She looked at him incredulously. “Nobody else would have done it, even if they could fly, which you apparently can!”
His fingers went to the deep crease in his eyebrows and he pushed the skin down flat against his skull. “I can’t fly.”
“Right, you just have abilities. Such as the ability to, I don’t know, teleport or whatever. Oh, and you’re sort of a mutant but not like in the movies. Whatever the hell that means.”
He couldn’t stop himself from laughing at her. “Teleport? No, it’s... Yeah, I guess you could call it that, for lack of a better word. I teleported with you from 500 feet above the ocean to a beach miles away. Something like that.” In spite of his laughter he could barely hide his irritation. He picked up the sandwich and continued eating knowing she was staring at him, still stuck on his words.
“So then... what are you?” she asked.
“I’m a person! Not some foolish mythical character from a stupid movie!” he practically shouted. He took a quick look around to make sure no one else heard him. Clearly he would sound crazy to a random passerby.
“Well, people don’t usually break the laws of physics and teleport, Evan. There are natural laws preventing science fiction crap like that from happening.”
“Clearly your natural laws don’t apply to me, Anne,” he retorted. “Things are different where I’m from.”
“Right, and where is that? Another planet?” She shook her head as though she couldn’t believe she was engaged in such a conversation. She sipped the last of the wine and signaled the waiter for the bottle.
He sighed. “Not another planet,” he replied, exasperated. He fell silent as the waiter came back and cheerfully replenished Anne’s wineglass. She took another slow sip then placed the glass down on the table before her, just out of her reach.
“You know what? I really don’t know how I’m supposed to take you right now. Nothing about this day has gone according to plan and I never imagined I would ever be having the kind of ludicrous conversation you and I are having right now. There’s no such thing as teleportation, or whatever, and yet somehow you managed to do it.” She cradled her head in her hands with her elbows resting on the table. He watched as her fingers moved through her hair, rubbing her scalp as if it were aching. She was clearly at odds with herself, distressed at the cognitive dissonance of what she believed could happen and the impossible nature of what did happen. He felt responsible for her anguish and frustration at having to talk about something she clearly found to be beyond the bounds of possibility.
“Would it help if I could prove it to you?” he asked. Even before the words finished coming from his mouth he regretted them. He had never once been in a position where his actions caused disbelief by those around him; he went above and beyond to appear to be as normal as everyone else. And yet this beautiful woman indirectly caused him do many things that he never would have otherwise. What started out as a routine day had become anything but. Perhaps there was no turning back.
Her head lifted up from her hands and he could see she was both confused and intrigued. “What do you mean?”
“Name a place.”
“Name a place? Any place in the world?” She looked absolutely dumbstruck.
“You name any place in the world and I’ll take you there.”
A too-loud laugh escaped from her mouth and she quickly covered it with her hand. She looked at him as though he had gone utterly insane. She continued to laugh a series of small, disbelieving chuckles and she grabbed her wineglass to take a sip. The laughter calmed and after pausing for a moment, she held the glass out in front of her face and looked up at him.
“Okay. This Riesling is made at the Gainey vineyard in Santa Ynez. Take me there.” Her smile suggested she didn’t believe him at all and was quite possibly mocking him. Either way, he wondered if she even realized she was smiling.
Evan glanced around and noticed their waiter was busy inside. Of the few patrons present none of them were paying attention to Anne and him. He reached across the table and placed his hand on hers. She recoiled at his touch.
“Just relax,” he whispered as his hand covered hers, holding her knuckles beneath the width of his palm.
The street, restaurant, and city of Ventura dissipated around them, a grove of trees taking their place. A two-lane highway stretched out behind them with an expanse of vineyard in front. The sky turned a different shade of blue, illuminating a heavy stone inscribed ‘Gainey Vineyard, Tasting & Tours’ in front of them. A bed of green shrubbery dotted with purple flowers sat in a shallow well that made up the front portion of the sign, the petals swaying gently in a cool breeze that touched their face and hands.