Sharon Shinn - Gateway

On impulse, she called after him. “Caleb!”

He turned. “Yes?”

“Listen, my dad’s rehabbing our house. He’s always hiring a couple of guys to help him with the heavy work. If you want a job for a few days, there’s plenty to do at our place.”

He stood there a moment, his hands clasping the strap of his bag. “Really?”

She smiled. “Yeah, really. I’ll even make you dinner.”

“I don’t want to get in the way.”

“My dad’ll be glad to have you. Come on.”

He hesitated another moment, but she waved him forward, and he joined her again, ducking his head to hide his shy smile. “Look, there’s our bus!” she cried, and grabbed his arm to pull him quickly down the street to where the Soulard bus was wheezing to a stop.

She had to dig for her own bus pass and then fish out enough change to pay Caleb’s fare, but she did all of that one-handed. Her fingers were still crooked around his elbow, and she kept her hand on his arm as she pushed him ahead of her down the aisle and onto one of the empty sets of hard plastic seats. She held on to him once the bus lurched forward; she kept her grip as she began pointing out all the sights he might have missed during his brief stay in the city. She didn’t even question the fact that it seemed so natural to be sitting so close to him, her fingers wrapped around his arm. She held on to him as if afraid he might disappear if she were foolish enough to let him go.

SHARON SHINN has won the William C. Crawford Award for Outstanding New Fantasy Writer and was twice nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her Samaria novels have been Locus bestsellers, and her novels Summers at Castle Auburn and The Safe-Keeper’s Secret were named ALA Best Books for Young Adults. Her book Angel-Seeker won the Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Science Fiction novel from the Romantic Times, and her books Mystic and Rider, Reader and Raelynx, and Fortune and Fate were all named finalists. A graduate of Northwestern University, Sharon Shinn also works as a journalist for a trade magazine.

Visit her Web site at www.sharonshinn.net.