Zia looked up with a smile."And you call me sweet pea.And sometimes you say I'm your forever friend."
"I might only say it sometimes, but I mean it always," Callie assured her.
"Oh, I know."Zia dropped her head again."Mom's people called me bad names."
Callie's breath caught in her chest, wondering who exactly Mom's people were, but not feeling like she should ask.
Zia looked up at her."But that was a long time ago now.I don't really remember."
"That's good," said Callie, feeling a little relieved even though she wondered if she should ask for an explanation.
Before she decided whether to, Zia had run on ahead toward the cottage, looking back over her shoulder and calling, "Did you say you have snacks?I like snacks.What kind of snacks do you have?"
By the time Alara joined them, she looked better.Her hair hung loose around her shoulders, her cheeks had some color and she looked brighter.Zia spotted her through the screen door and waved for her to come inside.
Alara hesitated, but Callie called out, laughing, "You need to get in here and eat some of these grapes before this young lady has them all."
She loved the way Alara smiled and seemed to relax as she came inside.She went straight to Zia and tickled the back of her neck."I hope you're not eating all the snacks."
Zia shook her head happily."Only some of them.I'm only a small person."
Callie laughed."You might be small in stature, my little friend, but you have a huge personality."
Zia stopped with a grape halfway to her mouth, looking worried as she asked, "And you don't mind that?"
"My goodness, no.I'm saying that's a wonderful thing.One of many wonderful things about you."
Alara shot her a grateful smile, and Callie was even more curious to know about their background.
"We won't stay long," Alara said."I don't want you to feel like you need to host us the whole time.It's so good of you to let us park here, but we don't need to invade your whole life."
"You're not invading it.Would you like a drink?Zia and I have orange juice, but there's apple juice as well, if you like that better."
"I'm fine with water, thanks," said Alara."But really, we can go soon."Her face fell."At least we can go back to the camper, out of your way.I don't know..."
"Hey."Callie reached out and touched her arm."You're not in my way.I keep telling you — I'm glad you guys are here.It's nice for me to have the company.I promise.Do you think there's any chance you can just accept that and relax a little?"
Alara nodded slowly."I'll try."
"That's fair.Better than making a promise you can't keep anyway," Callie said with a smile.
Zia crunched her way through a handful of cashews before looking up at Callie and asking, "What would you be doing if we weren't here?"
"Probably exactly what I'm doing right now, only by myself.I woke up early, so I went out to the cabin and I've been working.I just got finished and thought I'd come to check on you guys."
"Do you just work when you want to?"Alara asked with a wistful look on her face.
"I do, and I love it."
She felt bad as soon as she said it; Alara probably knew exactly how that felt, but she didn't have the luxury of doing it — at least not right now.
She gave her a puzzled look."Do you do any...I don't know, just regular flower arranging?Or do you only do events like the wedding and building the arch?"
Alara shrugged."I take any kind of work that comes my way.I've been lucky that I've mostly done weddings and other events for the last couple of years.I did one big wedding in San Diego, and from then I did pretty well on word of mouth.I've managed to work my way farther and farther north, just based on people telling their friends.Weddings pay the best, but you'd be surprised how many event organizers want to include a floral design."
Callie didn't know if she should suggest that Alara could follow up on the contacts she'd made at Jacob and Becca's wedding.There were plenty of people there — people with money — who would no doubt love to hire her.But at the same time, she didn't know if Alara was well enough to do that kind of work.
Alara glanced at Zia."Is there a coffee shop here in town or anything?I could put up some flyers."
