Page 48 of The Kiss Keeper
No one had ever asked her that question before.
She frowned. “I have no idea. Why would that matter?”
“How much further, Aunt Nat?” Annabelle called, her little body hunched forward and arms dangling as if they’d set off to summit Everest and not walk up the hill into the woods.
“This is far enough. You can tell the kids to stop.” Her gaze shifted from Jake to the little girl, but she couldn’t get his words out of her mind.
Do you know what this place is worth?
Jake’s question dropped like a lead weight, but there had to be a reason why he’d ask.
He was in real estate. Could it simply be professional interest or force of habit? In her case, she could barely go anywhere without something calling to her to be sketched or painted.
She pushed the question aside as they caught up with the children, waving them in to gather around the basket. Opening it, she pulled out a worn box of crayons.
“Pick your favorite color and peel off the paper,” she directed.
“The crayon will be naked!” Annabelle exclaimed as Toby and Tucker snickered.
She patted the girl’s shoulder. “The crayon doesn’t mind because it’s an artist tool.”
“Artists don’t use crayons,” Finn huffed.
“They sure do, just watch,” she countered.
She peeled the paper off a stubby maroon crayon, then selected a piece of paper. “Art and nature go hand in hand. Think of Picasso’s sunflowers or Monet’s water lilies,” she added, then found a fallen leaf on the ground and, gently placing the paper over it, proceeded to make a rubbing. After only a few strokes, the veins of a pear-shaped birch leaf emerged.
“It’s like magic!” Annabelle exclaimed, then ripped the paper off her red crayon.
Finn crossed his arms. “It’s a leaf.”
She crossed her arms, mimicking the preteen. “I bet you can’t do it.”
The boy’s eyes went wide. “I betcha I can.”
She tossed him a crayon, and he snagged a piece of paper, looking hellbent on proving her wrong. And it was just the reaction she wanted.
“You’re good with kids,” Jake offered.
She watched as Finn centered the paper over a knot on a birch tree trunk and went to work. “Kids are easy. They want to learn and explore even when they act like they don’t.”
He took a step toward her. “I don’t know if I agree that kids are easy, but you sure make it look that way.”
She continued to watch as Finn plucked a pinecone for Josie. “My way with kids seems to be the one thing the curse hasn’t touched.”
“Curse?” he questioned.
She cringed. “It may sound a little silly. It’s an old Camp Woolwich legend.”
She’d never mentioned the Kiss Keeper’s curse to any of her other Jakes, but she’d never brought any of her past Jakes here.
She glanced over at the kids and caught Finn’s eye. “I’m going to show Jake around. We’ll only be a minute. Can you keep an eye on your cousins?”
“Sure, Aunt Nat,” the boy answered, falling nicely into the role of the teacher’s, or in this case, aunt’s helper.
She gestured for Jake to follow her and led him up the trail toward…
The well.
