A Season in Gemini, Intro Read Online Free Page A

plates so that she could try some of everything. And everything got rave reviews.
    “ This place is a find ,” she said with her mouth still full.
    “ Well, Chuy’s is not exactly a secret around here. Lots of people have already found it.”
    “ Smart, smart people,” she said seriously as she took a bite of a chile con queso stuffed hatch pepper. “Oh my God. This is the best thing yet.”
    He laughed. “You’ve said that about everything you’ve tasted.”
    “ Here!” She held the rest of the pepper out to him . He obediently opened his mouth and let her feed him from her hand. He chewed with amusement, enjoying witnessing her rapture. “Well?!” He shrugged. “Oh come on. You know this is the best food anybody ever ate.”
    “ Glad you approve.”
    “ I’m having another Margarita.”
    He made a face. “How can you stand it? Tequila tastes like shit.”
    “ There’s something wrong with you, Brant. It’s the best thing ever.”
    “ That’s what you said about the flauta.” He laughed at her. “Y ou’re gonna have to make a choice. The Shaman closes at nine. So it’s either the Margarita or tea leaves and shit.”
    She pouted. “I want both.”
    He laughed. “I know you do. You strike me as the kind of girl who likes it her way. You want it all.”
    “ Well. Who doesn’t? S o how about you? What do you want?”
    “ I haven’t given much thought to it.” She started laughing. “What’s so funny? ”
    “ You read Kant and Heidegger, but you’ve never thought about what you want? You’re an unusual guy, Brant.”
    “ Unusual peculiar? Unusual creepy? Or unusual extraordinary?”
    As Garland watched the playful expressions flit over his handsome face, her grin resolved into a smile. “Extraordinary. Definitely.”
    For the second time in a couple of hours, he felt the squeeze in his chest. He wondered if Garland St. Germaine was merciful with the hearts she took captive.
    “ What are you thinking?” she asked.
    “ That I’ll bet you’ve left a trail of broken hearts.”
    “ Brant Fornight. You’re flirting with me.”
    “ Does it show?”
    “ Not enough,” she replied.
    H e laughed, a deep throaty rumbly laugh that reminded her of the Camaro’s purr.
    “ Next time I see you, let’s go for a ride on my bike.”
    Her expression went instantly serious. “I can’t.”
    “ Why?”
    “ I promised my father I would never get on one.”
    “ Why?”
    “ Too dangerous.”
    He squinted , mulling that over. “How old are you?”
    “ Twenty- two.”
    He gave a little nod and looked at his beer. “Garland, everything in life that’s fun or worth doing comes with risk.”
    “ That’s not Margarita talk. Too deep.” She looked over the railing, where they sat outside at a patio table. “I’ll think about it.”
    “ Whatever you decide. The choice should be yours. You’re grown up. Right?”
    “ S ometimes it’s not as simple as that.”
    “ Sure it is.” He grinned.
    She giggled as if to prove, on cue, that she wasn’t grown up at all.
     
     
    Garland chose a second frozen Margarita over a visit with High School Foss.
    They laughed and talked about how different their lives were, but the more they talked the more they found that, improbable as it seemed, they agreed on important things.
    One of the things they had in common was an attraction to each other that pulled like a magnastar.
    At ten o’clock, Chuy’s shut down . One of the bus boys motioned to the patio gate.
    “ They’re kicking us out,” she reported to Brant.
    “ Looks like,” he replied.

    When Brant pulled up in front of Garland’s summer residence, he handed her a note with information on where the BMW had been towed for repair and said, “I guess it would be presumptuous to ask if you want to see me again?”
    At that , she surprised the hell out of him by leaning across the console and giving him what might as well have been his first kiss. She ran her fingers through his hair and gave a