Seth and Aidan walk to a nearby meadow with Lucky while Mira and I wait beside the car. I note Seth’s long slow strides next to Aidan’s rapid calculated ones. They are different in every way, from Seth’s unkempt blond hair to Aidan’s carefully parted and greased brown hair. Seth sets Lucky down, and even from a distance, I can see Lucky’s stubby tail wag like he is enormously excited about the patch of white clover surrounding him. Our little lamb seems to be a gourmet.
Mira leans back against the car and folds her arms. “Don’t you think he’s handsome?”
“Seth?”
“No! Aidan, of course! He likes me, you know?” She smiles, her gaze following Aidan’s steps across the meadow. Mira’s affection for him has always been quite apparent. She follows him around like a lost puppy, practically nibbling on his heels like they are liver treats, but I have never seen anything except polite tolerance from Aidan in return.
“Has he told you?” I ask, thinking it might be kinder to bring her back to reality than allow her to embarrass herself further.
“No, silly. Some things you just know.”
I feel like I am three feet tall and I have just been soundly patted on the head. Before I can respond, she skips away from the car calling after Aidan, and then a few yards away turns back to me and says, “You really need to pay attention more, Des!” She skitters away, not waiting for my reply, which is already tripping over itself in my head.
Me? The Grand Observer? She is telling me to be more observant? Who does she think she’s talking to? I stomp forward a few feet and stop. Let her go! Let her embarrass herself with Aidan! It will serve her right.
As soon as she approaches Seth and Aidan, I see a few words exchanged and Seth leaves them, walking back down the path toward me.
He hops over the brook and dumps an armful of clover and grass onto the floor of the car. It seems we have given up all semblance of decorum in the name of Lucky. “Mira said you wanted me?”
I roll my eyes. “I wanted you? That’s what she said? Aidan will see right through that one.”
“Oh.” Seth nods and smiles. “I get it. I thought I saw some sparks.”
I shrug. “From Mira, anyway.”
“No, from Aidan too.”
I turn sharply. “What? Deadpan Aidan? I don’t think so!”
“That’s right, deadpan Aidan. I noticed he gets all googly-eyed every time he says her name, and he seems to say it a lot. At least three times just now in the meadow.”
“You’re delusional.” I pull on the door handle to get back in. “If there were sparks, I would have seen them.”
Seth puts his hand out and leans on the door so I can’t open it. “Maybe you don’t see as much as you think you do.”
I let go of the handle, my arms and legs suddenly feeling like they have sprouted extra angles that won’t fold properly. Being someone different, even for one day, is unnerving. If I were still at Hedgebrook, following the routine, I wouldn’t be in a conversation like this, so close to Seth I could spit on him without trying. Maybe I already have? He has no proper sense of personal space. I shift my weight and fold my arms, being careful not to brush his chest in the process. Why is he so close? A flash of heat swirls in my belly, and my breath shudders as I inhale.
“Maybe,” I say.
Seth looks at me for a moment longer without blinking and then drops his hand. He steps away from the car and walks to the edge of the brook, sitting down on a lichen-splotched rock. He rests his hands on his thighs, his knees, and then back to his thighs. It seems my awkwardness is contagious. “Aidan told me about your aunt. Her tires, that is. Bad break.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Do you mind if I ask . . . what it is about this day? He said it was like you were expecting the news.”
I hear the carefulness in Seth’s voice. Like I am fragile. I am not. If I were I would have fractured into a thousand pieces long ago. Maybe I have cracked a bit, but then, so has the Parthenon. “I wasn’t expecting it. It was just confirmation that some days are destined to go badly.”
“Is your aunt in Langdon?” he asks. “Is that why we’re going there?”
“No, she’s . . . she’s in Chatsworth to the south. About six hours. I didn’t think I could coax you all that far, not to mention we would have had to pass through Hedgebrook to get there.”
He nods. “So there’s nothing special about Langdon?”
Does he know something? I walk closer, eyeing another nearby rock, and take a seat there. “No. Why?”
“You knew exactly how many miles away it was. It’s an odd thing to know, especially for someone who doesn’t drive.”
“Langdon’s just a town. Like any other. And the closest one for us to have a day out.”