Page 61 of Hot Tea & Bird Calls

“Do you take all your girls here?” Celene teased, though something about it sounded serious.

Skye let her legs swing, shoes removed. “I don’t date right now.”

“So, only me?”

“Only you.”

Judging by the subtle, impish smile, Celene must’ve gotten off on that special treatment, and Skye didn’t mind at all. She was certainly special. Skye held her fingers out, watching the sun dapple her brown skin, bringing out golden undertones. “How’s your family?”

“Loud.”

Skye swayed in a laugh. “Are you coping well?”

“Not at all.” Celene traced the quilt squares with a fingertip, the stitching undone in worn places. “I’m leaving after this.”

So much for a good afternoon. Heat stirred behind Skye’s eyes. “Oh.”

“I told Nadine about the intrusion, and she invited me to hang out this weekend. Don and Briana will keep an eye on the deck stuff, but June’s team works well independently. I’ll remind my brother to keep them hydrated.” No matter how arched Celene’s eyebrows, her compassion shone through undeterred. “One of my clients asked me to speak at a seminar, so I’m taking the gig, since I’ll be in the area. Sorry to spring this on you.”

Fuck. She’d endure the mourning home life without any doses of Celene. “You have adult temper tantrums to wrangle. I get it.”

“Don’t remind me.” Celene shuffled closer.

And closer. And Skye’s eyes rounded, closer. Celene only stopped once she positioned her legs over Skye’s thighs, feet planted firmly behind her.

As casually as anything, Celene took the water bottle Skye stuck onto the branches of a sapling and drew in a long sip. Fitting it back in place, she said, “Imagine we’re back on the hammock, the shade on our faces.”

How could Skye imagine anything with Celene Vale and her clean-cut features centered on her? And that expensive scent,that comforting warmth. The darkness in her eyes could swallow Skye, never let her out of their depths.

Skye responded, unthinking, “You’re so beautiful.”

Then, Celene’s confident veneer faltered, where she couldn’t hold Skye’s stare. She batted those black lashes to the sky, the ground, and the sky again. “Do you know why your name fits you?”

Skye rolled her lips in, keeping them restrained. She waited.

Celene’s eyes fell back on hers. “Your name fits because you make me feel high, like I’m flying.”

That’s when Skye’s tears sprang out. And Celene’s face blanched into horror. She dried Skye’s cheeks with smooth, insistent thumbs.

Skye wasn’t a heaving, sniveling type of crier, and it hadn’t lasted more than a minute, but she swooned in this sweetness.

Celene had her own life. In a city that housed thousands more eligible women than this dot in Pennsylvania. Skye wouldn’t subject her to hearing about discomfort with Luce, or dampen the mood more over death and the concept of home, or the fact that she was falling in love.

Instead, she resigned herself to these timid touches, choosing not to ask for more.

“Do you have hand sanitizer?”Approaching Luce’s storefront, Celene demonstrated how her fingertips tacked together, shuddering. “Why does nature have to be so viscous?”

“It’s sap. Harvest enough from a sugar maple and you’ll get the best syrup.” From her bag, Skye offered a clear, repurposed bottle. On it was a plain label with handwritten ingredients. “Imake this myself. Aloe vera, isopropyl alcohol, lemon oil. My own sanitizer. “

After passing her the rolled quilt, Celene gooped a generous amount on her hands, rubbing vigorously. She paused to inhale the clean, citrus aroma, then rubbed some more. “This smells amazing. Better than the stuff I buy.”

“Then it’s yours. I keep a good supply.”

In her twenties, Celene had a girlfriend who’d shower her with lavish gifts—wallets, leather gloves, sunglasses. And they always rang hollow, very impersonal. That memory flitted through her mind as she stashed the bottle in a compartment of her handbag, where she’d never lose it. With a soft pat there, she smiled. “Thank you, Nature Girl.”

Skye stopped at the store door, beaming. “Of course. Don’t like your fingers sticky, huh?”

Taking the easy, suggestive opening, Celene leaned in. “Not with sap.”