Page 2 of Sunflower

Fine. I was fine. Totally fine.

My breathing came quicker as my anxiety began spinning out of control.

I was not fine.

I felt a tug at the flowers I now held in a death grip.

“Here,” came a deep, throaty voice from behind the sunflowers in my hands. It had the slightest hint of an Irish accent to it, and was the same accent his mother had, even though hers was much thicker. “Let me take these from you. They look heavy.”

Reluctantly, I relaxed my fingers from around the stems, and the giant blooms swayed slightly in front of me before shifting to my left and allowing me to lock eyes with the most gorgeous pair of hazel orbs I’d ever seen in my life.

A deep vivid green on the outer edge blending to a gold around the pupil, Callum’s eyes were framed with long dark lashes that crinkled as he grinned at me. “Joey, right? Or should I call youSunflower?”

I gulped and nodded, my eyes greedily taking in this gorgeous man that stood in front of me.

His deep auburn hair flopped over his eyebrows but was almost shaved on both sides. Freckles were mottled everywhere on his face, most noticeable on his cheeks, but they trailed down his neck to hide under his black leather jacket. I wondered if his entire body was covered as much as his face was. His pale hands carefully lifted the flowers from mine, and I could see that the backs of his hands were smattered with the same freckles, but not nearly as densely as the rest of him.

He continued to grin at me as he introduced himself. “I’m Callum. Erin’s son. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Oh, he’d asked me if my name was Joey, and I’d never answered him. No wonder he was grinning at me like I’d grown another head.

Oops.

I can still fix this. Just talk to him like a normal human being. Easy.

“Gudtamtutoo,” I gurgled before feeling my face flush. Way to go. Now he thinks I’m an idiot.

He laughed as he turned to the side and placed the flowers on the side table that someone had obviously cleared. Probably Dad. It’d been covered with junk mail and other crap before we’d left. I snuck a pleading look towards Dad for help, only to notice that he was fully involved in a loving conversation with Erin, all heart-eyes and adoration.

No assistance from him, then. Brilliant.

Still chuckling, Callum spun back to face me and stuck his hand out for me to shake.

Hesitantly, I took his hand, only for him to stiffen and grip my palm. His eyes glazed over slightly, and he brought his other hand up to envelop mine entirely. His head tilted to the side as his eyes trailed over me from head to toe, his grin slowly dropping from his face.

“Uh…” I glanced over Callum’s shoulder to Dad and Erin and chuckled nervously, my heart racing from the return of my growing anxiety and the feel of his cool skin on mine. I tried to tug my hand from his, but he held firm. “Dad? Help?”

Dad and Erin glanced our way, pausing their conversation when they saw what Callum was doing.

“Ah,” Erin said with a relaxed smile. “He’s channeling. It’ll be best if you just let him do his thing. He’ll be finished soon enough.”

“What?” My eyebrows rose to scrunch up somewhere near my hairline as I returned my attention to Callum.

“It’s nothing to worry about, Joey,” said Dad, resting his hand on Erin’s back. He was smiling just as easily as Erin was.

As soon as Dad finished talking, Callum gasped, heaving a deep breath in and dropping my hand like it had burned him. He blinked before his eyes widened as he continued to stare at me, his mouth dropping open in what looked like horror as he took a step back, his hands held up like he was surrendering to something. “Oh, fuck me sideways.”

“Um?” I looked from Callum to Dad, to Erin, then back to Callum. “What just happened?”

Callum shook his head almost angrily. “No. Nope. Not doing this. Not yet.” He took another large step back before turning around and bolting up the stairs like his ass was on fire.

Confusion filled me as I remained standing in the entryway, swinging my gaze from where Callum disappeared, to Dad and Erin, who were looking a little concerned at the way things had gone down, then back again. “Can someone please explain what I just did wrong? What ischanneling?”

Dad looked at Erin with a wry grin, then kissed the side of her forehead. “I’ll put the kettle on.”

“Thanks honey.” Erin patted Dad on the chest even while she kept her shrewd eyes on me. She waited for Dad to head off to the kitchen before she came over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. She guided me towards the lounge and sat me down, then settled next to me. Much like Callum had done only minutes prior, she tilted her head to the side and chewed on her bottom lip in thought. “First, I need to tell you that you did absolutely nothing wrong.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “It sure doesn’t feel that way.”

---