Holiday Kisses

“Nothing.”

Calliope sighed. “You didn’t even stop to think before you answered. Come with me.” She slipped her hand around his and pulled him away from the table, back outside to her front porch. She dropped down on the plank floor, tugging him beside her as she curled her legs under her. “Look out there. What do you see?”

He stretched out his legs and tried to get comfortable. “Green. Lots and lots of green.”

“You might know that even if you were color-blind.”

“How do you know I’m not?” he teased. She gave him a side-eyed glance that felt far more intimate than he would have expected. “Okay, sorry. You’re right, I’m not.”

She released his hand and brushed her fingers up his arm. He shivered and credited the cool morning air as the cause of the sensation. “There’s more to see in the world than color. In everything that surrounds us. Not just plants and flowers and trees, but for now, let’s focus on those. Look, really look at what’s just beyond here.” She lifted her hand and traced the outline of one of the crops along a board with her finger. “There’s contour, placement, how each leaf of those plants nestles against one another, supporting one another as they grow to fruition. And there’s what’s under the soil, the roots, the foundation of all that rises above it.”

“I can’t see any of that.” How did she?

“Just because you can’t now doesn’t mean you won’t ever. Look closer. See the way the vegetation interacts with the soil, how it draws its strength from all that surrounds it. One plant can exist on its own if its will is strong enough. It will provide what it’s meant to, if only for a short time. But place that same plant in a community, surround it with nourishment and care and love, and it will thrive and continue to do so until that security is removed.”

Something told him they weren’t talking about broccoli and rutabagas anymore.

“Everything is connected.” Her voice softened. “Here in Butterfly Harbor, out there, in every other city, town, home. You live in a noisy world, Xander Costas. You’re inundated with sounds and thoughts and intentions that come flying at you twenty-four hours a day. Now close your eyes.” She leaned toward him and lowered her voice. “Close your eyes and tell me what you hear.”

Tingles raced up his arm where she continued to touch him. The practical side of him was laughing, but the hopeful, romantic side surrendered to her urging. He’d humor her. For now. If only because he found conversing with Calliope Jones almost as exhilarating as arguing with her.

With a sigh of surrender, he closed his eyes.

The silence pushed in on him, suffocating, and he knew if he yelled, no one would hear him. This was ridiculous. He had a job to complete so he could get home, and, hopefully, by next year, get his family and the family business restored to what they had once been. Sitting around listening for...what? Exactly what was he listening for, anyway? As if he’d know what nature...

“Stop thinking so much.” Her voice drifted through his mind as gently as the morning breeze grazed his skin. “Stop thinking at all and just...listen.”

Xander bit the inside of his cheek. If his brother and sisters could see him now, he’d never live this down. Except Alethea might be open to it. His youngest sibling really went all in for this connecting-with-nature stuff. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate what the natural world offered, but in his experience, in his work, it provided more barriers than offerings. Land could be temperamental, even more so than people, and it rarely, if ever, bent to the will of human beings. Sometimes he felt as if he’d been battling it his entire life, which was why, no doubt, other than the muted roar of the ocean in the far-off distance, the only sound to reach his skeptical, reserved ears was silence.

And then he heard Calliope sigh—it was a resigned, disappointed sound that had him abandoning his efforts and opening his eyes. He turned his head and found her sitting against the porch railing, knees drawn up to her chest, the hem of her green dress brushing lightly over her painted pink toes. As he drew his gaze back to her face, he felt his own pang of disappointment when she dropped her chin, her brow furrowing and a frown tugging at her lips.