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Azure looked at her with his bright blue eyes, and she smiled back at him. He seemed to grin at her too, and they’d always gotten along really well. “Why aren’t you with Todd, huh?”
“He stopped by the barn for a minute,” Kyle said. “I think we both know what that means.” He also smiled at her, and Laura rose to her feet.
“I brought a kite,” she said, hoping it wouldn’t be a lame surprise for Todd. “Do you want to come outside and fly it with me?”
Kyle’s eyebrows went up, and he shook his head. “I think Todd will shave my head in the middle of the night if I do.” He chuckled and nodded for her to go ahead. “Azure will come with you.”
The dog already trotted for the front door. He went right out, and Kyle added, “Don’t tell him I let the dog in the house. I might lose more than my hair if he finds out.”
Laura giggled and agreed to keep it their little secret. Outside, she took her kite out of the bag and attached the dual strings to it. She moved into the field in front of Todd’s house so they wouldn’t miss one another when he got home, and laid the kite on the ground.
Backing up, she kept the lines separate, and then she slipped her hands into the bracelets, gave them a sharp pull simultaneously, and jogged backward as the kite lifted up and caught the wind.
It sailed up into the sky, and Laura tipped her head back to watch it. She laughed, because there was something so freeing and amazing about flying a large stunt kite. She loved the way she could pull on the right string and it would swoop, and she could give a slight tug on the left, and it would dive.
Such tiny movements which caused such big reactions. She loved it, and she loved knowing that she wasn’t the only thing being pushed to and fro by forces she couldn’t control. She knew now that a minute adjustment could put her on a completely different life path, the same way that slight tug could cause a dive in the kite.
The wind, which had been blowing steadily all day, died, and the kite began to drift. Laura backed up again, pulling the lines tight, trying to get it to stay up. Kite flying required wind, and gusts weren’t her friend right now. They only pushed the kite for a moment, and it lilted upward only to wilt again.
“Come on,” she said. “This can’t be happening.” Not today, where everything else had gone wrong. Mother Nature always blew across the Hill Country; why not right now?
The kite landed on the ground, and Laura exhaled again, made sure the lines were straight and not tangled in anything, then she pulled again. The kite refused to catch any breeze at all, because none existed.
Laura turned as the sound of a truck’s engine met her ears, and she slipped her hands out of the wrist bands of the kite. It wasn’t going anywhere, because there wasn’t a stitch of wind on the entire ranch right now.
Todd parked in front of his cabin and got out of the truck. She waved needlessly, and he came across the road and into the field. “Sorry,” he said. “I got busy in my office.”
“It’s fine,” she said, indicating the downed kite. “This is the surprise. I had it up for a minute, but the wind’s died.”
Todd looked at the parachute-like kite in an array of colors, then back to her. “I think that about sums up our whole day.”
She grinned at him. “It’s been windy for hours. I even flew this thing out at my cabin for a good half-hour to make sure it wasn’t ripped.”
He looked up into the sky. “Figures.” He sighed and shook his head. “I’m also late with dinner, and maybe we should quit while we’re ahead.” He toed the ground, his head down.
“Are you asking me to leave?”
He looked up, his face flushed. “I guess not.”
“Do you have any food at your house?”
“No.”
“We could eat at the lodge.” Laura turned when the barest tickle of a breeze tousled her hair. “Or wait out the wind and see if we can fly this thing.”
“I haven’t flown a kite in forever,” he said.
“I find it relaxing,” she said. “I love watching it sail through the sky, playing with the wind and the current.” She was sure she’d just revealed too much, because Todd would ask her when she’d first flown a kite and liked it. Then she’d have to tell him about Hans.
“It’s pretty,” he said. “Like a rainbow-butterfly.” He grinned at her. “I don’t mind waiting for the wind.” He slipped his fingers between hers, and Laura’s whole body shivered, bringing that zing of excitement to her brain. “I’ll call my mother and ask her what she’s got in her fridge, and we could walk down there and get it.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Wait. I changed my mind.” He turned back to his cabin. “I’ll send Kyle. Otherwise, Mama will be bendin’ my ear for a month, askin’ about you.”
She slipped her hand out of his and started to roll up the lines. “You don’t want her to know?”
“I usually tell her last, yeah,” he said. “She’s great, but she’s a little…overeager when one of us starts dating.”
