The Summer of Bells: The Essences Saga - Book #2

Summer: Chapter 13

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Chapter Thirteen

Min stood there, patiently, and looking so much more beautiful than the picture of her that haunted his mind these past few days.

I trust her, he reminded himself.

“I wasn’t expecting company,” he said, coming to a halt a few steps up from her. Her glittering green eyes gazed up at him sadly.

“I thought I was more than just company,” she said.

“Why are you here?” he blurted out, immediately regretting the words.

She closed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I’m sorry for bothering you.”

She turned and went down the stairs to the front door, her feet picking up speed as she descended. By the time, she reached the bottom, he bolted after her. “Min! Wait!”

He caught her as she was unlocking her car and placed a hand on her shoulder. The grime of his fingers left a smudge on the crisp whiteness of her shirt. He jerked back, grimacing at the stain.

For the first time, he looked down at himself. He was filthy. After coming home late Saturday night, he grabbed a beer, and then another when he finished that one. Later, he began emptying the attic and was determined to finish the remodeling that he started a year ago.

In those two days, he slept on the plywood attic floor when he got tired, ate from the refrigerator when he got hungry, and ran down to the corner store when he ran out of beer.

“Min, please,” he said. “Don’t go. I’m sorry. I’ve been…”

She turned around. Tears streaked her cheeks, but she tried to wipe them away with the back of hand. “It’s okay, Silas. I understand. You’re upset. I should have told you earlier. I really didn’t mean for all this to happen.”

He wanted to hold her, soothe away her pain, but the dirty handprint on her shoulder mocked him. He stepped back. “Come inside. We can talk about this,” he said.

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “No offense, Silas, but your house smells.”

He looked back at it. “Oh.”

“Listen,” she said, “you said that you will be home for a while, right?” He nodded. “Then you know where to find me when you are really ready to talk.”

She opened the car door. “Take your time, Silas. I’m not going anywhere.”

On an impulse, he snatched the car keys from her fingers. All he knew was that if she left now, he might not find the courage to ask all those questions running in his head again. “Give me twenty minutes,” he urged, fisting her keys behind his back. “Don’t leave. Twenty minutes, okay?”

She cocked her head to the side, eying him. “I’ll wait.”

Silas dashed inside, the smell she mentioned smacking him in the face and burning the hairs of his nose. “Ah, hell,” he muttered and ran up the stairs to shower, shave and change clothes.

Exactly eighteen minutes later, he sprinted back downstairs and out to the front yard. Min was gone. He scanned the yard quickly, spying her next door chatting with his neighbor, Dr. Stephens.

“Silas,” Dr. Stephens called, spotting him. He waved him over. “I was telling Min about my roses.”

Silas only had eyes for Min. She was smiling again, and now her own eyes twinkled with amusement. He was relieved.