Page 35 of Torin and the Princess

Jen fanned herself. “Boy, howdy, that is a hot man, even in his weird, handmade medieval cloak. Is there anything sexier than a kilt? I mean, come on, I can almost see his knees, and knees are almost as hot as the veins on the back of his hand.”

I said, “Maybe I should go talk to him. You think he needs something?”

He left the porch, sauntered over to the trees, and disappeared for a few minutes. When he returned he was adjusting his kilt.

I grimaced. “I think he just pissed in my woods.”

“Yep, this is the first time I actually believed you that he’s a time traveler.”

“I don’t think he knows how to turn off the lights either. Should we go down?”

“Yep. Let’s take the bottle of wine.”

12

LEXI

2004 - THE BACK-SHACK

As we neared the back-shack, I asked,“Whatcha doing, Torin?”

He glanced over his shoulder at the light on in the house. “I had trouble sleepin’, decided tae stand guard.”

“Do you need me to show you how to turn off the lights?”

“Nae, I am well, thank ye, Mistress Lexi.” He winced as he straightened.

I passed him a glass and poured him some wine. “Do you need more of the medicine?”

“I thought tae hae some, but couldna get in the bottle.”

I went inside to find the bottle, lying on its side on the table, and brought it out. “This kind of twist cap you have to press down as you twist.” I showed him how, adding, “But now that I think about it, this would not be easy with one hand.”

I gave him two, then went inside the back-shack again and poured four pills onto the counter.

I opened a gallon of spring water and filled a glass for him, but when I came out to the stoop he had already swigged back the pills with the wine.

I said, “There are more pills on the counter, but you’re supposed to give about four hours between.”

He nodded.

Jen had been watching all of this with a bemused expression. She said, “You’re having fun playing nurse.”

I scowled.

She said, “So, Torin, Lexi has told me an amazing story about you.”

He raised his brow. “She has, has she? Did she call me ‘amazing’? What did Mistress Lexi tell ye of me?”

He sipped the last of his wine and I filled a bit more in his glass.

“She said you’re a time traveler.”

He said, “Tis true. I hail from the land of Alba, I hae been livin’ in Castle Glume, servin’ m’laird, the Earl of Argyll, and loyal tae m’friend, Maximillian Campbell, since I was but a boy. When I left the lands on this infuriatin’ machine, the year was fifteen hundred and fifty-eight.”

“That’s the year Lexi told me.” She shook her head. “But I don’t get it, why would you both make up a story, what’s the point…?”

I ignored her and said, “Torin, do you need instructions on using the um… restroom? It dawns on me that it might be different than the one you had way back in the fifteen fifty-eight.”

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