Windfall
Chapter 2: Watching the Clock
Part A

Previous chapter: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/17028825/

>>Physical copies: http://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=798
E-book: http://baddogbooks.com/?product=windfall <<

Kylie, an excitable otter, can hardly wait. Max, her best friend, is coming to visit for the first time since their cable TV show ended. He also happens to be her unconfessed crush.

~ ~ ~

Kylie Bevy sprawled, webbed paws spread across cool countertop. Her supple lutrine body flattened further as unending minutes pressed down on her. Strong afternoon sunlight poured in through the windows of the downtown antique store to fill it with sleepy, old-timey warmth. The afternoon might have tempted another twenty-year-old part-time employee to nap, but Kylie was too wired.

"Staring at the clock won't get his train here any faster, you know."

With a sigh, Kylie pried her chin off the countertop and flicked auburn bangs out of the way of the glare she aimed at the scrawny orange tabby who shared her shift. Technically Shane was supposed to be training her, but the job was simple and business slow, so he'd been passing the time with old music magazines. The feline adjusted his outdated jeans and leaned against a shelf of knickknacks. He lowered the unironic article on the evils of rock 'n roll and arched an eyebrow from beneath the hood of his overlarge sweatshirt. "Why don't you go into the back room and sort some silverware? I promise I'll call you when it's quitting time so we can head out."

Kylie gave a noise of frustration and glanced back at the clock, which had been stuck at 4:42 for at least twenty minutes. It had been slowing down since noon, and she worried it'd start going backwards if she didn't keep an eye on it. "I wouldn't be able to get anything done in fifteen minutes anyway. All I'd do is wind up having to put it all back right away, and then we'd be late leaving, and then we'd take too long to get there and no one would be there to meet Max when his train arrived!"

Shane pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and gave her a wry look. "His train isn't due 'til almost six, and it's only a twenty minute drive to the station, and then we'd have nothing to do but stare at the clocks. At least here you're getting paid for it."

"I don't wanna risk being late!" With a chitter, the otter bounced up from the countertop. "He'd have camped out there overnight if it were the other way around, just to be sure."

"Why's he even taking the train? It's a long way to Montana." The tabby's tail gave a teasing swish. "Big-time TV star can't afford a plane ticket?"

She waved a dismissive paw. "You'd think so, but tagalong kids aren't super high on the cast payroll." Being on the show had given them both a tidy nest egg, but they were hardly rich. "Besides, he likes scenery."

"You seem pretty hung up on this guy. Is this, like, a cross-country booty call or something?"

With a blush, Kylie studied the scratches on the countertop as her tail curled around the stool. "No, we never hooked up or anything, no matter what the fan sites say. He's just...Max. He's my best friend." It was most of the truth. "We were the only teenage regulars and spent a lot of time together." She shrugged. "It's been almost six months since we saw each other, right after the show ended."

"You act like you were never apart." He lowered the magazine to eye her with slitted pupils. "Didn't this show have breaks in shooting?"

"We shot a lot of episodes per season and we were in basically all of them to some degree. And it wasn't worth shipping Max home if they might need him for a pickup scene a week later, so even when we weren't on set, we were hanging out. Eventually, he just moved in with us." She crossed her arms and leaned back against a wall, tail curling around her knees. "It's been weird not talking to him every day."

Shane flipped a few more pages and paused to examine an advertisement proudly touting a thirty-year-old computer. "No calls? No texting?"

She heaved a sigh, shoulders slumping. "We text all the time, but it's not the same, y'know? And the Internet on his ranch is too crappy for video chat. Besides, his sisters tease him if he talks to me for more than twenty minutes at a time." The idea he'd soon be around, with that easy wag to his tail and ready smile, lifted her spirits. Max made no secret of enjoying her company, which meant she didn't have to do anything special to keep him entertained. She almost succeeded in suppressing a bounce of excitement. "It's going to be really good to see him again."

The tabby cat peered over the magazine at her. Triangular ears rose under the thick fabric of his sweatshirt hood.

The otter beamed, hands in her lap, giving him her most endearing smile. Her little round ears pinned against her head. She couldn't pull off the sad puppy face as well as Max, but he had taught her what he could. "Really, really good."

