Wild Girl ✔️

chapter 8: secrets

Rose

When I heard Sebastian's car driving up the gravel, I ran to the kitchen window and peered outside. He was reaching into the trunk and taking out white bags. I watched as he carried a few at a time to every cabin and deposited them on the porch.

Finally, when he walked up the path of my cabin, his hands full, I ran to the front door and flung it open.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed, grabbing the bags from his hands as he laughed. I hunched over at their weight and quickly brought them inside, setting them on the kitchen table before I turned back to Sebastian.

He was smiling at me. His beanie today was a dark, navy blue. "Someone's excited."

I felt heat creep its way up my neck and onto my cheeks. By the way Sebastian's grin grew, he noticed it, too. "I haven't painted in a long time," I admitted after a moment.

When Caleb died, my desire to paint died with him. But being here... something clicked in me — something that made me want to begin to paint again. I had decided that was a good thing. That it meant I was slowly healing, slowing regaining bits and pieces of my old self like a puzzle I was in the process of solving.

"What are you going to paint?" Sebastian asked. I turned to peek into the bags to evaluate what he bought me. Blank canvases, brushes, and dozens of paint cans the colours of the rainbow stared back at me.

My fingers itched to reach out and touch them.

I grinned widely. "Everything," I breathed. "The sunset. The sunrise. The way the sun shines through the trees. The way the flowers break through the soil. I want to paint everything."

Sebastian's dark eyes studied my face so intently I looked away after a moment. My feet were tapping impatiently against the carpeted floors. I wanted to be outside painting. Now.

"Don't move," he said firmly as he turned away and jogged out the door.

My face scrunched up in confusion. "What!" I called after him.

He stopped midway down the porch steps. "There's something I want to show you, Rose. Wait here for me. Don't leave," he stressed once more, smiling.

I giggled — actually giggled — as I watched him run back into his cabin.

* * *

Ten minutes later I was trudging through the trees beside Sebastian — who was carrying my paint supplies in a backpack — wearing my new boots that looked suspiciously like his.

Definitely on purpose, I thought to myself as I chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Sebastian asked from beside me.

"Our boots match." He peered down at our feet before he chuckled, too. "Anyways, where are we heading? It feels like we've been walking in circles."

We had been walking for nearly half an hour now and, despite the new footware, my feet were sore and my thick hair clung to the back of my neck with sweat. Even Sebastian had taken off his beanie and tied his long hair back — that's how hot it was.

"We're almost there," he said cryptically.

"And where is there?"

Sebastian cocked his head to face me and smirked. "You're very stubborn."