon asked.

“No idea. If the ground is right, they could be anywhere around here.”

“Don’t people use dogs to sniff them out?”

She nodded.

“I don’t suppose Theia knows how to sniff out truffles.”

Theia meowed.

“Even if she does, she’s not getting out of that carrier.” Callie put it down. “Movie set, I can find her. But there’s no way I’m chasing her through a forest.”

“Well, then.” Simon took off his backpack and leaned it against a tree. “How do we start?”

Callie grabbed a nearby stick and slapped it on her hand. “We dig.”

They might as well have been looking for real gold because three hours later, they still hadn’t found any.

“They should be near the surface.” Callie crawled on all fours, her knees and hands dark with dirt. “Come on. Surely, there’s a truffle somewhere around here.”

Simon got off his knees and sat, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. The area around them looked like a bunch of moles had passed through. They’d tried five different spots around the forest so far and had no luck. Their search was fun initially, but the novelty had passed about two hours ago.

“You know, if you wanted to get down and dirty with me, you could’ve just said so,” Simon remarked.

In response, Callie sent a spray of dirt his way. He laughed.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go to a restaurant and have some pasta with truffles?”

Callie sat down. “Mr. Adventurer, giving up on adventure?”

“I like my adventure more fast-paced.”

“Sometimes, you have to be patient. Makes the final discovery all the more rewarding.”

“I think we’d have an easier way of finding a new planet than a truffle.”

“You can take a break if you want. I’m digging.” She got back onto her knees and faced away from him, scraping at the ground with her stick.

She looked absolutely ridiculous. They both did. And Simon loved it. So he picked up his stick and got back to work.

“Hey. Hey!” Sometime later—might have been fifteen minutes, might have been half an hour—Callie started scratching at the dirt more intensely. “I’ve got it. I think I’ve got one!”

Simon crawled over. In the middle of the small hole was a dark brown, shrunken bump that might be a truffle, but could also be some dried-up animal excrement.

Callie cleaned it off as much as she could and lifted it in the air. “I found a truffle!”

He smiled at the gorgeous, disgusting brown lump. “You did it!”

She squealed and hugged him, then got to her feet and did a happy dance. “I got a truffle, I got a truffle—Theia, look!”

Simon sat down next to Theia in her carrier and took a few moments to rest and relax.

“Now what?” Callie said.

“There’s a small lake nearby. We can go wash our hands and have a bite to eat.”

“Perfect! Let’s go.” Callie headed downhill.

Simon slung the backpack over his shoulder and picked up Theia. “Should’ve just given her a truffle,” he said to the cat. “That’s all she needed. A truffle.” And he followed Callie.

Simon picked a nice spot on a patch of grass by the lakeside. They washed and wiped as much dirt from their clothes as possible. Callie kneeled by the water and cleaned off her truffle while Simon put a tarp on the ground and brought out some snacks.

“I think they look better once they’ve been processed.” Callie approached, showing him the truffle. It was still dark in color and shrunken up; hardly appetizing.

“You mean, once they’re only shavings on a dish?”

She shrugged and sat down next to him. He offered her a bag of chips, and they both munched as they looked across the peaceful, mirror-like surface of the lake.

“We can take ‘find gold’ off the list now,” she said.

“Hmm.” He pretended to think. “I’ll accept it.” He looked at her as she turned her gaze toward the lake. The items on the bucket list were meant to be flexible; applicable to many different things. And seeing Callie happy, just being here with her, Simon could indeed say he found gold.

He cleared his throat. “So, what do we do with our gold? Put it on the chips?”

“Oh, we don’t know that it’s edible,” Callie said casually.

“We spent all this time looking for a truffle, and we might not be able to eat it?”

“There are many different varieties. I’d have to match it first to see if it’s an edible sort or not. It might not be that delicious.”

Simon took the truffle and rotated it between his fingers. It did look like poop. Or a heavily dried-up, half-rotten plum.

He shrugged and took a small bite.

“Simon!” Callie shot to her feet. “You crazy—I just said it might not be edible!”

He shook from laughter. “Relax. It was the smallest bite possible.” He chewed. “An earthy note, a bit of nuttiness in there …”

Callie facepalmed. “Can you have a bit less of a death wish?”

“Come on.” He offered her a hand to pull her back down, and once she sat, he spit out the bite. “I’ll be fine.” One little mushroom wouldn’t bring him down. He had way bigger problems.

But currently, he didn’t want to think about those.

He wasn’t sure if she’d done it subconsciously, but Callie leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed. Simon stayed locked in his position, not wanting to disturb her, and rested his eyes on the lake. A shame he didn’t think of bringing more camping supplies on the trip. This was the perfect spot. He’d put up a tent, get a little fire going, and they’d wait until night fell and sit outside and watch the stars. Just the sky, the forest, and them. Two free spirits on their adventure, not a man who, for the first time in his life, was deadly afraid, and a woman running from her own ghosts. He’d lay her down, and they’d make love under the stars …

For a bit, the moment was perfect.

“Callie,” he whispered, and she looked up at him. He only had to lean down and seal her lips with his. He made the slightest nudge, and he thought she did, too—

Behind them, Theia suddenly crashed against the crate door of her carrier. Simon and Callie jumped apart.

Theia meowed, looking somewhere up, and tried to get a paw through the door.

“She probably saw a bird,” Callie said. “We should go before it gets dark.”

And just like that, the moment was gone.