Page 2 of What We Keep
I started to feel a little defensive. I could’ve taken the moment to remind this man he knew me, but it rankled that he didn’t recognize me. Once I got a good look, that ping of familiarity was confirmed.
“Hey, I own this property, and your goats just walked onto it. And one of them knocked me over!” I put my hands on my hips. “I’m Elsa. Elsa Whitney. You should remember me.”
Chapter Two
Haven Silver
The woman in front of me, Elsa Whitney, rested her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. A gust of wind blew her blond ponytail in a little swirl, and her green eyes shot sparks as she stared at me.
Taking a breath, I gathered myself because when confronted with my high school crush’s fiery beauty and the dusting of freckles on her cheeks, my heart pounded hard and fast against my ribs. I hadn’t seen Elsa in years. When I’d approached, I thought for sure it was her, but I played it cool. An unexpected sizzle of heat bolted through me. I needed a minute. I’d convinced myself I was well over that old crush, but now she was here, bracingly alive in front of me.
“Elsa, of course,” I finally said. “What are you doing here?”
She dropped her hands from her hips and swung one arm in an arc toward the old remnants of a foundation. “Moving home.”
Tommy looked over at the old foundation. “There? There hasn’t been anybody here since forever,” he said.
Elsa’s gaze snapped to Tommy. “I grew up here. Before you were born. I might not know how old you are, but I can do math.”
“What happened to your house?” Tommy asked. He was never one to hesitate. I’d learned parenting involved accepting my fate—that the questions literally never ended.
Elsa’s gaze shifted again toward the traces of what had once been a house. When she brought her eyes back to Tommy, my heart twisted a little at the sadness flickering there.
“It burned down,” she said simply.
Tommy opened his mouth to ask another question, but I put my hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me. “What?”
“How about you get Pinky?” Tommy loved Pinky, and at the moment, Pinky was at a distance, eyeing us. She was smart, probably as smart as all of us, and I knew she was calculating just how long it would take Tommy to round her up.
“Okay!” He started running toward her before glancing back. “Nice to meet you, Elsa!”
Her lips curled at the corners, her smile almost seeming like a surprise to her. “Nice to meet you, too!”
The wind blew her hair again, pushing a lock over her eyes. She sent a puff of breath up, expertly dislodging it from the corner of her glasses.
Maybe I hadn’t seen Elsa Whitney in about fifteen years, but I could see traces of the girl she had been. Same bright hair. Same pretty green eyes. I hadn’t been the only guy with a crush on her in high school. I’d been two years ahead of her when she left town.
One day, she was in the hallways at school. The next day, she was at our place with her mother for a few days. And now, she stood before me. I could feel wisps of grief drifting from her, but more than that was the force of an edge of defiance. Her eyes flashed.
“Tommy’s kind of nosy,” I said, a chuckle rumbling in my throat.
Her soft laugh was warm, and the sound slipped through me. “Kids are usually curious. But I appreciate that you call it nosy,” she replied.
This time, my laugh came out in a bark. “He’s ten. If you ever need to distract him, just bring up his goats. He loves them very much.”
She shaded her eyes with her hand, looking out toward Tommy, who had rounded up Pinky and the other goats. I could see him talking to Pinky, his favorite, as they walked. I gestured toward the largest of the goats.
“I probably shouldn’t, but I let him bring her inside sometimes. She’s house-trained.”
Elsa dropped her hand and turned to look at me, her eyes brightening as her lips twitched at the corners again. All I wanted to do was make her smile again. And again. And again. “The goat is house-trained?”
My smile was sheepish as I nodded. Tommy disappeared over the small rise, taking the shorter route back to where we lived on the adjacent property.
“I’m sorry you got knocked off your feet,” I added.
Elsa lifted one shoulder in a small shrug. “I appreciate the distraction. It was kind of welcome.”
I abruptly realized this might be the first time she had come back to this property since she left. I sure as hell knew she hadn’t been around town.
