Intention Man (title in progress)

Uninterested

That thought was disturbing. "I don't plan to be here long enough to."

Kennedy raised her eyebrows at him. "You have a way to get home?"

Lev chewed on his lip and didn't answer. It was better than admitting he was wrong.

"Mhmm." She turned and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Lev alone to process everything that had transpired as well as add multitudes of fears to his head and heart. Exactly what his weary soul needed. Ever since coming he was continually getting the opposite of what he needed.

Unless everything was merely the opposite of what he wanted. Perhaps he was getting just what he needed.Yet a part of him refused to accept that.

Not wanting to be left alone in the front, Lev followed Kennedy to the kitchen. The singing had stopped. Lev stood in the doorway of the steamy, difficult-to-breathe-in room and watched the sisters interact. For once, he actually paid attention to others. He felt he could. They weren't busy trying to pick him to shreds. He could just be, and that wasn't something he was used to being.

"Zora was out there and you didn't tell me? Shame, Kennedy!" Caddy was at a counter chopping something up and berating Kennedy, who had donned an apron and was stirring something. "You know I always like to say hi to Zora when she comes by! I'm disappointed in you."

"She'll be back later. She has to pick up her charge at some point."

"Charge?" Caddy paused in her chopping to look back at Kennedy."

"Lev is here."

"LEV? By Deathwish!" She turned, cheeks flushed, to smile at Lev.

He stiffened, unable to relax any further as attention was turned to him. What would happen? He should be able to trust Caddy—she had helped take good care of him. She hadn't said anything disparaging. But who was to say she wouldn't?

"Last night, when we didn't hear anything from you!" She threw her head back and gasped. "I thought for sure something horrible had happened to you and that we'd never see you again, but Kennedy told me to shut my mouth because everything would be fine and I guess she was right, but whew I was sure you were dead."

Something warm spread inside of Lev, but it wasn't uncomfortable. "You cared what happened to me?"

Caddy's eyes and mouth became ovals. "Of course! Why wouldn't I care what happened to you?" Her head began to shake at a velocity Lev didn't know was possible. "I'm obviously relieved that you are okay too. I had no idea that Zora had found you. Zora of all people!" Caddy picked her knife back up and went back to chopping.

"Zora of all people?" What was that supposed to mean? Was it a bad thing that Zora had been the one to find him? He needed to defend her. Wait. Why did he need to defend her? He didn't need to defend her. That was absurd.

Kennedy looked over her shoulder to her sister. "Explain, Caddy."

"It's a good thing Zora had found you! She's the best one to have found you. Oh, we love her dearly here at Berry Straw. You're in good hands, Lev!" Caddy grinned and chopped faster, barely missing her fingers.

Zora was loved. Zora was a good person. But she also seemed a bit contradictory. She had snapped earlier. Sort of like a twig Lev had accidentally stepped on in the forest once. It had been unexpected and shocking.

Kennedy turned her attention to him. "Lev, if you're going to stick around, you need to do some work." She tossed him an apron from a hook on the wall. He stared down at it—flower-printed, colorfully stained, frilly fabric with a bow to tie around his waist. "Put that on." She pointed at him and went back to her work.