He heaved a long-suffering sigh and turned back to the clock. "Fine. It's only ten minutes to closing anyway. Lock up and I'll go get my wheels." He tossed her the keys on his way out the door.

Kylie snatched them mid-air, wriggled in happiness, and scampered over to hug him. "Thanks, boss!" In a blur of excitement she closed the till, locked the back door, turned off all the lights and flipped over the sign that lied about how sorry she was they were closed. She padded outside to wait for Shane. The little town sat quaint and proper, spreading down the hillside to the sea.

On the way out the door, however, she almost tripped over an exquisitely-groomed cocker spaniel lounging on a lawn chair. Cindy Madison, taking a break from pretending to work at her family's tourist trap next door. Her honey-brown fur gleamed in the afternoon sun as she lay at an angle calculated to make everyone driving past look at her boobs.

On another day she might have asked the canine to move, but with places to be, Kylie decided to let sunbathing dogs lie and squirmed past the chair. In passing, though, her anxious tail bumped Cindy's foot.

"Hey, watch it!" The dog stirred, crossing her ankles. "My new fur conditioner's gotta set and I don't need you wiping it all off."

Kylie heard her co-worker's old van fire up in the parking lot, around the back of the building. Resigned to spending the next minute in Cindy's presence, the otter sighed. "Hey Cindy. Good to see you too."

The canine remained in her pose. "Shutting down the junk shop early?"

Resentment bubbled up through the otter. "I figure you're working hard enough for the both of us."

The cocker spaniel arched a disdainful eyebrow at her, scarcely tilting her head. "Ugh. Unlike some people, my public still appreciates me. Besides, there's only one way in, so anyone who wants something'll have to walk past me anyhow…" Her head shook just enough to toss her ears. "It's called business sense, duh."

"Glad you've got it all figured out." Glancing at her phone again, Kylie saw time had remained frozen.

"Whatever." She turned up her own, slightly newer phone, blasting terrier yip-hop from the tinny speakers. "At least our store gets a customer once in a while."

The otter simmered, trying to think of a scathing comeback. As much as she hated to admit it, Cindy and her assets were probably better than a billboard for business. Then the otter remembered why she was waiting and suddenly stopped caring about the other girl. Shane pulled around from the parking lot in a faded minivan. Without another word to Cindy, she hopped in and they rumbled off toward the highway.

The cat smirked. "Enjoy your little chat with Cindy?"

Kylie buckled up and crossed her arms over her less-impressive breasts. "As much as anyone ever does."

"I learned in the third grade: just stay out of her way. I don't know why my sister puts up with her." Shane adjusted the sun visor as they took the first ramp out of town. "So, no offense, but your show's a little repetitive."

"Watching Season One, huh?" She elbowed the cat. "About time."

"Lots of stock mythological creatures." Orange paws gripped the steering wheel as he watched the road with mild disinterest. "And, if everybody knows your character gets psychic visions, why don't they ever listen to her?"

"They don't really start to believe her until Season Two. They get into a little subplot later where my older sister thinks aliens gave me hallucinations. Give it a chance." Her limber body wriggled to get more comfortable on the angular seat. "The series finds its groove."

Shane pushed back his hood for added peripheral vision, then smirked. "When Max shows up?"

Soft joy washed through her. She giggled. "Everything gets better when Max shows up."

"Apparently." He rolled his eyes, whiskers quirking in a smile. "This guy'd better be amazing with how much you're talking him up."

Almost half an hour passed before a small city rose up around them. They exited near the transit hub. After a brief parking adventure, they headed into the train station. Signs for buses, trains, and a convenience store greeted them, while passersby milled around ignoring them. They found the right platform and the otter felt a minor burst of anxiety well up from her guts.

She bit it back and made small talk. "I wonder what replaced us anyway? I never really found out."

Shane didn't look up from his phone. "Frisky Blues."

Still leaning against the platform railing, she turned to look at him. "Do I want to know?"

