Cole pulled away from me and quickly looked up and down my body.
“Definitely not less anymore. You are lovely.”
Does Cole know I kissed Kai? I worried. Should I tell him?
He handed me a towel. “Come on, Mar. We better get you dried off and
dressed before Gram makes me less.”
Laughing, I took the towel and covered my body. “Cole, you could never be
less to me.”
All dried off, I accepted the long T-shirt Cole handed me and slipped it over my
head. The scent of fresh-cut wood rushed at me. How does Gramp's T-shirts still
smell like him? I wondered.
“We should get you off to bed," Cole suggested.
Yawning, I nodded my agreement and followed him up the ladder to my
bedroom.
He went straight to Meg's bed. Seeing my sister's empty space tugged at my
heart, but I pushed back the sadness. She was strong and, thankfully, not alone.
"Don't sleep there. I don't want to be alone." I climbed under the covers of my bed.
I was glad when Cole joined me, and we snuggled under the blankets. It was
strange that I was so tired. Hadn't I been sleeping for almost a week? It didn’t matter. Sleep consumed me.
Before I knew it, I was woken by the sound of Gram calling my name.
With a dreamy look on his face, Cole pulled me into his arms and hugged me
tightly. “I haven’t slept that well since you fainted. I wish we could just stay here
all day.”
“Tempting, but Gram is beckoning. Let's go down to breakfast, and I'll tell you about my…” Words failed me. I could not call it a dream. Not knowing what
to name it, I settled with, “my slumber.”
“Slumber?” Cole sat up with a look of interest on his handsome face. “I can't
wait to hear all about it, except I need to shave, first.” He stroked his chin. “I'm
beginning to look like a Drygen.”
“Don't be long," I called as I began my descent to my grandmother.
Gram greeted me with a big hug. I held her tightly and inhaled her vanilla lavender scent. I knew I was where I was supposed to be…home. As she
released her hold, I tightened mine.
“Enough of the mushy stuff, Mara." Gram finally broke away. A glint of a tear had formed in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “While Elliott is out tending to the garden, tell me about your experience.”
While Gram started cooking, I sat on a stool next to the kitchen island,
telling her an abbreviated version of the events.
“Is there anything that happened that you might want to tell me that you
won't be sharing with Cole and Elliott?” Gram asked with a devious smile. “You
can tell me anything, and I'll keep it just between us." My grandmother looked
more like a schoolgirl excited about some juicy gossip than the stoic person I have always known.
“There isn't anything to tell,” I lied.
“You want me to believe you were in the home of the elements and there isn't
