Sunflowers in the Snow

Chapter One

I take a deep breath. I was next in line to meet him and I was struggling to keep my heart in my chest. I have been waiting for this moment for 8 years and I was less than 10 feet away from him, it certainly doesn't seem real. I pull at the ends of my yellow sundress and run a hand through my long hair, feeling insecure in how I look.

The last girl left and he turns and looks at me and I feel my throat hitch. Blue eyes meet hazel and the world around us falls away. I somehow find the ability to move my feel to get closer to him though they feel like moving bricks.

He smiles at me and though it is blinding I notice that it doesn't reach his eyes.

His eyes.

So many shades of blue swirling within each other, as if it can't tell if it's a blue sky or a stormy ocean.

But they do hold conflict and unhappiness, not something I was expecting from the carefree boy I've always looked up to.

"Hello love, how are you doing?" His thick accent makes my knees weak and I'm surprised I'm still standing. I've thought about this moment for years, and what I would say when I faced him. What I didn't expect was the words that fell out of my mouth.

"Are you okay?" I asked sincerely. He looked just as shocked as I was at my question but I was too worried to feel embarrassed. "What's wrong?" I asked but before he could answer a security guard told us that we need to hurry up because there were others fans waiting.

So we faced the camera, his arm around my waist. He squeezed my hip when the camera flashed and before I left he bent down and whispered something into my ear.

I was then taken away to retrieve my picture and to return to my seat. But his words repeated over and over in my head so I didn't forget them. And on the back of my picture I wrote it down.

A phone number.

Nathan Henry just gave me his phone number.

I sit straight up in bed, sweating. I can still feel the weight of his eyes staring into mine, my heart jumps like it didn't happen 5 years ago. Michael stirs next to me and I'm afraid I've woken him up again, but he just sighs and starts to quietly snore once again, unaware that his fiance is dreaming of another man. I've been having the same dream for months now, an encounter I had so long ago that I hadn't thought about it until then.

Nathan Henry finished up his Sunflower tour and then disappeared, saying he was going to write another album but no one ever heard from him again. Every once in awhile there's a picture that surfaces of an older Henry but no one can say for sure.

I pull my hair away from my neck to cool off, still sweating from the dream. I knew I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep so I carefully got up and left the bedroom. I hear Juniper meow and jump on the bed, knowing he's happy to cuddle up to Michael now that I'm gone. Juniper the Cat never did like me.

I put a pod in the keurig and start brewing a cup of coffee, it spurts and sputters into the mug that Michael made me for our first anniversary, the date we met on the handle. With my coffee made I was able to settle comfortably on the couch, knees pulled up to my chest. I stared out the window, out into the frozen wonderland that the city becomes after a night of snowfall. Another reason to love Ireland.

I stayed like that, replaying the dream in my head over and over again, until I heard my alarm go off letting me know that it was time to wake up. I heard Michael shut off the alarm and I get up to get ready for my day.

"Pen?"

"Good morning," I lean over the bed and kiss his check, he turns and looks up at me. I see the worry in his eyes as he realizes I once again spent the night on the couch, away from him. Instead of having the same conversations that we've had the last 6 months, I kiss him again like I'm trying to convince him I was okay without having to say anything.