“What does it look like?” She’s wearing sunny yellow overalls with white long-sleeved tee. She peers down at her clothes before her eyes skim the loose soil scattered across the floor and workbenches, mouth turned down at the corners. “I thought it would be nice to spend some time with you.” She looks at Elowen. “Alone.”
A flush spreads across Elowen’s face. “I’m almost finished,” she says. “I have to get back anyway.”
She spreads the herbs on a clean section of the workbench and pulls some glass jars from her bag. Strands of black hair are working loose from her braid, and I have to stop myself from tucking them back in.
“You don’t have to rush.” I sense Sophie’s scowl the instant I say the words out loud. “Sophie can help.”
“Do you know about herbs?” Elowen asks her.
“Uh,no,” the word turns down at the end like it left a bad taste in her mouth. She doesn’t come inside. Any closer, and there’s a chance she’ll get dirty.
“You could help fix this cabinet,” I suggest, pointing in the direction of the warped doors I was working on.
“Maybe I could water the flowers.” Sophiepeers around, furrowing her brow when she realizes there are no flowers to water. “Or provide the playlist. It’s like a morgue in here.”
Elowen is busy labeling jars. She nibbles one corner of her bottom lip when she concentrates. She has a smattering of tiny freckles across her nose. And occasionally, when she’s thinking, she tickles her face with the end of her braid.
“Go, Calder. The cabinet can wait.” Her eyes flick back and forth between me and Sophie. Her voice doesn’t catch. There isn’t a hint in her tone that suggests she wants me to stay. It’s like she’ll be happier alone.
I’m torn. If I go with Sophie, she’ll convince herself that the one date we went on last year was the precursor to a full-on relationship. And if I don’t go, I’ll be encroaching on Elowen’s space.
My hesitation is clearly all Sophie needs.
“Fine,” she says from the doorway. “I guess I’ll leave you to it. You obviously have everything covered.” She doesn’t move. She’s waiting for me to ask her to stay.
Perhaps I should. But the words won’t come out. I watch her walk away. I feel bad, but it’s better this way.
“Maybe you should go after her.” Elowen’s eyes are searching, wondering why I’m really here.
She isn’t asking me to explain, but I want her to know the truth. I want her to know that there’s nothing between me and Sophie. Right now, that feels more important.
“We went on a date.” I don’t like how it sounds when I say it out loud. But it occurs to me then from out of nowhere that she might not even be interested. “That’s all.”
I go back to the cabinet and pick up where I left off. When I look up, Elowen is watching me with a serious expression.
“I still think you should talk to her. She obviously really likes you.”
Footsteps approach from outside, and I half-expect Sophie to reappear wearing a protective suit and wellington boots.
Tyler is back, minus Lila.
“How is she?” Elowen asks. “Was she okay? Did the antihistamine help?”
“She’s fine.” Tyler grins. “I walked her back to her room and told her to lie in a dark room with a cold wet cloth over her eyes.”
Elowen releases a heavy sigh. “Thank you.”
“It’s fine. I have allergies too. It’s exhausting when you can’t stop sneezing and your eyes and throat are itching,”
“He spent the entire summer in wraparound sunglasses,” I say. “Even inside the building.”
“Hay fever. It’s hereditary, but you have to admit I looked kinda cool.” Tyler shrugs when I don’t respond. “So, what needs doing?”
His eyes seek out Elowen, I notice, like she has some gravitational pull over him. Over both of us. I walk around the greenhouse with him, pointing out what needs fixing, and what will probably need to be recycled.
When we’re done, Elowen is ready to walk back to the main building.
She doesn’t ask us to walk back with her, but it seems like the right thing to do, me on her left, and Tyler on her right.
