flattered or concerned that “everyone” is talking about me.
He shrugs, and looks up at me through his lashes, but his gaze is direct and intense light in them.
“That you don’t look like anyone they’ve ever seen… and really pretty.” He drops his gaze again and I’m grateful.
Heat rushes up my neck and floods my cheeks and I curse my sun starved skin as my embarrassment makes itself plain as day. I’ve heard myself described that way before and I don’t understand it. I have a twin. We’re not identical. But there is no doubt that we’re siblings. And, I look just like my mother. I clear my throat and “I have to go and you’re late for study hall, I’ll see you tonight.”
“Wait.” He grabs my arm to stop me from turning away. His head remains bowed and his grip on my hand tightens as if for moral support.
“Yes, what is it?” I ask when he doesn’t say anything.
“About the window. I was…” he rushes the words out and then comes to a sudden, stuttering stop. He lets out a long, heavy sigh, his hair sways with the baleful shake of his head that follows. “There’s no good reason for it. I’m just sorry.” Hope shines out of his remarkably clear hazel eyes. I put a hand on his shoulder and smile at him as wide as I can. “I forgive you. Thank you for apologizing.”
His frown is skeptical. “Your smile looks like you don't mean it.”
“I know. It’s just how my face is. I promise that all is forgiven. We’ve got a clean slate.”
I hold my hand out for him to shake.
He ignores it, takes a step forward and wraps his arms around my waist. His head comes just to the top of my torso. He rests it there and squeezes me tight.
It’s so sweet and sincere, and the unexpected warmth so welcome, that my embarrassment falls away and I return his embrace automatically, “You know that I came here to punish you, right?” I ask when he doesn’t let go.
“You could have, I would have deserved it. But you’re helping me instead. Thank you, so much,” he says with his mouth pressed to my belly. I let him hold on for a minute more before I lean back, so I can look him in the eye.
Maybe Stone, just maybe, you deserve this, too.” I give him a wink and walk away.
Alchemy
Stone
“Hey, come in here for a few minutes,” Regan sticks her head through the door of the office she set up for me to work in. I glance at the clock in surprise. I’ve only been working for thirty minutes. But I put my pen down and close my notebook. “Oh, okay…Are you ready for me to start cleaning already?”
She shakes her head and smiles. “Nope. I have a treat for you. Can you take a break?” Surprised, I look up at her and instantly forget what she asked me.
She’s so pretty. I know I shouldn’t even be thinking it, but I can’t help myself. She has the darkest eyes I’ve ever seen. Her lips may not be made to smile wide, but the way her eyes twinkle when she’s happy more than makes up for that.
“Well, can you?” she asks, when I don’t answer. I’ve still got at least an hour’s worth of work to do, but after this afternoon, I would do anything she asked me to.
“Yeah, I can. I just need to finish this equation. I just need a few more minutes?”
“Okay, see ya,” she calls as she disappears down the hall.
I glance at the now repaired back door and smile when I remember the first time I came to this bakery. Thankfully, for me anyway, a faulty lock wasn’t a high priority on anybody’s to - do list in places like Rivers Wilde.
This is a community that behaves the way a family should. And that includes trusting their neighbors to walk past a broken lock and not see it as an invitation.
But since my stepfather died, and my brother Hayes left to live with his aunt in Italy, I’ve been repeatedly reminded that in the eyes of most of the people I’ve called friends since I was three years old, I’m nothing close to family.
My mother is seen as the person who drove the much beloved and respected head of the Rivers Family, to an early grave. The Rivers family is without an official leader even though my Uncle Thomas is acting in his