Page 11

The benches lining the sidewalk are full of the older generations grumbling about how the kids are loud, obnoxious, and my favorite one, “ruining the town.” Old people are so funny. As if they weren’t young once, behaving just the same.

Lou’s shop is at the end of town right next to The Daily Sage, a cute little herb and crystal store that always smells like burning sage and a witch’s cottage with the hints of burning wood, herbs, and magic. Marlowe, the owner, is a Pine Marten shifter, who’s known for stealing baked goodies from Crust Issues, which is owned by Bea, aka Honey, a black bear shifter. The little creature loves Honey’s cinnamon rolls! Pine Martens, a part of the weasel family, are known for their love of sugary treats and stealing. Never, and I mean never, leave your sweet roll unattended around one of them. Honestly, she is too adorable in her tiny form to resist the urge to want to pick her up and cuddle her. I’m not sure when it started for her, but this battle between Marlowe and Bea has been a long time thing.

Speaking of Marlowe, the tiny Pine Marten is sprinting across the street with one of the famous cinnamon rolls clutched in its mouth right as I’m about to walk in front of The Daily Sage.Honey storms out of her bakery waving a rolling pin in the air. “Damnit Marlowe! Get back here with the cinnamon roll!”

The blur of brown and orange fur streaks across the sidewalk right in front of me and jumps through the doggy door disappearing from sight. I can’t help but laugh because that roll is long gone and Honey knows it too. She throws her arms up in the air before walking back into Crust Issues.

I push open the door to Flash Me Studio to find Lou peeking out her front window at the drama that unfolded.

She smirks when she looks at me. "Well, I reckon Marlowe helped herself to another cinnamon roll, didn't she?"

“Yeah, that pine marten is hella fast when she has stolen a sweet treat,” I say with a giggle.

“I’ve got those photos for you. The ones you dropped off yesterdee.” Lou walks behind the glass display case grabbing the envelope full of my next round of photos. “You’ve got some great shots in there. You takin’ them to Aspen?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan. Thought if I gave her both sets to look at, I’m sure she could pick something from the pile.” Grabbing the envelope from her, I slipped it into my bag along with yesterday’s. Hopefully Aspen finds something she loves. My fingers graze over the tea bag that Gail gave me earlier, reminding me that I’ve got to drink tea this evening.

“Looks like your wolf was the star of the show in just ‘bout all them pictures.” She gives me that knowing look.

My cheeks warm as the blush spreads across them. I’m not even sure why I’m so embarrassed.Is it from the dreams haunting me, the eyes following me, or that I love my Shadow time?

“Yeah, he’s too beautiful not to take photos of.” I shrug like it’s normal.

“He’s just beautiful as a sunrise, he is. You go on ahead now and have yourself a good day.” Lou shoos me away with her hand as she turns to head to the back of the store.

Crossing the street, I see Honey is back inside her bakery chatting with customers. Sally is still busy handing out ice cream to the line of kids that has only shortened a few people while I was inside. Citrine & Rose, our earthy-toned casual clothing store, has a few ladies mingling around inside as I pass by.

Thankfully Aspen is right in the front of Find Me Between the Pages, stocking one of her front tables when I open the door. She turns around with a beautiful smile on her face when I walk in. “Oh hey Selene! I was hoping you would take me up on the offer! Just in time too because we leave Friday!”

“Yeah, I wanted Lou to develop another couple rolls of film so you had a larger selection to choose from.” I fumble around in my bag until my fingers close around the two envelopes of photos.

I hold them out towards Aspen as she looks between my reached out hand and my face. “How have you been doing?”

I shrug my shoulders, not really feeling like opening up to her of all people. “I’m fine. Been taking photos, going to school, and spending my afternoons deciding my place in the pack.”

She stops flipping through the photos to glance up to me. “Gail said something about you wanting to do photography for the pack?”

“Yeah, she mentioned being a pack photographer and possibly selling my photos to the larger market.” I stare at my fingers twisting together.

“That would be really cool. I love these three photos,” she says as she holds them out for me to see.

She picked one of the sunrise peeking over the mountains, one of the pack runs, and one of Shadow.

“Do you know who that wolf is? I know he’s at least a shifter, but I’ve never seen him before.”

She looks closer as she slowly shakes her head. “I don’t. But, I also haven’t spent a lot of time with the other wolves. I don’t go on the pack runs or anything. Warrick would probably be better at answering than me.”

“It’s alright. I just wanted to see if you knew. I’ll get these to Lou to have them printed in a bigger size. Do you have a size in mind?”

We spend ten minutes going over the space that she wants to display the photos and what sizes she was thinking. I put the information down in my phone to give to Lou tomorrow. After saying our goodbyes, I head back to my house. It’s getting late and I’ve still got to work on the English assignment and drink this tea.

Later that night after working more on my English assignment, I followed the exact instructions that Gail gave me for this clarity tea. If my mom wasn’t a healer who loved tinctures, I probably would have thought she was crazy!

Pulling my feet underneath me on my white, wooden porch swing, I take the first tentative sip of it. It’s actually rather sweet and easy to swallow.

There is a soft breeze blowing across the porch, gently picking up my hair as I continue to sip my tea.

Those eyes that have haunted me all day, come to the front of my mind. Clearer than I’ve ever seen them. They are so familiar to me, but why?