Galaxy Girls

Chapter Nine (part 2)

Chapter Nine, part 2

It was a normal day for Phyrne, except no day was normal when she was waiting for her world to turn upside down.

She handed the boxes of sweet ginger tea to the two Louisville women wearing “Noah’s Grandmother” and “Ashley’s Grandmother” sweatshirts. A pleasant pale pink cloud surrounded both women, a cotton candy aura that made Phyrne smile. But as soon as they left, she stopped smiling and rubbed the back of her neck.

She wished to hell whoever was coming would get there so she could get it done. She couldn’t ovulate forever. It turned her into a crazy woman. The more she ovulated, the more she wanted to smack men. Anything to keep them away from her.

If she let one too close… She might do something she’d regret.

Deena laughed, and the stiff muscles in Phyrne’s neck relaxed. Deena was leaning one hip on the round table in the corner, charming the skinny young guy with thick glasses, a bobbing Adam’s apple and cheeks turning the color of Deena’s watermelon-pink top.

Maybe Deena was finally about to ovulate. Even as she thought it, Phyrne shook her head. Deena was testing her flirting technique and had chosen someone safe, with the same candy cotton aura as the two grandmothers. No danger in his dazed face.

The bell above the door jingled and Randy from Freedom Hardware walked into their shop. Mr. Dependable. Surrounded by true blue, a slight darkening around the edges, a tinge of anxiety.

She smiled and something stirred inside her. Her eggs.

Oh no. Not now. Not with Randy.

Her smile slipped and she reined in her pheromones. Making love to Randy would be pleasant—pale blue pleasant. But he couldn’t handle her. Not when she was peaking. It would be like pouring an ocean of boiling water into a teapot.

“Blueberry tea?” she asked over her shoulder, heading to the stainless steel tea station on the side wall.

He sat at his usual table a few feet from where she poured his tea. “You going to the duck races next week?”

She brought his tea over. He looked at home in the solid square chair with the solid square table. “I’ll be working,” she said. If she weren’t transported back to a Kergeron dungeon.

Her breaths came faster but she forced herself to be calm and not panic. Whatever came at them, they would handle. They’d taken precautions. This time they had weapons other than pheromones. Weapons that could kill instead of leave them pregnant.

Everything is going to be all right, Deena’s voice said in her mind.

I know!

Liar.

Shut up.

She felt Deena withdraw, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Good. She lied to herself better than to Deena.

“My cousin Ronnie’s band is playing after the races are over,” Randy said. “If you get off work, maybe you and I could dance.”

She looked at him, and though her ovaries stirred, it was a tiny movement, an “Uhmmm” and not a “Hell yeah!!”

She knew what “Hell yeah!” was like. She’d experienced it one time, with Birdie’s father.

She never wanted to experience it again, to be in thrall to a man. Not that she had anything against men. They were fine...as customers.

“If I get off.”

“Ronnie told me you and Deena bought guns at his place.”

She turned her attention to Randy, looking down at his upturned face, the short brown hair and the vertical lines of concern creased between his eyebrows. Back in Kergeron, men said women talked a lot. Earth men said the same thing. So why was it men on Kergeron and on Earth knew so much about women’s business?

“Is anyone bothering you?” he asked.

“It seemed a prudent thing to do.” She smiled at him. “Isn’t that what people do in America? Buy chocolate and beer and guns?"

“You’re changing the subject.” The vertical lines deepened. “I just want you to know, if you need help, I’m here for you.”

She choked up and tears stung her eyes. Stupid hormones. “We’re fine. We’re not weak women.” He had no idea how she and the others would take care of themselves.

Besides, she knew what he wanted back for helping her. That wasn’t going to happen.

“I’ll get your tea.” She patted his shoulder, turning, and out of her peripheral she caught a blinding blue aura from across the street.

She froze, but her skin didn’t, prickles running amok. She knew that aura. She’d seen it once before. Six years before.

The man in the van.

Birdie’s father.

Oh no oh no oh no.

“Phyrne.” Randy grabbed her wrist. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She jerked her hand backward, but he didn’t release her, his grip tightening.

“Are you really sure?”

Through gritted teeth, she said the one thing she knew would stop him. “It’s that time of the month. Women’s problems.”

He let go of her hand and whipped his behind his back. As if by touching her, he’d catch the X chromosome and suddenly have a period and cramps and all the other fun stuff.

“I have to get something from the back,” she said.

The door dinged again and she whipped her gaze to the entrance, but it was Sylvia from First Star Real Estate, carrying her laptop. She’d want green tea with ginseng and a banana nut muffin. Deena could get it.

Phyrne turned toward the back and saw Deena and her eyeglass-wearing flirt staring at her. On the wall behind them was a line drawing of a cat drinking tea. Today it didn’t make Phyrne smile.

“Deena, will you take care of Sylvia?”

Deena nodded. Her smile gone. A moment ago she looked like a teenager. Now she looked older than her twenty-five years.

What are you getting in the back?

Phyrne whipped past her, her head high, not looking sideways. My gun.