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I laughed a little and nodded. "She is. I promise to protect you when she's acting like a nightmare."

"She acts out a lot…"

"She does, and it's just that, an act. When she calms down, there's more to her that no one gets to see. She doesn't let them."

"Does she let you?"

"Sometimes. She usually distracts me with free tattoos." I turned my arm over to show her my colorful forearm. "Worth it."

Clem snickered then ran her finger over the arrow at my wrist. "I know I asked but I can't remember. Do they all have meaning?"

"Not all." A smile made it to my lips. For some reason, I adored when she asked me questions. It made the whole conversation easier. "Do you have any tattoos?"

She shook her head. "Not one. Did Frankie do all of yours?"

"Most." I nodded my response as well. "Two of them were done by my friends. Nikita did the portrait of my family that's on my right shoulder and Thiago did the blackwork on my sleeve. Everything else was Frankie."

"Well…she's very talented. But that's no secret."

"She is, yeah. Our one shared sisterly trait is our artistic abilities. I guess. If you can call mine artistic."

"I can agree with that." She rested her chin on her hand while a small smile played on her full lips. "Thank you for sharing all of that with me."

I nodded as the nervousness churned in my belly. "Didn't scare you off?"

"Not yet." She chuckled when she said it. "Would you like to take a walk through the lavender fields with me?"

"Yeah." I nodded my response right away when the rejection never found its way to her lips. "I would."

We stood together and walked our way through the festival again. Neither of us stopped at any of the vendors that sold practical items like food or clothes, but we both geared toward the tables with homemade artwork or crafts. Clem browsed a pottery table for a moment before she followed me over to a vendor selling framed photographs. Our smiles matched as did our energy, but neither of us purchased anything. It felt nice to know that our tastes in some areas seemed similar.

Clem led me away from the busier areas filled with people toward the outskirts of town. It wasn't but a ten-minute walk before everything felt extremely rural and buildings seemed to vanish from the horizon, trading themselves in for silos or wind turbines. The silence caught me the most. No traffic, no murmured voices. Only the sound of birds, bees, cicadas, and whatever other natural sounds accompanied them that I couldn't identify.

By the time our feet met the earth at the beginning of endless acreage belonging to lavender blooms, I found myself stopping to stare up at the crystal blue sky. Not a cloud floated by. No airplanes or drones, or puffs of smoke. Absolutely nothing except the unexpected rawness belonging to Earth. She allowed me my time, never interrupting or judging. I felt like a kid stepping into a museum for the first time and seeing a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton dozens of feet above my head. The awe caught me, and the stillness around me seemed to settle within.

Eventually, I lowered my eyes to look at Clem, and she smiled.

"City girl meets country," she said, her voice soft.

I nodded and let out a slow breath. "It feels so strange."

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah." I gulped when the sound of my own voice seemed weird. "I do."

She held her hand to me, and I took it without hesitation as we entered the fields. For once I allowed someone else to lead me forward. Holding hands wasn't something I ever did unless it was with Reagan or if Tatiana was dragging me about. It wasn't like this at all. This kind of handholding felt different, and I found myself squeezing her fingers. The fragrance wrapped around us and set an immediate calm to my core despite the pounding of my heart. The flowers tickled our thighs if we walked too close, and I couldn't help allowing my fingers to run through it.

"In Tasmania, there's an estate that has the biggest lavender farm in the world. Two-hundred and sixty acres, if I recall. That's where I first saw fields like this," Clem commented, her voice slightly dreamy.

"You've really travelled everywhere, haven't you?"

She nodded and laced her fingers with mine. "I have. The last few years I've stayed still a little longer. After my mom got sick." She started suddenly and followed with, "She's fine now. Sorry, that sounded cryptic."

"I'm glad she's okay. Does she live close?"

"Oh yes. She lives here." A broad smile spread across her face, and she motioned around us. "With her husband. They own a bed and breakfast on the edge of town in addition to her teaching gig."

"Really? Do you visit often?"