Solar Eclipse of the Heart

Alessandro Colombo

"Mom! Dad!" I yell with extreme excitement. I had been away for a couple months on vacation and I was happy to be home and see my parents again. 

"Hi honey," Mom said holding her arms wide open for a hug. She smiled and told that she wanted to hear all about my trip on the three hour drive back home. I returned her smile and quickly nodded in agreement. I had so many stories to tell. Suddenly remembering the package that I needed to deliver I picked it up off the floor and started scanning the airport. 

"What is in that package?" My dad asked. He was always curious and felt the need to know everything. I simply shook my head at my dad and shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

I could feel someone watching me and turned my head to find the scarred face gentleman from the plan burning holes into my head. I also noticed a well dressed man beside him who looked to be in his late twenties and had an air of dominance and arrogance surrounding him. When the young man looked up and saw what I was holding he immediately headed in my direction. 

I took a deep breath and stood my ground with both my parents close behind me. I knew they had a million questions to ask me but I didn't have an answer for any of them. The man stopped in front of me and I saw that his suit was a navy blue color and his shoes were a shiny, well polished black. He had a gold watch that looked like a Rolex on his left wrist and his hair was slicked back and looked like it wasn't going anywhere. He had a chiseled jaw and striking hazel eyes and a mouth that was set in a straight line.    

"Excuse me miss, I believe you have something of mine." 

His voice was a deep baritone and would definitely make most women weak in the knee. 

"How do I know this is yours?"

He smirked at my question and just looked at me like a fascinating art piece.

"What a clever girl you are. You don't know what is in the package but you want to be sure it gets to the correct owner. I have men who don't even do that."

I looked at him confused. I asked him a simple question that anyone would ask. It wasn't clever or smart. It seemed he was trying to use flattery of some kind to get to me without releasing any information. 

"What I said wasn't very clever at all sir. If I would have told you that I know you are right handed then that would have been clever."

His smirk never wavered but his eyes showed a lot more intrigue at my statement. I didn't honestly understand. All I wanted to do was get this package to the correct owner so I could begin my long journey home.

"How do you know that I am right handed?"

"You wear your watch on your left wrist. That is an indication that you are right handed. Most people wear their watches on the opposite wrist."

He smiled at me and said, "My name is Alessandro Colombo. You will see that name written on the package."

Confused I quickly looked down at the package in my hand and began to rotate it. When I got to the bottom I saw his name scribbled onto the bottom of the paper. Shaking my head at how oblivious I was I quickly handed him the package with a sheepish smile of my own. 

"Thank you for delivering my package to me safely. May I know your name?"

I looked at him skeptically for a couple minutes before deciding to reply. 

"My name is Harper. Harper Brown."

"Well Harper, what would you like in return for delivering this to me?"

With a confused look I asked, "What do you mean?"

"What would you like for a reward?"

When realization finally settled in I quickly shook my head. 

"Thank you for the offer but I don't need anything."

He looked at me as if shocked by my response. 

"If you don't mind my parents and I are going to head out. I just landed and we have a very long drive ahead of us."

With a small smile to Alessandro I turned toward my parents and we headed to the parking garage.