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Ian stood at his bedroom window, watching the commotion below like Zeus tracking the goings on of mortals. He wrenched the window upward. It squeaked and whined, reminding him that it had been a long time since he'd opened it.
Below him, they were having a party.
Johann and Lara were the leaders, strolling arm in arm down the gravel path. Dotty darted from sheltering tree to sheltering tree, gesturing wildly. Maeve cartwheeled past them. The high, clear sound of her laughter floated upward. The queen strode forward, waving at invisible subjects.
Selena somersaulted across the lawn, skirts flapping, then she shot to her feet and clapped, twirling and twirling until she fell in a laughing heap to the grass. The apple and tulip necklace hung at a cockeyed angle around her throat. A single petal fluttered to the grass, a brilliant white spot on the emerald green carpet.
Selena said something he couldn't quite make out, and then everyone lined up along the porch and began somersaulting across the lawn. The sun gazed lovingly down on them, glinting off their shining hair and multicolored clothing. The joyous sound of their laughter rang in the warm, sea-scented air.
Ian tried to manufacture a familiar feeling of disgust; after all, it was such an exceptional display of lunacy.
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But surprisingly, he felt no such contempt. A smile, slow and tentative, crept across his face.
Which was more insane-tumbling across the grass on a beautiful spring day, or hiding in a lonely, darkened room, feeling an unnecessary sense of isolation?
All at once, Selena looked up at him. Across the distance, their eyes locked. He saw in her gaze all the welcome he could ever want. She waved him down. Then Johann started walking toward the beach and the little party followed him.
He knew instantly that he, too, would follow. He could try to do otherwise, could pretend indifference and force himself to remain alone, but he wasn't so dishonest. He wanted to be with her.
He stepped back from the window and eased it shut. Images of yesterday flashed through his mind, warming him, cajoling him.
Amazingly, Johann had been right. In an instant, a heartbeat, Selena had offered Ian a choice, and with nothing more potent, more life-altering, than a smile.
I feel love for you, Ian.
The words circled through his mind again. All through the long, lonely night in his solitary bed, he'd heard them. Over and over and over, gaining momentum, promising a magic he'd never dreamed of. A future he'd long ago given up on.
He grabbed a shirt from the chair and shrugged into it. With the eagerness of a kid, he hurried down the steps and outside, emerging into the bright sunlight.
Warmth splashed his cheeks. He raced across the lawn and plunged into the cold darkness of the woods, following the sound of laughter.
They were down on the beach in a scattered array. The sea was at low tide, a foamy hem along the gray and black stone. Sunlight glittered on the still bay, gave the water the appearance of polished steel.
Johann was sprawled out on a blue blanket, his arms wishboned behind his head. Lara was crouched over a
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tide pool, her bucket placed precariously on a barnacle-roughened rock. Maeve was staring out to sea, her hand tented across her eyes. No doubt she was waiting for her husband to come home again.
"Ah, the prodigal son returneth," Johann drawled, rising languidly to his elbows. He brushed the straggly hair from his eyes with a fluid stroke. Very slowly, he smiled. "Good to see you, Ian."
"Ian?" Selena swiveled around and looked at him. The second their eyes met, she gave him a devastatingly bright smile. "You are here."
The sound of her voice, hushed and seductive and intimate, washed through him, warmer than the sunlight.
"We were to have a picnic," Selena said, waving toward the basket. "You shall join us?"
Ian felt himself start to smile. "I'd love to."
Hours later, only Selena and Ian were left at the beach. The meal had long ago been eaten and cleaned up, the last remnants taken away.
They lay side by side on the blue blanket, gazing up at the clear, blue sky. Books were scattered around them.
"Tell me another story," Selena said in a drowsy voice.
