His Wild Blue Air

Day 3

To be amateur and teenagelike, he would say he had a crush on her. And he wasn't sure if it was a good thing. Because Skylar Smith was so enigmatic that it actually hurt him. He wanted to know about her and she wasn't letting him.

Okay, so maybe it really wasn't any of his business because like she said, he was just a guest. But she could maybe just reveal something. He knew nothing. All he did know was the things that he'd analysed - yes, he analysed - from the enigmatic talks they had.

He had analysed that she was flush with money that she didn't need a job - but she had one anyway because this was a small town. He had analysed that she appreciated Dog more than anything else and from that, he assumed that she probably lost someone in the past which was why she appreciated the dog's company more than anything else. He had also come to the conclusion that she moved here to New Zealand to escape from something.

"From what?" he said to himself quietly, as he stared down at his hands.

He looked around him, to see if the interior of the cabin would tell him anything. Except, she was pretty impersonal in a place she lived in. There were only portraits of sceneries and Dog. There weren't any photos of herself or anything human.

She was so determined in keeping her past to herself that she was unwilling to display any photos of herself at all.

He shook his head to himself as he smiled in amusement - not at her, but at himself - because he knew she was about to get more annoyed at him. He just couldn't help it; he had to know.

**

She entered the bookstore with Dog. He immediately curled up on the rug specifically prepared for him in one corner of the store, near the fireplace. She hung up her coat and adjusted her glasses with forefinger before heading deeper into the store to look for the owner.

She grinned when she saw a familar figure hunkered down in front of a few boxes, carrying books out of them. She rushed forward to help. He looked at her in surprise and then smiled when he recognized her, happily handing her a stack of books.

"Well, look who finally showed up!" he exclaimed pleasantly.

She laughed and followed him down one of the many aisles of books until they reached their destination. "Good morning, Adam," she said.

He put his stack on the edge of one of the compartments and pulled over a ladder. "By the way, you're a lifesaver. I don't know how long it's gonna take me to tag all those books before I die," he said with an eyeroll.

She raised her brow with an amused smile. "So you're just gonna let me do all the tagging?"

He nodded. "Pretty much." And then he laughed. "Kidding." He climbed up the ladder and took the books he'd discarded just now. She watched as he arranged them in their section. "Let me have them." She lifted the books in her arms to him. It didn't take him long to arrange them all.

When he climbed down, he slinked an arm around her shoulders cheerfully and together, they walked back to where the new stock was located. "Where's your dad?" she asked as they both sat down on tiny stools and started categorizing the books.

He shrugged and hooked a finger over his shoulder. "Out." His finger was pointed towards the storeroom. He realized his mistake and quickly pointed towards the front door. She chuckled, long since used to his antics. "So I heard you got a new guest," he said casually. "A very good looking guest."

She nodded. "I do." She could see he was waiting for her to say more but she didn't. There wasn't much to tell.

"What's he like?"