Deep Waters

Chapter Nineteen

The next morning, I made my way down to the kitchen for breakfast after showering and throwing on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Nemo was happily trotting beside me, having slept on my bed and stayed sitting outside the bathroom door while I was in there. Aria was already in the kitchen when I arrived, wide awake and full of energy, surrounded by a cloud of flour. I stopped in the doorway and raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you doing?" I asked, stepping forward and picking a piece of dough out of her hair.

"Cooking, obviously," she replied pushing loose strands of her strawberry-blonde hair behind her ear with her flour-dusted hands. A high pitched "ding" filled the air, making an excited grin stretch her cheeks. "They're done!" I watched her rush to the oven and pull out a pan of blackened, unidentifiable blobs. "I wanted to cook breakfast for everyone as a way of saying 'thank you' to Sam and Hazel for taking us in, in our time of need." I was barely paying attention to a word she was saying because all of my attention was on the result of her cooking.

At that moment, perfectly timed may I say, Hazel walked in from behind me. She stopped beside us, checking out the so-called food on the pan. She pressed her lips together, looking unsure of what she was seeing. "What are those?"

"Biscuits," Aria said, smiling and looking proud of herself.

Hazel hummed. "I think I'll just stick with a bowl of cereal," she said, now heading toward a kitchen cabinet.

Aria's smile dimmed and a frown replaced it. "You just need some practice," I assured my best friend.

She exhaled then took a deep breath, suddenly standing straighter. "I vow in this moment to become a great cook," she announced, tossing the biscuits off the pan, scattering them across the floor.

"Yeah, I'm not picking that up," I told her.

Nemo rushed from beside me and started devouring the blackened blobs on the floor, clearly not minding the charred attempt of a food. "Guess that's his breakfast," Hazel said chuckling. "Where'd ya sleep last night, Nemo?" she asked him, petting his head as he finished up.

"He slept in my room," I told her. "I hope you don't mind."

She shook her head. "It's not a problem at all," Hazel assured me. "If he decides to make it a habit, you can take his bed in there, so he doesn't have to sleep on the bare floor." I just nodded, not daring to mention that Nemo had been pretty comfortable on the bed.

#

Hand in hand, Kason and I walked down the field of grass, where we saw Sam, Holden, and Gavin launching arrows with bows at a target painted on hay bales. We had been roaming the property for the last hour to familiarize ourselves. We had checked out the barn, the cattle field, the horses and every other interesting spot that we could find. It was a pretty big place and there seemed to be a lot that we could do to keep ourselves entertained so that was good.

As we walked toward our friends, Kason was going on and on about how the barn smelled like manure and how he didn't know how he was supposed to get used to that if he planned on working out in there, but I was hardly listening. What had caught my attention was the fact that Sam was staring directly at us, the whole time we were walking toward them. Had he never learned that staring at people for a prolonged period of time is rude? He looked curious for some reason and as if he was trying to figure something out.

Nemo, who had been happily following us everywhere, jumped at the sight of our friends and ran toward them, instantly rubbing up against their legs wanting attention. "Hey guys, what are y'all up to?" Sam finally asked as we approached them.

"We were thinking about heading into town and checking it out," Kason said. "Could you help us out?"

He nodded. "Well sure. You can take my truck. The keys are already in it. Just turn right out of the driveway and you'll just be headin' 'bout four miles down the road."

"Great. Thanks."

"Yo, Kason, this is fun; you should definitely try it," Holden said, aiming his arrow at the target before shooting it. The arrow hit the top right of the target.

"Yeah, I will later."

I didn't even bother saying hello to my brother. He seemed pretty focused on what he was doing. He spent a good thirty seconds aiming the arrow with his tongue out, and then seemed dramatically disappointed in himself when he missed the hay bale all together. Though I had to keep myself from laughing at the sight, I figured he needed a moment to gather himself and not deal with his younger sister making fun of him.

"Just don't stay out too long," Sam told us. "Hazel will be cookin' lunch in a few hours. Oh! And look out for Crazy Connie...and don't eat any mints she gives ya."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Who's Crazy Connie?"

He chuckled. "Oh, you'll know. Trust me...you'll know."

I awkwardly nodded, not knowing if I even wanted to know and slightly fearful that we'd end up running into her. 

***

I know, short chapter, but I think I'll be posting another one tomorrow:)

Thanks for reading??

Who's Crazy Connie? She sounds like a real hoot.

:)))

~Emily