"Probably not." He shrugged and looked up the tracks. "It's a police drama with mostly foxes, and no one can go ten seconds without having sex, or talking about sex, or making terrible sex jokes. The whole thing sets vulpine social progress back about fifty years."

"Huh, I wonder what my mom thinks of that..." She double-checked the schedule. "Max should be here any minute." She straightened her hair, then her vest, then verified none of Cindy's beauty products had smeared onto her tail. "Do I look okay?"

The feline groaned. "Sheesh, Ky, he's seen you before." For the tenth time, he checked out the antique railway maps enshrined on the walls. "You'd have to look pretty nasty for him to get right back on the train."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Seriously, Shane."

"You're fine." He looked her up and down. "Nothing has pooped in your hair. This time."

"That wasn't funny!" She punched him in the shoulder. "Pigeons are gross!" Resting her paws on the safety railing, she bounced with anticipation as she looked up the tracks. "I think I see it!"

The train rumbled into the station, brakes squealing to a gentle stop. The doors opened, unleashing a small flood of travelers. A pack of wolf cubs with tired parents in tow exited the train first. A herd of giraffes in pinstripe suits chattered out next, bound for the café. She scanned the crowd for pointy ears, but saw no signs of a husky. She scampered forward and peeked inside the train. Nothing. Where do you hide a two-meter canine anyway?

Maybe he'd gotten off at the stop before and missed the train? But why wouldn't he have called?

Someone touched her shoulder.

A voice echoed behind her, deep as the sea, gentle as a brook. "Umm, you're watching the wrong train car."

"Maxie!" She spun around and pounced on him.

The towering husky laughed, delight shining in his blue eyes. His white-furred arms wrapped under hers and lifted her off the floor, high enough for her to see his swishing tail over his shoulder. Something important fell back into place in her heart. His words rumbled against her through a layer of fluff: "Hi, rudderbutt."

The otter squeezed him back, face buried against Max's broad chest and sighed into the solid bulk of his body. She could feel him inhaling, reacquainting himself with her scent, like the hug had been the point of the entire trip. She pulled back to examine him, arms still around his waist. Her gaze danced across his lips and she stomped on the wild urge to touch them. Instead, she looked up into his ocean blue eyes. "I missed you."



He patted her back, that same slow, warm smile she remembered stealing across his muzzle, making his eyes shine. "You too."

"You're looking good." She tried not to layer too much meaning into the phrase. "Your hair, I mean; you groomed your hair down. Not that the rest of you doesn't look good too."

He politely ignored her babbling and ran a paw over his ears. "Yeah, 'Serge' kept it a little longer. Kept getting in my eyes."

Released from the hug, she found herself touching his shirt. "I like it." She managed to peel her gaze away to look up and down the train. "Come on, let's grab your other bags and we'll get going."

The husky stooped to pick up the big, weathered canvas duffel he'd set down when he'd hugged her. "This is all I brought."

Kylie blinked. "Maxie, you're staying for, like, two weeks. You only brought one bag?"

Wide shoulders shrugged. "Bunch of clothes, grooming kit, a book or two, the old netbook they gave me on the show." That slow smile reappeared. His eyes found hers. "What else would I need?"

The otter slipped around his back to get a good look at the rest of him, then emerged under his opposite arm with a roll of her eyes. She grinned and swept a hand out behind her. "This is Shane—he's our ride."

"Hey." Max extended a paw with an acknowledging nod. "Thanks."

The feline stepped forward and shook his hand with a shrug. "Kylie's been bouncing off the walls all day. For the sake of our merchandise, I thought I'd better bring her down here."

"Yeah, I do have practice at keeping her out of trouble." The husky chuckled and glanced down at her. "If with only limited success."

"Hey!" She squeezed an arm around his waist. "You should thank me: without me around, you'd never have any fun."

He gripped her shoulder, still wagging. He didn't argue.

The otter breathed a happy sigh, pleased with the introduction; Max had trouble reading new people and Shane could come off as snide. Pleased, she bounced alongside them toward the parking lot.

~ ~ ~

>>Physical copies: http://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=798
E-book: http://baddogbooks.com/?product=windfall <<


All art for the book: Slate Slate

-Tempo