Page 10

“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?

They are this crystalline blue with golden flecks in them. The more I sip the tea, the clearer the eyes are to me, but I don’t have any more of his face. Nothing more than the two eyes blinking slowly at me.

A scuff of boots across the dirt path leading to my house draws my eyes to the sound.

Caelon is walking home. One of the few times I’ve actually seen that happen.

He looks right at me. His hazel eyes clear as a cloudless day as he smiles at me with a wave before turning to walk up his steps to his front door.

My tea sits in my hand forgotten as I watch him walk into his house.

My eyes track him as his muscles bunch and ripple beneath his shirt.

My heart rate picks up as he gives me one final glance, wishing he would turn around fully, walk across the road, and sit with me on the porch swing as we sipped tea together.

I’ve never been drawn to any guy like I am right now.

As if my world begins and ends with him. What is happening?

The tea is cool as I take my next sip, watching Caelon’s house as lights flicker on inside. Sora whimpers as we watch for any sign that he will join us tonight. Those eyes appear again and this time, I think I focus on them as I sip the tea more. Why are you so familiar to me? What am I missing?

Sora whimpers again as she nudges me to look back at Caelon. Those blue eyes feel as if they are also probing me to figure out the secret. Like words stuck on my tongue, I know the answer is right there, but just out of reach.

The front door to Caelon’s cabin creaks open again, as my heart rate spikes.

Is he coming over? Both Sora and I watch in rapt attention, hanging on to the hope that he will come.

With a math book tucked under one arm and a mug in his hand, he walks to his porch swing to sit down.

My excitement bursts like a balloon too close to heat, one thing that is clear for me right now?

I have a crush on my neighbor, and I don’t think he looks at me that way.