“Always.”
I hated myself for this. “Why were you with Eliza that night?”
He busted into a shameless grin, and he shook his head. “She got into some trouble, and while she didn’t know I was an assassin, she knew I worked somewhere along the lines. She asked for some help and—”
“And you couldn’t say no,” I finished. “You never could.” That made so much more sense than what my mind had tried to get me to believe.
Laken chuckled, and I guessed he felt it as well, the air shifting between us. “I’m surprised you offered to help Mr. Wilson this morning. Very nice of you.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you feeling well?”
Funny, funny.And fair; I wasn’t the type to throw myself into things like that. “I feel fine,” I snapped. “You must be rubbing off on me or something.”
Laken nodded, faking a thinking expression. “Ah, perhaps we should spend more time apart.”
My eyes rolled. “As if that’d be something you want.”
“You wouldn’t survive without me anyway.”
Gawking at him, my jaw dropped. “I’d survive fine without seeing you every day. I did it for three years, didn’t I?”
“Did you want to, though?”
“Did I want to what?”
“See me every day.”
He waited for my answer. If he knew the amount of times I’d stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of a young man of approximately the same height with dirty-blond hair. If only he knew…
“Sometimes.” I paused. “Some days I wanted to see you because I missed you. And some days I wished you’d walk into my store so I could strangle you and rip the heart from your chest.”
“And,” he dragged on, “there she is.”
My cheeks burned from the smile he’d brought to them. Something in me felt good when he talked to me like he once did. The light painted him in a golden hue, and like Mr. Wilson’s painting, I wished I could bottle it up. His glowing hair, kissed by the sun, appeared a shade lighter. More than that, I wanted to capture the way the rays shattered in his deep-blue eyes when he looked at me, like the sun over the sea.
I silently cursed myself and simultaneously prayed I would forget the sound of his voice sayingthere she isby the morning.
But if his voice hadn’t left my mind for three years, I doubted it would overnight.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The next days passed in a blur. We continued our routine of caretaking and saving money. So far, we’d made three hundred seventy-five from selling creams at the festival and eighty-four from the bouquets with Maggie.
I’d received my thirty-day notice two weeks ago. Relying on the fundraiser and market, we only needed… a lot more.
It’s fine. Everything is fine.
The creatures remained the same and feedings didn’t change, but our schedules were jam-packed. From financing, budgeting, and pulling my hair out, I spent most of my time figuring out how much more money we’d need. You know, so poachers didn’t ransack us.
There’d been a time (roughly a couple weeks ago) when being back at the sanctuary would’ve sounded like a feverdream. I couldn’t have imagined it. But with how far we’d come and how much these animals needed us, I couldn’t lose them. Somewhere along this gut-punching journey, I’m afraid I might have started to like it here.
Which had led me to the meeting I attended with Faye Augustus earlier in the morning to discuss the fundraiser. Unfortunately, despite my hesitation and concern, I’d let Laken talk me into it. He made it sound like his mother needed this and it’d make her feel important. Besides, since being home, I’d revisited people and made a few connections (if you could call them that). Maybe, perhaps, if I manifested hard enough, it would work. Faye, being who she was, already had most of the details hammered out.
We walked around the town square, the field where the fundraiser would be held, and she pointed out where different vendors could set up booths. Each square foot, she saw as a potential space to put something to bring in more money. I, however, saw memories.
My mother loved the square; she enjoyed bringing paints out on an old blanket and spending her day here with me. Her terrible, no-good paintings made me feel more confident in my own skills and abilities. When we got hungry, we were surrounded by options. Wanted to go shopping? Just down the block. Wanted to listen to troubadours? Perfect place for you, too!
I sighed, realizing how much I missed those times. Being here with Faye brought something different out. Her trying to help me and guide me as she’d always done.Something unfurled in my chest, and I tried my best to act like it wasn’t there. I agreed and nodded when she made suggestions. I answered when I needed to.
But fundraising wasn’t my expertise, not even a mile within it.
