Returning to Love

Chapter 3: Eli

I sniff the trees around me, finding the peaches ready to pick.  I reach for one but drop my hand when I feel its rotten bottom.  The sun bakes down on me, and I can feel my skin slightly burning.  I don't worry as it'll heal by the time I get home.  I find a ready peach and drop it into the bag strapped to my back.  I am making my way down this row of trees, listening to the birds sing along to Miranda Lambert's Bluebird playing out of the radio strapped to my belt.  

I hear Finn singing along to the song from the row to my left, and I hear Sihtric humming along to the row on my right.  

When my bag is full I sniff my way over to the counter.

"Hey, George.  Can we settle up?"

"Hey, Eli.  How much you got today?"  George weighs my peaches and gives me my cash.  This job is under the table, but it works for my lifestyle.  I can't stay put.  I travel up and down the east coast.  Seasonal work like this helps me to maintain my lifestyle and provide for my baby.

I wait for Sihtric and Finn to finish settling up before Sihtric drives us home.  I roll down my window and sniff out the scents of rural Tennessee.  I love the trees and the dirt and the life.  Dani would say "If you sense the life around you, your life can be sensed by others."

Sihtric drops Finn off at his trailer with Edith.  They live a few miles away from where Sihtric and I stay with Gisela and Isabela.  

"Hey, boys!  How was work for the day?"

"It got the job done.  How did Reyes do today?"

"Oh!  She was a joy like normal.  This girl is going to turn heads when she is older.  Watch out!"  Gisela's laugh floods my ears.

"Uh, I don't think so.  I'm sure she is as beautiful as her mother, but no heads will be turning unless they turn all the way around."  I take my baby from Gisela and place her on my hip.  

The front door opens again as two sets of small feet walk into the kitchen.  

"Hi, Reyes!  Oh!  You're such a cutie!"  Storra coos.

"Yeah, yeah.  Eat it up while you can, Rey."  I can't actually blame Storra.  Reyes is an adorable baby.  How could she not be when she came from me and Dani?

"Storra, go on and help your momma get ready for dinner.  Sihtric, Eli, you gentlemen better wash up good before sitting at our table."  Isabela is a special kind of woman.  She has a special connection to nature.  She is what drew Dani to this area in the first place.  Isabela runs a shop in Nashville selling natural oils and remedies to help humans with their ailments.  She is constantly treating everyone around them before they even know they are hurting.  She has been a Godsend with Reyes. 

Dinner at Gisela's and Isabella's usually consists of lots of food and laughter.  Storra describes how horrible human high school is, and how she thinks she can learn much more from home.  Gisela changes the topic to one that shouldn't give her a headache and a prolonged fight with her daughter - her day watching Reyes and cleaning "impossible to remove" stains from some part of the house.  Isabella describes random exchanges with human customers at her store, to which Sihtric and I find some way to exaggerate the human's ailments and make fun of them for being born human in the first place.  Gisela will calm us down by reminding us to actually eat the delicious food that she spent time and love to prepare for us.  Storra serves us each our plates, making sure to set mine just so: meat at the back of the plate, vegetables on the right, and potatoes on the left.  

Toward the end of dinner, the landline rings.  Storra's chair screeches on the floor as she makes her way to the kitchen counter.  

"Hi, Josh!"  Her voice sounds so excited, it's like she believes that he is calling to speak with her.  "How's school?  ... That sucks.  Did your teacher at least give you an extension? ... Huh, how long did that take? ... Wow you must be so smart!"

Her words cease as I pluck the phone from her hand, causing a childish squeak to escape her lips before she returns to the table.

"Hey, kid.  How's pack life?"

"Eh, not so bad.  Same ole same ole.  Some pack is coming to visit soon.  Sounds pretty boring.  What's up with you?  Did you win the fight last night?"

"Yeah, I won.  Who do you think you're talking to?  So, which pack is coming to visit?"

"The Red Sun pack from Illinois.  How big was the guy you fought?"

"He was like twice my size.  Why do you keep trying to change the subject, dude?"

"Uhh ... I am not."

"Uh ... you totally are."

"Fine.  It's because I heard this rumor in the pack house kitchen that Alpha Derek and Luna Anna only invited this pack all the way from Illinois to set up their Alpha's second son."

"Set him up with whom?"

"Amelia," he all but whispered into the phone.

"Do you think she'd like this guy?"

"How am I supposed to know?  I've never met him before, and I don't know Amelia as well as you do."

Fair point.

"Alright, so what else?  How's your sister?"