Page 49 of Butterflies and Hazel Eyes
“Do you remember that little bluff on the island?” he asked, and I nodded. “Well, when the lights started rolling, before I woke you, I sneaked away to the top of it. It was the perfect place to take a picture of you sleeping under your final bucket list item. I don’t know what possessed me to take it other than the idea that I’d have something to remember you by when you left town. Last night when I was racking my brain for something to give you, I remembered I had it. I use these boxes for my butterfly displays, so I thought I’d see how it looked with a little bit of light behind it. When I flipped the light on, it just took me right back to our night on the sandy beach doing nothing but experiencing the lights together.”
I nodded, my hand continually brushing across the glass on the frame. It was surreal, and joyful tears ran down my face. “It’s gorgeous,” I said, my voice cracking. “This is the first birthday gift I’ve ever gotten, and it’s the perfect fit.”
“You see it, too, don’t you?” he asked while his thumb wiped a tear from my cheek.
I gazed at the image for a long time before I answered. “How I’m supposed to be living under that little part of the sky for the rest of my life?” I asked, noticing his head bob out of the corner of my eye. “I see nothing else. Unfortunately, seeing isn’t always believing, Gulliver. This is the perfect picture, but my life is anything but perfect.”
His head shook slightly, but he never tore his focus from me. “No one’s life is perfect, Charity. Life will never be a picture. We use pictures to remember our life. Isn’t it better when other people are in them?”
It was, but I couldn’t force those words from my lips. “We burn hot together, Gulliver. I can’t deny that. Apart, we’re underestimated because of our physical differences, but when we’re together, we’re sympatico just like the stars that make up the constellations.”
His finger trailed down my cheek and ended at my lips, where I kissed it. “What scares you about that?”
“Stars burn out, Gulliver. Stars fall from the sky and land back on earth cold and useless. I don’t want to stay long enough for us to burn out. I want to remember this night forever as the night we danced as the brightest stars over Lake Superior.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder and gazed up at him until his eyes met mine. I read everything he didn’t want to say in those cinnamon eyes before mine closed and his lips took over. His kiss silenced all the thoughts in my head about staying or leaving, and believing or not believing, and quietly reminded me that living in the moment is sometimes the only choice we have.
CHAPTER 15
"What a beautiful day,” I said, tossing some of Mojo’s favorite sweet potato snacks on the ground for him.
“You couldn’t ask for a better Fourth of July,” Honey said next to me. “If only we didn’t have a detail in order to be able to enjoy it.”
“I agree,” I said, biting my lip. “It feels like a waste of money now. There haven’t been any issues at the business in two weeks.”
Honey laughed, but the sound wasn’t amused as much as it was sarcastic. “That’s because we have a detail, Charity. Trust me, Mathias is in this for the long haul,” she said, rubbing her arm absently. “He knew the risk when he invested in the project, and he doesn’t care about the money he’s putting out to keep us safe. It’s a drop in the bucket in comparison to what they’ll have when the formula is finished. Letting the bodyguards go now gives them an opening to come in and hurt someone again. I can assure you, Mathias won’t let that happen.”
“You make a good point,” I said, feeling silly. “I didn’t think of it that way. Of course there wouldn’t be attempts to break in or hurt us when they know we have security now.” I pointed at the removable cast on her arm. “How is your arm now that the stitches are out?”
Honey glanced down at it and grimaced for half a second before she brought her lips back up into a smile. “Much better. I have another three weeks in the brace and then a lot of physical therapy to do, but by the end of summer, it should be nothing but a memory.”
“I’m glad. That must have been some fall,” I said casually, still wondering if she was lying about how it had happened.
“It was the strangest thing,” she said, her head shaking. “The doctor said I must have hit it just right on the step for it to fracture that way, but apparently, it happens quite often.”
Apparently, she was going to stick to her falling-on-the-steps story. I still wasn’t convinced, but I had no way to prove my suspicions, so I had to let it go.
