Chapter 3

"Jim. Jim? Jim!" Realizing that she was getting nowhere, Zarabeth gave one of the boy's exposed legs a few soft kicks, satisfied that she finally had his attention when the deafening sounds of grinding metal and a drill finally stopped.

Crawling out from where he'd been working beneath his solar surfer, Jim squinted up at the girl before wiping his grease and oil stained hands on a rag pulled from his pocket. "Hey. Fancy meeting you here. Ooh, whatcha got there?"

Zara had to laugh a little as she knelt down beside him, lowering the tray of sandwiches and lemonade teasingly down in front of him, moving it just out of reach when she saw his hand move toward her. "Oh no, Mr. You're gonna come out here if you want any of this. I haven't seen you all day."

The girl was quick to get back to her feet, making her way out from the small shed and into the bright afternoon light, smiling to herself as she heard the general sounds of Jim's hurried pursuit behind her.

Catching up to her, the boy took the heavy tray out of Zarabeth's hands, walking with her over to the patch of shade beneath the only tree on their property. Setting their food down on the most even patch of ground he could find, Jim laid down in the cool grass, stretching his arms and legs out with a heavy sigh before rolling over to face Zara as she sat beside him.

Divvying out the sandwiches between them, the girl held up her glass of lemonade to Jim with a content smile. "Cheers."

"Cheers." Eagerly drinking down half of the cup in a few gulps, the boy smacked his lips in obvious satisfaction. "Good stuff."

"Don't worry. If you inhale all that, there's more inside."

The two sat in complete comfort and relaxation as they ate, talking about nothing in particular as they simply enjoyed the coolness of the shade.

Glancing around, Jim looked in slight confusion at the girl beside him as he spoke through the bite of sandwich he took. "Where's Morph at? Haven't seen him at all today."

"He left with B.E.N. this morning when he came to pick up some pastries I made for the inn. Your mom will be by later tonight to drop off the tins, so Morph'll come back with her."

Finishing the last of his sandwich, Jim dusted his hands off onto his dirt smeared pants, doing so more out of habit than the need for cleanliness considering he knew he was still just as filthy as before he ate. "Well, I guess it's back to the old surfer."

"Jim, you've been working on that thing for four days. Is it really that bad off?"

"I haven't flown it in months and I want it to be air-worthy before I leave so I can take it with me."

"I thought maybe we could go into town or see Amelia and Delbert this evening. The kids really miss you. Besides, you haven't left the house since you got back. You've got weeks till you leave again. Can't you maybe fiddle with it later?"

Jim tried to mask over his initial reaction, hoping he hid the nervousness in his eyes before Zara could notice as he failed to recover enough to answer smoothly. "About that. I don't have weeks-uh exactly. You see-um..."

It only took that next small moment of silence to completely change Zarabeth's expression, her eyes radiating a sort of subdued anger or frustration as she spoke in a dangerously quiet tone. "When?"

Jim flinched a little as he replied, his voice hesitant and equally quiet. "The ship leaves in three days."

The girl opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it as she sat there without a word for a second. Abruptly tearing her eyes away from Jim's, she picked up the tray from the grass, managing to get to her feet again before making her way back to the house at a very decided pace.

"Zara. Zara wait a minute. Zarabeth."

She knew he was following her, but she didn't acknowledge it, pushing her way back into the kitchen. She instantly began putting their discarded dishes away, ignoring the boy as he came in.

"Zara, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I-I've known since the day after I got back, it's just...I just didn't know how I should tell you. But I know how to make it up to you."

Cutting him off there, Zara spun around to face him, her words short and blunt to match the small bit of ice in her eyes. "Oh, do you? You know how to make it up to me that you'll be gone on our first anniversary and didn't think to tell me until today? I'm curious now, Hawkins. What did you have in mind?"

Jim swallowed hard. Calling him 'Hawkins' was never a good sign.

"Honey, you have every right to be angry, I know that. But just hear me out. I also didn't tell you because I was trying to get clearance for something. I didn't want to tell you if it turned out it couldn't actually happen. Ya know what I'm sayin'? No. No of course not. I haven't even told you what I tried to do. Uh...Ok maybe this'll help explain it better. Wait right here."

Leaning against the counter behind her, Zara folded her arms over her chest as she watched Jim dash upstairs. He was only gone for a minute before his voice called from the top of the stairs down to her. "Ok, now close your eyes. Are they closed? They'd better be by the time I get down there. Ok, good girl. Now just keep them shut a little longer. Hold out your hands? Careful. It's a little heavy. On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

Opening her eyes, Zara looked down to see a box balanced in her hands, the kind of box a shop would package a dress in. Glancing up with a small smirk, she was trying hard not to fall for the adoring look in Jim's eyes. "So...You're trying to buy your way back into my good graces?"

The boy gave a nervous chuckle as he instinctively rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. "N-No. Not exactly. Just open it."

Turning back around to place the box down on the counter, Zarabeth carefully undid the string keeping the lid on before removing it, folding back the thin paper surrounding the mystery contents within.

For the moments following, Zara simply stood there, looking down in confusion as she tried to understand what Jim was getting at. "It...Is this a uniform?"

Pulling the fabric free of the box it'd been confined in, the girl held the dark blue fabric of a sort of military style coat up to herself, the rest of the outfit still in the box beneath. Turning around to face Jim, Zarabeth still looked completely lost.

Jim flashed the girl a satisfied smile, a hint of mischief in his eyes as he gave her the explanation she was waiting for. "Well, if the Captain's wife is gonna be seen on his ship, she'd better look the part. Am I right?"

Eyes wide in surprise and unparalleled excitement, all that was left of the girl's frustration was now completely forgotten. Giving a small squeal in delight, Zarabeth threw her arms about the boy, ignoring how dirty she'd get in the process as she held him tight, leaving small kisses against his oil-stained face. "I can't believe it! I-I'm really going with you?"

"If that's alright with you, of course."

Hugging him all the tighter, Zara nodded as she looked lovingly at the boy without a word in reply, her cheeks beginning to hurt from how much she was smiling.

Jim chuckled as he tried to clean her forehead of a newly gotten black smear, obviously from him. "So...that's enough to get me off the hook?"

Laughing quietly with him, the girl leaned in to let her lips gently meet his, pulling away after a moment before finally answering with another small laugh. "Sufficiently so."