Page 62 of Sweet Silver Bells
Olivia looked so normal. She was beautifully, heartbreakingly normal. She wasn’t a woman haunted by things that forced her to sleep in a stranger’s house. She wasn’t someone spinning tales about a childhood in 1914. She wasn’t a siren who bent his mind with her sweet song. She was just a girl standing under the night sky, wrapped in moonlight and the soft glow of the streetlamps. She held his hand. Her eyes lit up when they met his.
Hunter didn’t know what to do with that kind of normal. It felt like a new kind of spell, and he was not prepared for it. If he allowed himself to love something so ordinary, then Sarah might be lost to him completely. His heart might run out of room as he moved through days filled with work and nights spent with friends, while Olivia stayed by his side, always holding on. There would be no more promises to chase her into the forest. There would be no moment of being swallowed by a tree while she clung to him, preserving their pain, their grief, and their love. That world would no longer be possible.
“There he is. Hunter!” a high-pitched voice yelled over the speakers playing orchestrated holiday music.
“Here we go,” Hunter muttered to Olivia, who squeezed his hand tighter, the smile on her face growing. There was a pulse of excitement around her, and Hunter found it infectious as his mood lightened, his social anxiety ebbed, and he found comfort and security in the person’s hand that he held.
You’re mine. I’m yours.
Nina stood in front of the caramel popcorn stand, her arm looped through that of a tall, lanky blond man who waved so energetically it drew a few curious glances from passing fairgoers. The warm scent of butter and sugar drifted around them, mixing with the distant squeal of carnival rides and bursts of laughter.
Hunter spotted them just as Darius strolled up, clapping him lightly on the shoulder.
“Hey, man, have you met Tom?” Darius asked, a grin tugging at his mouth.
Nina shot her husband an exasperated look; his deadpan expression betrayed no hint of a joke.
“He’s kidding,” she said quickly, giving Tom’s arm a playful squeeze.
“Hey, Tom,” Hunter said with a polite nod, though he wasn’t entirely sure what to make of him yet.
A few feet away, Celia and Elaine leaned against the side of a portable table piled with half-empty paper cups and napkins. They chatted quietly, but their conversation fell away as the group grew, both of them glancing up with expectant smiles.
“This is Olivia,” Hunter announced. “Olivia, this is everybody.”
“Wow, you really brought her.” Sadie appeared out of nowhere, her words muffled from the bite of a Bavarian pretzel with stone ground mustard that she’d just taken.
“I’m Nina. Did you just move here?” Nina unhooked her arm from Tom’s and started asking Olivia a million questions. Hunter’s nerves kicked back in because Olivia's eyes moved elsewhere instead of answering or even looking at the human being talking directly to her.
A carriage moved past on the sidewalk, and a large dark chestnut horse pulled the vintage vehicle, carrying a family who all looked too bored. Bells attached to the horse’s reins jingledwith every synchronized step, creating a beat to liven up the classical, orchestral music playing throughout the loudspeakers.
Next, her eyes were drawn to the oversized Christmas tree half a mile down the street, displayed on the steps of the town hall, towering high over them all. Olivia frowned, and Hunter wanted more than anything to know her thoughts, to help fix what she thought was wrong, before she took action into her own hands.
“Let’s go over to the carousel,” Elaine said, slinking towards Olivia, grabbing her other arm like they were best friends. Celia moved with her, and suddenly the three women began walking away in the opposite direction of the Christmas tree, three heads of hair glistening underneath the hanging twinkle lights.
“So, interesting that you’re with Hunter,” he heard Elaine say. “You seem a little twisted for him.”
“Oh, Hunter is a little twisted.” Olivia’s voice faded as they walked further away.
“Really? I knew it. Tell us more.” Celia’s excited shriek barely reached his ears before Sadie stood right before him, offering him some of her pretzel.
“What are we supposed to be doing?” Hunter asked his friend. Sadie’s short hair seemed even shorter. “Did you get a haircut?”
“Thank you for noticing! I shaved off the sides,” she said, her smile wide.
“I would like to see a beer in each of my hands,” Darius said. “This is incredibly not fun at all.”
Hunter had to agree, though the swirl of noise and movement made it hard to think. Hundreds of people streamed past them in every direction. Somewhere behind him, a child wailed loudly enough to pierce through the chatter. A couple near the kettle corn stand hissed arguments at each other under their breath, holiday sweaters bright as sin. He forced himself tonod along, but his eyes kept searching the crowd for Olivia. She was somewhere in this mess, too fragile for all this noise. He couldn’t shake the thought that she might disappear again, and no one but him would notice.
“We should have worn matching ugly Christmas sweaters,” Nina said, her bottom lip pouting out. “This was not planned very well. Next year I’m taking over.”
“I don’t have an ugly Christmas sweater.” Hunter shrugged. “And I probably didn’t have enough time to go get one.”
“You could have borrowed one of Tom’s,” Nina said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Tom did not look enthused.
“Let’s go get Darius that pilsner,” Sadie suggested, pointing toward a vendor with a more substantial booth with wooden walls set up to look like a rustic cabin.
