Page 28 of Keeping Her Safe

Pulling her headphones off, she said, “You scared me, Zachary. How long have you been there?”

“A bit. You need to get dressed,” he said.

“I am dressed.” She gestured at her leggings and T-shirt. It was the same thing she had been wearing when he had woken up this morning.

“Today’s the farmer’s market,” he told her as if it mattered. She had never been to a farmer’s market in her life.

“I have to finish this,” she argued. It had been years since she stopped before a scene was done. Or, in this case, in the middle of a sentence.

“You will have to stop, Zephyr. You can’t miss this because you were doing something you could do tomorrow. Today is for meeting your sisters.”

“But …”

“No buts. You have to pause that mind. Will this pause it?” he asked and touched his finger to the tip of her nose. “Now go get ready. Max loaned us some coats.”

He reached to take the computer out of her hand, but she pulled it closer to herself. Without even looking at the screens, she typed some keys and pulled the USB drive out, then released the machine to him. Watching as he took it to the desk and set it down, she enjoyed the view of his firm butt in the tight jeans. Above the jeans, he wore a dark green sweater that clung to him in all the right places.

She quickly grabbed an outfit out of the drawer and hurried into the bathroom. It took more time than she expected to get her hair straight, and she knew she would abandon the practice when life righted itself for her.

By the time she walked down the steps, Zachary was standing by the door with his shoes on, coat in hand. He actually smiled at her, a real smile.

“You clean up nicely, Zeph,” he said.

“Zephyr,” she reminded him as she tied her brown boots and put on the coat.

As they stepped outside, the cold hit her in full force. Though she had no idea what the temperature was, she knew she had never felt this kind of cold before. Her ears and fingers were immediately frozen.

“Wow, this is cold,” Zachary said and took her hand in his as they walked the block to where the farmer's market was held.

As they entered the light-filled open area near downtown, they saw that it was full of tables with vendors selling their items. Zephyr looked around and noticed nobody seemed to be bothered by the cold air, which made her feel different somehow. Like she didn’t belong there.

Zachary pointed with the hand that was holding hers. Her eyes swept in that direction and saw the sign for Hart Farms. They were here. She had known they would be but had been a little nervous they wouldn’t have shown up.

“We’ll just walk past and then go back in a bit. Just look the first time,” he whispered in her ear. Somehow, he knew she wasn’t ready yet, even though they had been working towards this for days.

A shiver ran through her body as his warm breath blew over her cold ear. He noticed the shiver, and concern shown in his brown eyes.

“Are you cold?”

She looked at him, surprised. “Are you not?”

A laugh was all the answer he gave, but it was enough to relax her a little. She loved his laugh.

Hand in hand, they walked down the row that the Hart Farm stand was in. Zephyr tried to avert her eyes as best she could, but she knew she was gawking. There, talking to a woman buying something was Evie in the flesh. She had blonde hair that was tied back in a braid, and she was wearing a red jacket. She looked like the picture Zachary had given her the day before, but Zephyr tried to see the ten-year-old from the pictures her mom had.

As they walked, Zephyr heard part of the conversation.

“Ben is getting tall,” the purchaser was saying.

“I know! I think he’ll be taller than Jasper one day. He’s already taller than me,” Evie said to the lady with the same smile that had been captured by the camera that a young Zephyr spent hours looking at.

“How are the little ones?” the purchaser asked.

“They’re good. More active than I remember Ben being.” Evie made a gesture with her hands that Zephyr had seen a hundred times in her childhood from her mom.

“You’ve just forgotten, and now you have two,” the woman said with a chuckle.

As the conversation faded, Zephyr had wanted to stop so she could listen more. It was like her mom was talking to her from the grave. Evie had the same tone and cadence as Zephyr remembered. It had been so long since she had heard that voice, she was shocked when it sounded like her mom’s. They turned down another row, and Zephyr wondered if Evie had any idea she sounded like her mother.

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