The Girl in the River

Chapter 12

The hole dug for their house was massive. Sage hadn't been to see the land and build site until the digging had actually been completed, so she had the full effect all at once. It was a crisp fall day, weeks after she and Brooks had visited the merchant. He'd been helping with the digging since then and hadn't had much time to visit her. Occasionally he had dropped by in the evening after he'd checked his snares, covered in dirt, to contribute a rabbit to their dinner. He wouldn't come in on those nights, but he had sat with Sage on their garden wall for a few minutes of conversation.

    She had been growing both more and less comfortable with him, if that was possible. There was a trade off, as she gained the ability to look at and speak to him, she also gained information that made her stomach hurt. He just simply had had a wildly different life than her. He was constantly confused by the way she lived, he even seemed to assume they worked the way they did as some kind of endearing character quirk. He hadn't commented on any of their derelict possessions, thank goodness, but she was losing sleep wondering what he could possibly think of them if he didn't seem to realise their real situation.

    She'd also lain awake worrying over the situation she was about to be in. Being near him was a less terrifying thought to her now, so she had mental room to wonder how he expected his own household to run someday. She didn't know how to purchase meat from the butcher or cook with dairy, she'd never learned to care for wooden floors or store excess clothing. Furthermore, he was popular. Would he want to have company often? Would she have to be a hostess? What did people feed guests, and what did they talk about? She wondered if Brooks would mind if she went to see her parents when he wanted to have friends over. The stress was getting oppressive and at that moment it had centred itself onto the huge house he was building her.

She stood at the top of what would be the steps, they were still a rough slope but she could see already that they'd be wide and attractive. The slope moved down to the lower garden area, which had been dug deeper than it would be in the end to make room for better soil that would be added later, and then to the main house. A large rectangle with areas for rooms already marked off, a bedroom, a back room, even a side area that would be a long closet. Brooks was explaining to her at that moment that even the loft would be more than one room, even though it would still be low like her own.

Sage interrupted him.

"It's too big." she said insistently, grabbing the hem of his vest.

He stopped mid gesture, he had been waving his arms as a visual aid. This wasn't the first time she'd touched him voluntarily, but it still caught him off guard. He himself had always been quick to reach towards her, and had only been growing in confidence. The other night he had used two fingers - the only clean part of him at that moment - to push a piece of her hair off her face. If he hadn't been leaving a trail of dust everywhere he went from finishing up the digging that day she thought he might have kissed her.

"It's not too big, we'll probably be living here for most of our lives. We'll need the room," he said.

She bit her lip, not wanting to complain after she'd seen him working so hard on this all summer. She just wished she had something to complain about that wasn't objectively good fortune.

"Come on down inside, it feels smaller down there." He took her hand off of his vest and then held onto it as they made their way down.

The ground down there had been levelled well, and the walls too. Everything was sharp and ready for the stonemason to start. They were hoping he'd get some height to the walls before winter set in.

"Well?" Brooks demanded of her. He took her other hand as well and swung them both. "Doesn't it look good? Are you proud of me? Are you glad you didn't say no when someone you barely knew asked to marry you?"

"I'm still not sure he won't change his mind about that, actually."

"I want some compliments before I try to explain how silly that is."

"You did a good job."

"Did I? You like it?" he pulled on her hands and stepped a little closer, they were near enough now that he really would only have to bend his head a little for their lips to meet.

Sage giggled and pulled her face towards a shoulder, just as he really did bend. Not rebuffed, he followed the awkward tilt of her head and kissed her cheek. Frozen, she felt the heat from that point of contact rush to meet the sharp thrill that had started in her stomach. Just that little touch overwhelmed her. She kept her face pointed squarely at the ground, even as her lips prickled expectantly. If he just pulled her toward him and kissed her now she'd be too lightheaded to hold back, the thought of what it might feel like to have his hands cup her face or those lips touch her with more insistence made her eyes go dark for a moment, like a blink that started inside her mind.

He didn't do it though, his hands stayed lightly holding hers and he only kept his face near the top of her head. She felt the tip of his nose brush against her hair and then another kiss, almost on her forehead.

"I'm going to have a little more time for a while now." he said "I can come bother you while you're working."

"I'd like that." still her head stayed completely bent.

"Yeah? You like having me around?"

She liked him so much. If only she could lift her head. If only he'd lift it for her!

"Mmhmm."

"Good."

They stood like that for minutes. Every time Sage got her breath back she'd lose it again, his thumb kept brushing over the back of one of her hands. Out of sheer protest from her neck muscles, her head came up a degree or two. That felt bearable, she straightened a little more. His neck and chin were in her line of sight now, then his mouth. Dizziness swirled in her head and made it feel lighter, it was lifted up straight now and she could look into his eyes. Impulse was fighting like a caged bird, pushing at her lips from the inside, weighing on the tip of her tongue. He could reach her without trouble now.

All he did was smile.

"It's kind of nice to see you working this hard for me, you know. I bet none of the other guys have even seen your eyes before."

She hadn't done all that work for nothing! Sage watched speechlessly as he lifted one of her hands and pressed a kiss on that instead, even daring to look into her eyes as he did it. Did he know he was teasing her, or did he think he was being gentle? There was nothing for it though, she was out of effort. Asking him to kiss her now was out of the question and she had no choice but to let him pull her back out of the pit and off towards her parent's house. She wondered bitterly if he was going to be this dense after they were married too.

*

See? Spice level is pepper.
-Laura