A Man for Megan Page 4

  There were always men, too. A constantly changing parade of her mother’s boyfriends, each one as far away from Prince Charming as possible.

  No, not once, had Megan believed dreams come true.

  Yet a man had come in a swirl of smoke. He’d stepped out of a crock pot into her kitchen. Without even breaking a sweat, he’d reversed the continuum of time and shattered everything she held as truth. With one smile he’d rocked her very existence.

  A genie.

  Her head told her to beware. Her heart begged her to believe. Just once.

  “Master, huh?” Kitty brought her back to reality.

  Megan looked at her, alarmed. “What?”

  Her friend playfully nudged her in the ribs. “If I didn’t know you were engaged to Elliot, I’d think you were getting into something weird here.” Kitty laughed, walking away.

  Megan watched the man round a corner, then disappear. “Honey,” she muttered once Kitty was out of earshot. “You’ve got no idea.”

  Chapter Three

  Megan was unable to concentrate on her work the rest of the night. By the end of the shift, she felt physically and mentally exhausted. She started her car, but sat there a moment, staring blankly into the blackness beyond the windshield. A fly was buzzing near her ear. She swatted at it in annoyance. She put the car into Drive, pulled out of the employees’ parking lot and slowly started for home, not sure what awaited her there.

  “Tough day at the office, dear?” a disembodied voice came from beside her. The car had been empty. Now, Gino sat beside her, seeming too large for the compact’s close interior.

  “Careful.” He reached out and twisted the wheel to the left, pulling the car away just in time to avoid the guardrails.

  Megan stared at him in disbelief.

  “Shouldn’t you keep your eyes on the road?” the man suggested.

  “W-w-w …” she stammered.

  “W-W-Wyoming! Beautiful country. Granted a wish there for a man who loved his horse and hated his wife Asked me to switch the two. Ended up with a wife with a horse face, and a mare that bucked him onto his butt whenever she had the chance. Ever see a woman with a horse face? Whoa, git along little doggies! But I think the mare found true happiness with a neighboring palomino. Just shows you, you’ve gotta be careful what you wish for.”

  “W-w-where did you come from?”

  “Look out. Incoming.” The man turned the wheel again and swerved away from the pickup truck they were heading straight for. “Maybe you’d better let me drive. You seem a little preoccupied.”

  He took her hands off the wheel and folded them in her lap. She stared at him, not noticing his own hands didn’t return to the wheel.

  “Where did you come from?” she demanded.

  “I’ve been right here.”

  Megan shook her head. “You weren’t sitting there when I got into the car.”

  “I was right beside you.”

  “The only thing in here was a fly.” Understanding crept across Megan’s features, understanding compounded by disbelief. “You don’t mean . . .”

  “A genie can take on many forms, human or animal. You really should be kinder to even the lowly insect. You never know who you’re swatting.”

  Megan dropped her head into her hands. It swayed side to side, a shaking, silent “no.” The back of her neck arched, its white skin visible beneath a few fine scrolls of hair. Gino looked at the lady’s nape and fascination seized him. He, in all his travels and times immortal, could never recall anything so singularly wondrous.

  Megan released her head and looked up. It was then she noticed there were no hands on the steering wheel. She grabbed the wheel and slammed on the brakes, thrusting herself and Gino toward the dashboard. The back of the car fishtailed, then started to spin. Megan was screaming. It took several seconds and a sugar maple for the spinning to stop. Megan lurched forward, hitting the steering wheel. The screaming stopped.

  “Look what you’ve done.” The tremor in the man’s voice matched the throbbing at Megan’s right temple. “We were doing fine until you took over the wheel again.”

  She felt something warm slipping down the side of her face. She reached up, and when she brought her hand back down, it was bloodstained.

  “Let me see.” Gino’s large hand covered her own, so she couldn’t see the blood. His other hand lifted the hair at her temple and touched the wound, his fingertips as gentle as a summer breeze against her skin.

  “Why I’ve done worse shaving,” he said. He leaned back, letting go of Megan’s hand.

  The blood smeared across her fingertips was gone. She looked into the rearview mirror. Nothing, not even a scratch where the gash across her forehead had been mere seconds ago. She looked at Gino.

  “It’s on the house.” He smiled.

  Gingerly touching her temple, Megan looked in the mirror again. Farther back, in the darkness, she saw the flash of red lights. Two policemen were coming toward the car. Gino followed her gaze.

  “You certainly keep the local emergency services busy,” he remarked.

  “Disappear,” she told him. She was watching the police in the mirror. They were almost to the car.

  “What?”

  She looked directly at him. “Disappear.” There was a tap on her window. She turned to see the policemen right outside her door. She rolled down her window.

  “Good evening, officers.”

  “Ma’am.” The taller one on the right shone his flashlight on her. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.” The flashlight beam moved past her to the other side of the car. She glanced over her shoulder. The seat beside her was empty. “I’m fine.”

  “Megan?” The policeman standing farther back came up closer. “Is that you?”

  She shielded her eyes from the flashlight glare. “Charlie? Thank goodness. How ya been?”

