and took a step closer to her, offering her his arm. “I only speak the truth and may I say that you look stunning.”
“I, ah,--” Seylah began, but Florence’s voice rang through the hallway cutting her off.
“Those are beautiful!”
Seylah turned slightly to see her sister’s head poking out from the doorway. “Hello, Florence.”
Florence wiggled her fingers in hello and pointed at the flowers. “Shall I put those in water for you? Then you can be on your way to the festivities all the sooner? I’m sure you are both quite anxious to make your way to the picnic.”
Seylah looked down at the flowers she was cradling. She hadn’t thought of what to do with them now that she had them, but water did seem a prudent move. She held them out to her sister with a nod. “That’s very thoughtful of you, Flo. Thank you.”
Florence bustled forward and took the flowers from her with a wink. “What are sisters for? Now you two go on and shoo. You’re missing all the fun in the square.” Florence waved them forward and reached past them both to open the front door.
“Ah, thank you?” Elliot managed to get out before Florence practically shoved them both through the front door and onto the porch.
“Have a good time!” She waved at them, and in short order, slammed the door shut. The speedy manner in which they had been dispatched made Seylah suspect her sister worried that she might bolt from Elliot at any moment’s notice.
She stifled the urge to roll her eyes and forced a smile onto her face. “She’s just enthusiastic,” she told Elliot when he glanced behind him, a perplexed look on his handsome face. “About picnics, I mean.”
“She’s a picnic enthusiast?” He asked, offering his arm again to her once more.
“Oh, she’s the largest by far in the family. She just loves a good picnic and doesn't want us to miss out.”
“Then, why is she not coming herself?”
Seylah pursed her lips at that question. She hadn’t quite known where she was going when she opened her mouth, but now her rambling had seemed to put her into a corner with this observation. “She will be along shortly?” She tried and breathed a relieved sigh when Elliot nodded, accepting her comment.
The pair walked along in awkward silence for a few minutes, each step making Seylah more conscious that she had no words to offer. She glanced at Elliot and saw that he was looking off toward the mountains, his entire body relaxed, he didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the silence.
Perhaps this was normal?
She did only have the one walk with August to compare it to, and they were just children. The words had flowed easily between them, but lack of conversation had never been a problem between the two long time friends. If anything, the pair of them had difficulties keeping themselves from too much chatter. Her mother could attest to their inability to stay quiet when near one another. Why, they had clapped more erasers after school, on opposite ends of the school house, to make amends for their constant whispering.
A smile pulled at her lips, remembering those afternoons with August. Things had been so simple then, so easily managed so long as August had been at her side and she at his.
“You have a lovely smile,” Elliot told her, breaking the silence.
Seylah jerked, surprised by Elliot’s words. “Sorry?”
He nodded at her, his free hand coming to rest where Seylah’s touched the crook of his arm. “Your smile,” he said again, “I couldn’t help but admire it just now. I hope that our spending time with one another has put such a look on your face?”
If the world were perfect and good, if things were as simple as they had been in bygone days, and if life were neat, then Seylah would be able to say yes. Yes, it was he who had made her smile so, had made her eyes go soft and perhaps pulled a sigh from her. But, it hadn’t been, because life was none of those things.
“Thank you,” she told him, working to keep her smile in place as a realization took hold of her in the most uncomfortable way. If her smile became forced, Elliot did not notice because he was already looking ahead of them and talking of what they might enjoy at the picnic. Meanwhile, Seylah’s heart thumped painfully in her chest. It was telling her one hard truth that she had willed