Clipped Wings

Chapter 2

I pushed through the door to Serendipity, the bell above my head jingling. “Sorry I took so long. Hayden asked me to wait, and the jewelry Lisa ordered came in.” I touched the side of my nose, which had been a breeze in comparison to the other two. I made no mention of those.

“Oooh! Pretty!” Cassie said with genuine enthusiasm. “So you talked to Hayden?”

“A little.” I was still reeling. Hayden was dangerously beautiful.

Every encounter with him affected me in a visceral way.

“And?” Cassie pressed.

“And what?”

“How’d it go?”

“He’s uh . . .” My cheeks puffed out and I expelled a long breath. I tried to think of an adjective to adequately describe him, but nothing that came to mind seemed suitable.

“He left that good of an impression?”

“It wasn’t . . . He’s not . . . It was interesting.” What else could say about a tattoo artist who read the likes of Nietzsche in his spare time? Besides, I was afraid to verbalize the intensity of our interaction. If left unspoken, I could pretend I’d imagined his reaction to me and mine to him.

“‘Interesting’?” she said with disbelief.

“Mm-hm.”

“Really? That’s all you have to say?”

“Were you looking for a better descriptor?” I covered my unease with sarcasm.

“You read eleventh-century literature for fun, and the best you do is ‘interesting’?” she teased.

I threw up my hands in exasperation. “You were right, okay? He's completely overwhelming. And gorgeous, like off the charts, a raging inferno of hotness. Satisfied?”

Cassie burst into laughter. She even snorted. “Well that’s much more accurate than ‘interesting.’”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe I said that. You’re his aunt.” Mortification made my face hot. “You can’t tell him.”

“Why not? I think he’d be flattered.” She smiled serenely.

“I highly doubt that.” Hayden didn’t strike me as the kind of man who responded to flattery.

She lifted one shoulder and let it fall, picking up the deposit bag. “You know he comes in here looking for you all the time.”

“He does not.”

“Oh yes he does,” she said. “Maybe he thinks you’re a ‘raging inferno of hotness.’”

“You’re not going to let that one go, are you?” I refused to entertain the idea that Hayden might find me attractive. It seemed ludicrous.

She shook her head and gave me a mischievous grin. “Probably not, no.”

The banter reminded me of high school days and fawning over cute boys with my girlfriends. I remembered the butterflies in my stomach, the hope I might be noticed, the excitement when I was.

I longed for that innocence again; the simplicity of a schoolgirl crush. My life was so different now. Hayden had definitely noticed me. I just wasn’t sure if it was a good thing.

“Please don’t tell him. I don’t think I could deal with the embarrassment.”

Cassie surprised me when she pulled me into a tight hug.

When she released me, she smoothed her hands over my hair. It made me miss my mother.

“I won’t say anything,” she said with sincerity.