  “Fine, honey, but an ambulance is on the way for you.”

  As he spoke, Megan heard the siren. “I’m fine, really. Not even a scratch.”

  “I’ll need to see your license and registration, please,” the taller officer on the right interjected.

  “Megan, this is Kevin Connors, a new recruit,” Charlie introduced.

  “How do you do, Kevin? Welcome to Shady Hook.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. License and registration, please.”

  “Of course.” Megan reached for her wallet. She saw a fly slowly making its way across the windshield. She handed her license and registration to the policeman. “I’m not sure what happened. I’ve just left work. One minute, I’m driving home, the next minute, well …”

  “How’s things going at Crelco?” Charlie asked. “I heard talk of a shutdown.”

  “We all have,” Megan said. “Hopefully, that’s all it is—talk.”

  Kevin shone the light on the cards she’d given him. He brushed at something on the license. Megan saw a fly lift off from her license picture.’ She glanced at the windshield. The fly that had been there was gone.

  The young cop looked up from her license to her face. “You’ve been driving erratically for the past mile, ma’am.” The flashlight beam veered as the policeman brought his hand up to shoo away something near his neck. Megan saw the fly in the shaft of light.

  “I have? I’m sorry. I worked some extra hours this weekend. I’ve had very little sleep over the past two days.”

  She saw the fly land on the man’s neck. She watched it follow the edge of his collar. “I may have—”

  The cop’s hand came up and slapped the side of his neck.

  “No!” Megan cried.

  The young cop stared at her as he took his hand away from his neck.

  “You didn’t kill it, did you?” Her voice trembled on the edge of hysteria.

  Charlie took a step closer. He was looking at her oddly now, too. The other officer looked down into the palm of his hand.

  “No, ma’am, I think I missed it.”

  “I hope so. You should be more careful,” M
egan scolded.

  “Megan,” Charlie said. “It was a fly.”

  “It was a living, breathing creature, wasn’t it?” she challenged.

  “Ma’am?” The full force of the flashlight beam hit her in the face. “Have you been drinking tonight?”

  Megan let out a choked laugh. “I don’t drink. Tell him, Charlie.”

  Charlie didn’t say anything.

  “Ma’am?” The other cop opened the car door. “Could you get out of the car, please?”

  “What for?”

  Kevin waited, holding the car door open.

  “Charlie?” Megan appealed.

  “Please do what he says, Megan.”

  Muttering to herself, she got out of the car. The young cop handed her an odd contraption. “Blow into this, please.”

  She eyed the small machine. “What’s that?”

  “Breathalyzer, ma’am.”

  “I told you I don’t drunk.” Past the policemen’s shoulders, she saw the ambulance pull up and the attendants get out.

  “Then, there shouldn’t be a problem.” Kevin held the machine out to her.

  With an annoyed sigh, she took the Breathalyzer and breathed into its mouthpiece. She handed it back to Kevin.

  “Negative alcohol content,” he said.

  “Will that be all?” she asked.

  “Yes, it will,” Charlie said, looking at the young cop.

  Megan saw the ambulance attendants coming forward with the stretcher. “That won’t be necessary,” she assured them. “I’m fine, really.”

  “You should be looked at, ma’am. You took quite a jolt,” Kevin advised Before she could stop him, an ambulance attendant strapped a blood pressure cuff to her arm. The other felt her limbs.

  “Her blood pressure’s a little high.”

  “It should be. I just slammed into a tree and have been treated like the town lush.”

  “Are you refusing medical treatment?” the young cop asked without looking up from the clipboard he was writing on.

  “Megan.” Charlie put an arm around her shoulders, walking her away from the other cop. “You really should be X-rayed just to make sure there’s no injury.”

  “I’m telling you I’m fine.”

  “You may feel fine, but you’ve just had a serious accident. You’re probably in shock.”

  It wouldn’t be the first time today, Megan thought.

  “Hey, Charlie,” Kevin’s voice called from behind them. “Look at this.”

  Megan turned around and saw the young cop leaning into her car, the flashlight shining on the steering wheel.

  “What is it?” Charlie asked.

  The other cop straightened, bringing his hand close to his face to examine something on his fingers. He looked up, his gaze zeroing in on Megan. “There’s blood on the steering wheel.”

  For the second time that day, Megan joined the goddesses in cursing Gino.

  Charlie looked at her, the spare lines of his face angling with puzzlement. “Are you sure?” he asked the other cop. He started toward him. Megan followed slowly behind.

  One of the ambulance workers bent close to Kevin’s fingers. “Yup, that’s blood, all right.” His eyes inventoried Megan. “Fresh blood. Not even begun to dry.”

  The other attendant wheeled the stretcher forward. “Miss, perhaps you should lie down?”

  The four men stood in a semicircle around her. Four sets of eyes watched her. She knew they would never let her go now until she’d been thoroughly checked by a physician.

  She sank down on the stretcher, surprised at how good it felt to sit down.

  An attendant gently pushed her back on the stretcher until she was laid out flat. They started wheeling her toward the ambulance.

  She sat back up. “What about my car?”

