Moonshine Hollow

Chapter Thirteen

It was the sound of the engine that woke her. She heard it chug into the station and the steam escape as it stopped. She leapt to her feet and ran to her window. She threw back the shade and sure enough, down the street she could see where the train had stopped at the station. She looked at her watch. It was a little after two in the morning. Floyd had said there was no telling if and when a train would get through and if it did, it wouldn't stay long. Her bag was packed and sitting next to the door. She grabbed her clothes from the night before off the floor and hurried into them. She left some money on the bed and slipped out of the room.

Halfway down main street she slowed her pace. The night was so still and so complete the only light came from the single lantern outside the post office and the lanterns on the train. She paused and stared up at the stars. She had never seen stars so bright and beautiful as the ones here.

She looked down at her bag and for the very first time wished she had thrown it in the river. Her feet continued to carry her to the station, but as she neared the platform she found she was not as anxious to board the train as she had been.

"Excuse me, ma'am," a man from the train called. "Do you have a ticket?"

<><><><><>

Forrest slammed his foot on the break as he came skidding around the last corner into town. The train was stopped, blocking the road leading into town.

He was too late.

He had been up late in the night going over the books when he heard the train. At first it had not registered. He had been listening to the trains in the hollow his entire life through the open windows of the store. It took him almost a full minute before he realized what this particular train meant. This was the first train to get into the hollow in weeks.

She would be gone.

He leapt out of his chair so fast he knocked it over in his haste to rush out the door. He jerked open the door to Peter's truck and cranked the engine over. With no moon overhead the roads were dark as pitch but he took them faster than he ever had in his life. The train was so long that parked at the station platform it blocked the road. He had no way to get across. No way to say...he wasn't sure what he wanted to say.

He slammed his fist into the dash. Moments later the train chirped twice before it started to roll away from the platform, down the tracks and disappear from view. He sat there long after the train disappeared, leaning his forehead against the steering wheel.

Finally he sat up, and rolled the truck forward. He pulled into the platform lot, prepared to turn around and drive home when the headlights flashed over her bench. He slammed on the breaks again. Sitting on the bench, her bag at her feet as it had been every day since her arrival, was Rose.

Forrest jumped out of the truck and practically ran to her.

She stood to meet him, "what are you doing here?" she asked breathlessly.

"I could ask you the same thing."

Even in the dim light of the headlights he could see that she blushed. "It wasn't my train," she told him, peaking up at him from under her lashes like she did when he was making her nervous.

He resisted the urge to touch her. He wanted to raise her chin so she would look him full in the eyes but she had never been comfortable enough with him to do so. "Did they know when your train would be along?" he somehow managed to ask over the lump in his throat.

She shook her head, and it was the first time he had ever seen her hair not styled. It fell in loose waves to her shoulders. "Maybe not for a while yet." She shivered as a light breeze rustled the leaves on the trees. She was wearing the same long sleeve dress she had been earlier that day, but the material was thin and did little to ward off the chill of the night.