Between Sand and Stardust by Tina Michele

Author:Tina Michele [Michele, Tina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626399419
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2017-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

Willa felt like she’d been struck in the chest. She did have a partner. Of course she did. Why wouldn’t she? “Oh. I see.”

“And I don’t think this is a good idea. We never were very good at stopping at kissing.”

Willa remembered. Even the first time they had ever kissed had gotten pretty hot. “Do you remember the first time we kissed?” Willa climbed back onto the rock.

“I do. I was sitting on the trunk of my tan Buick and you were leaning against my leg fidgeting with something. A stick?”

“Yeah.” Haven climbed up and reclaimed her place next to Willa. Willa noticed it was a little closer this time, and she made no attempt to scoot away again.

“We spent the whole weekend camping, snuggled in the same bag in the same tent. That’s when you told me you loved me.”

“And you didn’t respond, if I recall correctly.”

Haven laughed. “I didn’t. I knew I loved you, but I was so scared to say it aloud. And then there we were in the woods behind your house, alone and anxious.”

“The moon was nearly as bright then as it is now.” Willa was surprised by how similar the two nights were.

“I remember. I could see how nervous you were, and I could only imagine that your heart was racing like mine. I’m not even sure what came over me, but I knew I had to kiss you.”

Willa’s stomach fluttered at the memory just as it had then. “And that’s the last time I had any control over my heart.”

“It was so long ago. So much has changed.”

Willa knew that was the truth; so much had changed. They weren’t innocent kids anymore with their future laid out before them. Somewhere along the way they’d become adults and made their own lives outside of anything they had ever planned together. Sitting on a boulder beneath the infinite sky, Willa knew that they were as distant as they could ever be. “Are you happy here?”

There were several moments of silence before Haven answered. “Mostly.” It wasn’t the answer Willa had expected. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Colorado. My friends are here, Valiant is here, and I guess my work is here.”

“You guess? What are you doing?”

“I paint. Professionally, you could say.”

“What? Haven, that’s amazing! You were always such a talented artist.”

“Thanks. It’s how I met Bianca. She’s also my agent.”

And just like that, Willa’s excitement died. “Oh, so she inspired you to paint again?”

“Not so much. She just sort of pushed me back into it and encouraged me to make a career of it.”

Willa didn’t hear a hint of emotion in her voice. “But you don’t want to paint?”

“No. I do. But you know that being a professional artist never interested me. I always feared what would happen if I was forced to paint. Seems I was right. I just lose all interest in doing it as soon as someone tells me I have to. There’s no freedom in a deadline.”

“I see. So why keep doing it?”

Haven sighed.

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