Beneath the Christmas Stars by Tracey Alvarez

Author:Tracey Alvarez [Alvarez, Tracey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Icon Publishing Limited

Chapter 5

Karen was inexplicably nervous on the ride up to the Mount John Observatory. Art had left for work hours ago, and she’d rugged up in a scarf, beanie, jeans, and a warm parka before walking down to the tourist office. The stargazing tour didn’t start until quarter to midnight, since it was high summer and they had daylight savings to contend with.

Moira and Jeff weren’t keen to accompany her. Jeff said he had done the tour a few times before, and Moira claimed to have done the exact same tour last time she visited her brother.

“Go have fun with your sexy nerd,” Moira teased, shoving her out the door just before eleven.

“He’s not my sexy nerd.” But Karen found herself talking to a closed door, and okay, she was starting to make the mistake of thinking he was hers. That he could be hers.

As the bus wound up the twisty road toward the observatory, Karen only listened with half an ear to the short educational video playing. High above them hung a nearly full moon, which staff had warned would affect their view of the stars. She didn’t care. The night felt breathless with anticipation. Once they reached a certain height on the mountain, the driver turned his headlights off and continued on slowly. Another thing the staff had warned the tour group about was that there was no white light allowed at the observatory. They’d been given keychains with a little red-light flashlight as part of the tour and asked not to use the flashlight app on their cell phones. It all added to the excitement.

They reached the top of the mountain, and climbed out of the bus to be greeted by two tour guides, one of whom she recognized as Art in the pewter moonlight. She couldn’t quite see the features of his face clearly, but his smile when he spotted her was unmistakable. The other guide introduced himself as Jake and went into his spiel about what they would see tonight, plus a safety briefing and a whole bunch of rules.

Finally they made their way up a hilly path, using the little red flashlights to guide their feet until they reached the main observatory. They gathered on a large deck, which overlooked the sparkly lights of Tekapo and the lake a shimmering onyx pool far below.

Karen tipped her head back, taking in the tapestry of stars woven across the sky. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the twinkling dots above, none that her puny human mind could comprehend. It made her breathe deep of the chilly night air with a smile on her face. The universe wasn’t meant to be dissected and debated about, rather to instil a sense of wonder in those who marvelled at it.

As Jake continued to point out items of interest with his powerful laser pointer, the back of Karen’s nape prickled for a moment before a light hand touched her upper back. She dropped her gaze from the heavens and met Art’s eyes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.