“I saw him too.” Tyler heads out of the classroom and in the direction of the dining hall, and I fall into stride beside him. Like he invited me to eat lunch with him and I accepted. “It seemed pretty intense. I hope he wasn’t harassing you.”
“He wasn’t.” Part of me instinctively feels the need to defend the grieving brother. “He simply wants answers.”
“Man, that sucks.” We enter the dining hall, and Tyler stops, scanning the room for a glimpse of Lila. “She isn’t here yet. We could get food and take it outside, text her to meet us there?”
It’s just lunch I tell myself when I nod in agreement. Waiting in line with Tyler, I type a message to Lila and hit the send button:
Meet me in the quad. I’m with Tyler Vale. HELP.
He grabs a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, a quinoa salad with roasted vegetables for me, and a couple of sodas, and we relocate to the quad.
“So, what’s the deal with the greenhouse?” he asks when we find a bench in the sunshine.
“I’m growing some herbs.” I push my salad around with a fork. “My grandma taught me. It’s kind of a thing in our family.”
“Cool.” He unwraps his bagel and bites into it.
I find myself studying his profile and making a mental note to wear something cooler tomorrow.
“My knowledge of herbs could be written in one sentence. If I waffle a little.” He grins at me. “But I can fix things.”
“What did Calder tell you?”
“Not much.” Tyler looks at me then. He licks his lips as if Calder told him a whole bunch of stuff he doesn’t want to repeat, then he offers me his bagel. “Seriously,you have to try this.”
I hesitate before taking a bite. I can’t stop my eyes from rolling back in my head.
Tyler laughs out loud. “Best reaction to a bagel I’ve seen in a long while. Have you met Juniper?”
"We’re on first name terms."
"Well, I promise Juniper's already vetted me."
I manage to contain a smile. "I'll remember that."
The dynamics will change with three of us working in the greenhouse, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’d hoped I might have it all to myself when I first arrived. Then I realized that Calder was there before me, and I was the intruder. And now, I’m outnumbered two-to-one by alphas.
Grandma always said to keep an open mind. Maybe it’s time to put that advice into practice.
Lila appears then, breathless, a bundle of wired energy. She sits down between me and Tyler on the bench and says, “What did I miss?”
“We were discussing Juniper the greenhouse cat’s social preferences.” Tyler winks at me, and it feels like a chasm opened up between us with Lila sitting in the middle. “Have you had the pleasure of making her acquaintance?”
“Not yet. Elowen didn’t mention her.” She flashes me a look that says:invite me now.
“There’s not much to see yet,” I say.
“When do we start?”
5
CALDER
I heartheir voices before they appear in the doorway of the greenhouse. Tyler, Elowen, and her friend Lila.
Elowen’s eyes meet mine, but she looks away before I can decipher the meaning of the look. An apology for disturbing the quiet? Or did she bring Lila along because I asked Tyler to help out?
Okay, so maybe I didn’t think it through. Lila wanders around touching the pots and baskets Elowen didn’t get to yet keeping up a steady stream of chatter.