  “I’ll drive it to your house,” Charlie said as he walked to the front of the car. “I think it’s still drivable.” He scratched his head as he looked over the car. “In fact, I don’t see any damage.”

  He squatted down, aiming the flashlight beam across the front end. “Not a scratch. That’s impossible. What kind of car is this? I’ve got to get me one.”

  Megan laid back down. In the black sky above, she saw a lone bird circling. It called out, a strong, beautiful yet hauntingly lonely cry. Gino hadn’t abandoned her.

  They opened the ambulance door and lifted her inside.

  “When I get back to the station, I’ll call Elliot for you,” Charlie yelled, now examining the other side of the car.

  She started to sit up. “That won’t be—” The ambulance door closed. She sank back down on the stretcher. “Necessary,” she finished lamely.

  IT WAS AFTER TWO before Megan made it home. She unlocked the back door, but didn’t go in. First, she reached around the jamb to the switch on the wall and turned on the overhead kitchen light. The room flooded with light, allowing her to check the chairs, the countertop, the corners. It was empty.

  “Aren’t we going in?” Elliot asked behind her.

  She stepped inside. Elliot followed her. Perhaps she’d been wrong about the bird. Maybe the policeman had been mistaken about the fly, and he’d killed the genie. Was Gino gone? For good?

  Beside her, Elliot yawned.

  “I’m so sorry you had to come out at this crazy hour,” she apologized again. “I told them I was fine, but they wanted to make sure.”

  “They were just doing their job, Megan.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Besides, you must’ve been bleeding at some point. Charlie said there was blood on the steering wheel.”

  There was no point in arguing, Megan decided. There had been blood, so, consequently, she must have been bleeding. It was simple logic.

  Only simple logic didn’t seem to apply to her life anymore.

  “Still I can’t figure out where the blood came from.”

  Megan said nothing. If she tried to explain, they would be sending the ambulance back for her, only this time, she’d be heading for the psycho ward.

  “The main thing is—” Elliot wrapped his arms around her “—you’re all right.”

  She didn’t return his embrace.

  “You are all right, aren’t you?”

  He wasn’t holding her tightly, but still she felt as if the very breath was being choked from her body.

  “I’m fine. Really.” She wriggled out of his grasp and sat down at the kitchen table.

  “It’s just that you don’t seem like yourself There was the call to the fire department—”

  “This kitchen was full of smoke at the time I called.”

  “And the crazy message on my machine.”

  Elliot was waiting for an answer. She was too tired to think straight, let alone wriggle her way out of this.

  “Then, the accident. None of it makes sense.”

  For a minute, she considered telling Elliot the truth. He was, after all, her fiancé, the man she was going to share the rest of her life with. Certainly he deserved to know the truth.

  She looked at him. Even at this late hour, every hair was in place, his chinos wrinkle-free, his socks the same color as his Polo shirt. He could have just come from a round of golf, below par, of course, instead of being abruptly woken from a deep sleep. It was one of the things that had first attracted her to him—his reliability, his dependability. She also knew it was this same practicality that would never be able to accept the idea of a two-thousand-year-old genie that may have just met his doom beneath a policeman’s palm.

  “You’re right. It’s been a long day. What we both need is a good night’s sleep.”

  “It’s so late…” Elliot looked at her. “I could stay here.”

  Normally she’d agree, but she needed to think about everything that’d happened today and try to figure it out. She needed some time. Alone.

  “I’m really exhausted, Elliot.”

  “Of course.” He planted a kiss on her forehead. “You get some rest. I’ll call you in the morning.”
He half smiled. “But not too early.”

  She needn’t have worried Elliot would get mad. Elliot rarely got mad. Anger was a waste of energy, he said.

  “Thank you, again,” Megan said as she walked him to the back door. “I’m sorry you had to be dragged out in the middle of the night.”

  “Don’t think twice about it.” Elliot glanced at his wristwatch. He wore it at all times, even in bed. “I still have time to get in my recommended eight hours.”

  There was one more kiss, then he left.

  Megan closed the door and leaned against it for a moment, her forehead pressed to the cool glass of the window. She could fall asleep right here, standing up.

  “Buon gizmo, señorita.”

  She was instantly awake. She spun around. Gino was posed against the counter, looking like an ad for designer cologne.

  “You’re still here?” Her heart was beating faster.

  He spread out his arms. “In the flesh. Human at the moment.”

  “But I saw the fly, and then, the policeman swatted at it—”

  “I’ve battled giants and beasts. It’s going to take much more than a whack from a rookie cop to get rid of me. Besides, I’d already left that form and gone into another.”

  “The bird,” Megan said.

  “Now you’re getting the hang of it.”

  Behind her, Megan heard the creak of the screen door. The knob of the door she leaned against started to turn.

  “Oh, no!” She flattened herself against the window, trying to block whoever was at the door from seeing in. She pushed against the door as it tried to open.

  “Megan?” Elliot called from the other side.

  “Yes?” she answered in a high-pitched warble. She gestured frantically to Gino, pointing toward the hallway. “Go,” she mouthed.