“Have you seen Gulliver or Mathias?” I asked, glancing around when I realized they had disappeared. They were nowhere in sight as I gazed out over the town of Plentiful, surprised by the number of people who had come into town to celebrate before the fireworks. Gulliver told me about the fair food, games for the kids, and music, but I didn’t believe him until I was in the thick of it.
When he suggested we spend our Sunday here, I was a bit skeptical. After all, there were larger celebrations for the Fourth of July in towns like Bayfield and Duluth. He assured me I wouldn’t mind once I was in the thick of the festival, and he was right. As a bonus, there were far fewer people here than in the bigger cities, which meant you could enjoy your day without worrying about large crowds. That was important when one of you used crutches and the other was a little person.
“I think they went off to find some food,” she answered. “Mathias and I are going to his parents’ house to watch the Duluth fireworks over the lake. Do you and Gulliver want to come? I’m sure Mojo doesn’t want to,” Honey said, shaking her head at the dog.
I chuckled and rubbed the big dog’s head. “No, he’s going to stay in the basement of Butterfly Junction. He won’t hear much booming down there. He’s not a fan. As for us, Gulliver talked about a super-secret beach where we could see Bayfield’s fireworks, so I guess we are going there.”
My heart was pounding with excitement for what was to come tonight. I loved fireworks, and I waited all year for the Fourth of July. I was proud to say I’d never seen the same display twice. This year would be another one I could add to the logbook, but something told me fireworks over Lake Superior would likely top any I’d seen so far.
I couldn’t help but wonder where I would be a year from now, what fireworks display I’d be watching, and who I’d be watching them with. Would it be just Mojo and me in a town far away from Plentiful, watching the fireworks from the side of the road with no one but each other? I didn’t know, but the ache in my heart at the idea was more than I wanted to let settle in on a day like today.
Since my birthday, Gulliver and I had found a schedule that worked for us. We stayed in the office from eight in the morning until seven at night and then shared dinner together in his apartment, where we found joy playing games and watching movies. We always shared his bed at night, simply because it was the only bed he had and neither one of us could work eleven hours a day if we didn’t get good sleep. I still didn’t get a lot of sleep, not that we’d shared anything more than some kisses, but because his mural came alive at night. The first night I was in his bed, the room spinning slightly from the head injury, I noticed the butterflies had a secret you couldn’t see during the day. He had used glow-in-the-dark paint, so when the lights went out, the butterflies glowed with their natural colors.
As promised, I was working on his books. Yes, books. I learned he’d written three, but only one was ever printed. The other two were manuscripts he’d had ready for a few years but hadn’t had time to put pictures in or find a publisher. After much research, I decided self-publishing the books was the way to go. Considering there were few books of this type available, he could clean up when people ordered his books from online booksellers. If he also made them available on his website and in gift shops, he’d do an excellent little side business from what I could see.
Plentiful continued to welcome me as if I’d been part of the town all my life. More so, they welcomed me as if I’d continue to be part of the town forever. It was enough to feel like I belonged somewhere, and that was new for me. I had never belonged anywhere. When I was a kid, people felt sorry for me and provided for me, but it was out of pity rather than acceptance. Here, they nurtured more than they provided, and they loved me because they wanted to, not because they had to. If you studied the way they lived in Plentiful, and I mean really took the time to witness what they did with their hearts here, you’d understand how the name truly fit the people.
Honey’s arm shot out, and I followed her finger automatically. “There they are.”
I watched Gulliver walk toward us, and I couldn’t help but notice the change in him. He made eye contact with people now instead of staring over their shoulder. The fake bluster and bravado I noticed the first day was gone. The real Gulliver Winsome had been hiding behind the boastfulness to protect his heart. He felt like he could be himself now, and I was glad I could be part of that change in his life. He let me rub his bowed knee when it was sore, and he didn’t get self-conscious about me seeing his bare legs. When I first met him, he walked with his head down, staring at the street. Now he walked with his shoulders back and his chin up, meeting life head-on. I was proud that if I had accomplished nothing else here in Plentiful, I had given him a little bit of self-confidence back.
