POWERS OF NATURE Book 1 - Into the Storm

Chapter 1

It all started with a look. A look across a building. He was standing upstairs outside the restaurant that filled the top floor, talking to two delivery men in overalls.

She stood at the front door of her mother's office watching him from the corner of her eye, trying to listen to what her mother was saying but her attention was on the boy.

She had been sitting in her mother's office for four long hours, since 8am, and still had another 4 hours to go before she could go home. Pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration, Stephanie Bruin wondered for the umpteenth time why she had stayed out so late the night before. She had known it was a bad idea, known she had promised her mother she would spend the Saturday with her, and she had known that that had meant getting up at 7am. Coming home at 2 in the morning did not help. "Stephanie, are you listening?" Stephanie turned to face her mother, an older version of her. At 40, Sue Bruin still had the fiery red hair that Stephanie had inherited with her long slim face. Her mom was often mistaken for her older sister. The main difference between them were then eyes. Her mom had the light blue that went with her red hair, whereas Stephanie had dark brown eyes that she could only assume came from her father. "Sorry Mom, what did you say?" "Mmm, told you not to stay out so late but you have a will of your own."
Stephanie repressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Sorry. We got carried away last night. You know how Mary is." She leant against the cold wall of the office, the boy upstairs now hidden from her view. She obviously wasn't thinking straight from a late night, and the last thing she needed was her mom on her case about a guy.

Her mom laughed, stacking her unfinished client files into a box. "I was apologising for having to work late on a Saturday. Let's go get some lunch. It's hot and we both haven't eaten since breakfast."

Stephanie sighed in relief. She had blown most of her money last night and had been hoping her mom would offer. She turned to lock the front door, their usual restaurant was at the mall twenty minutes down the road. "Stephanie, don't lock that one, we going upstairs."

For a moment, her palms went sweaty and she glanced up at where she had seen the guy from earlier. He was still standing there, and in the seconds it took for her to reopen the door, he had turned to look downstairs as the delivery men were leaving.

His gaze met hers, a bright blue pair of eyes gazing thoughtfully at her. Her breathe stopped, her heart stuttering. He gazed down at her with a faint smile on his lips.

"Matt!" He turned at the name, looking into the restaurant. "I'm coming!" He called back and turned back to look at her. She watched him smile at her, his head cocked to one side as if trying to decide something, then turned and went into the office.

"Stephanie, move." Stephanie jumped at the sound of her mom's voice right behind her.

"Sorry Mom." She left the office, nervous as hell to now go into a restaurant that had seemed so boring to her an hour ago. She couldn't pay attention as her mom chatted to her while they walked across the lobby to the stairs. She counted each and every step of the stairs in a bid to calm her nerves.

"Hello Sue!" "Hi! Just need a quick meal and a drink. This heat is unbearable." Stephanie kept her head down as her mom greeted the waitress, and followed her to a table outside. Once Stephanie sat down, she immediately put her sunglasses on, finally feeling safe and brave enough to look for him. "What do you want to drink, Stephanie? Stephanie??" Her mom waved a hand in front of her face. "What is with you today?" Stephanie blushed, her bravado disappearing.

"Sorry Mom"

"Oh stop apologising, it's all you've been doing today. Now, what do you want to drink?"

"Um, I don't know. Anything."

Her mom rolled her eyes at her and turned to the waitress. "Alright, just give me two of your coldest beers and we'll take it from there." Stephanie scanned the outside tables, but couldn't find the guy from earlier. She felt a wave of disappointment. She knew she was being silly, feeling that way over a guy she hadn't even met, but she couldn't help it. Stephanie fixed her eyes on the one-way glass sliding door that separated the outside and inside.