by A. M. Kusi
“Oh, I guess so,” River said, running a hand through his hair.
“You had no idea about this?” Ella asked, searching his face for any tells.
“Nope. Julia called and asked if I wanted a spot in her one o’clock class. I jumped at the chance.”
“You enjoy pottery?” Ella asked, doubting his answer.
“I enjoy trying new things,” River answered honestly. “Look, if you’re too uncomfortable, I can split.”
Ella felt guilty that she had accused him of taking part in what she suspected was her best friend’s attempt at a set-up. She would deal with Maggie later.
“No. It’s fine. Sorry, I was just surprised to see you here. Put this on; you don’t want to get clay all over you,” Ella said, handing him the apron.
“Right.” River took it and tied it on.
She didn’t know how a clay-stained smock could make him look any better, but it did. He sure made for a sexy artist.
River glanced over at Julia who was talking to Annie.
“Ella! Auntie Ella!” Avery’s scream broke through the room as everyone turned their heads to see the little girl with jet-black straight hair and big blue eyes bound over to Ella.
Ella opened her arms and pulled the little girl into a hug. She saw an expression on River’s face that she hadn’t seen before.
“Oh, Aves! I’ve missed you. You are getting so big. Did you grow a foot in the last few days?” Ella asked as she set the little girl back on the ground.
Avery looked at her feet, wiggling the toes in her flip-flops before glancing up at Ella, appearing confused. “No, I still have two feet.”
Everyone who had been listening laughed, including River.
“I love that dress, Avery. It looks so comfy!” Ella said.
“Thank you! I got my best friend, Billy, the same one so we could match!” Avery explained excitedly.
“That is awesome, Aves. I bet he loved it.”
“He did. His mommy said we could wear them together when we have our next playdate. We are going to go to ECHO in two days!” Avery said, waving two fingers in the air.
Ella looked over to River and explained, “ECHO is a lake aquarium in Burlington, the closest city to us.”
River nodded.
“Who are you?” Avery asked directly.
“Avery, this is my friend River,” Ella answered.
“River? That’s your name?” Avery asked with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Yup. Nice to meet you, Avery,” River answered politely as he bent down to shake her hand.
Avery tried to give him a sideways high five instead, which made him laugh.
“Are you Auntie Ella’s partner?”
River looked up to Ella, whose face was blushing.
Ella answered, “No. River is just a friend, honey.”
“Oh. Okay,” Avery said, taking River’s hand and leading him towards one of the empty stations. Ella met his eyes; she wasn’t sure what they were ready to call what they were doing. Friends was slow, so maybe they could be friends who happened to have a fiercely strong sexual attraction to each other. They only had to be friends for another twenty-four hours or so anyways, then he would leave. Everything good ends.
“Mama said you guys get to sit here for class,” Avery said, pointing to the empty seats.
“Oh, are you her helper? Is this your art studio?” River asked, taking his place next to the empty pottery wheel.
“No, I’m going with gramma. We’re exploring for herbs today,” Avery said matter-of-factly.
“Oh.” River shot Ella an unsure look.
Ella sat in the empty seat next to him and explained, “Annie is an herbalist. She forages and grows many useful herbs. She teaches Avery how to use herbs to boost her immune system, fight colds, and heal boo-boos. Right Avery?”
“Yup! I know how to stop a cut from bleeding. It’s a magical power. I make a potion using arrow,” Avery said, proudly puffing out her chest.
“You mean yarrow,” Annie interjecting. “Let’s go, honeysuckle. We have lots to do today, and these ladies and gentlemen want your mama to teach them how to make pottery. How do you want to say goodbye?” Annie asked Avery.
Avery gave Ella a hug and River a high five, before taking Annie’s hand and heading out the front door. River and Ella waved goodbye.
Julia came over to them after greeting the rest of the people in the class and thanked them for coming. Ella shot Julia a ‘we will be talking about this later’ look.
Ella started by explaining the different tools they could use, how the pottery wheel worked, and the basic steps to begin. She placed a lump of clay onto the wheel and asked River what he was going to try to make. He decided to make a mug without a handle. Ella demonstrated how to get going, and River took over. At first he applied too much pressure, so they stopped the wheel and started over. Ella took his hand, feeling the fire their connection made through her fingertips, as she guided him to use the right amount of pressure. Ella looked up to see River’s eyes staring at her intensely, and she blushed.
River looked down at the progress they’d made. He smiled and looked at Ella triumphantly.
Ella felt their connection as they bantered back and forth, focused on the work at hand. It was nice to have the lack of pressure as they worked side by side, though the physical touch stirred and awakened longing within her.
By the end of the class, they were covered in clay and her ab muscles were sore from so much laughing. Their finished product looked more like a bowl than a mug, which only made them laugh more.
Julia set everyone’s handiwork onto the shelf to dry, promising to have them ready for glazing in two weeks, before letting them know where they could clean up. Everyone seemed to want to talk to Julia and ask questions, so Ella and River took the opportunity to wash their hands. He followed her to the smaller room with the large black paint-stained sink.
“You have some on your face,” Ella pointed out.
River held out his finger and pointed, managing to smear more clay, making the smudge bigger. “Here?”
Ella laughed. “You’re making it worse!”
“Oh, well, in that case,” River said, spreading his hands on both sides of Ella’s face. The cold, grey clay left two handprint-sized swipes on either side of her face.
Her mouth gaped open in surprise. “Oh, now you are going to get it!” She picked up her first hand to return the favor, but River caught it firmly in his, leaving clay fingerprints on her wrist. She moved her left hand in another attempt, but he easily grabbed a hold of that one too. Ella looked into his eyes, watching as they turned from playful to something darker. She felt her breath hitch and moved her focus to his mouth. River moved her arms to secure them around his waist, pulling her closer to reach her parted lips. The need to taste him overrode every other thought.
Ella couldn’t believe how turned on she felt from his control over her. She knew if she asked, he would let her go immediately. In this moment, she wanted nothing more than his mouth on hers.
She tilted her head towards him, and he closed the distance. Mouth on mouth, their lips met for the first time and sparks flew. Ella felt his hot breath, his sweet taste, mixing with the coolness of drying clay on her flushed cheeks. His tongue coaxed the corner of her lips, and she opened her mouth, moaning as he slid in. She tasted his tongue, surprised to find it was the same as he smelled: sweet and woodsy. A flood of heat ignited between them as their tongues tangled, and she wasn’t sure she ever wanted the thrilling kiss to end. She felt his hands pulling her closer as the pottery studio melted away until it was just the two of them. His touch felt like a cold spring erupting in a parched and dry desert.
He deepened their kiss and his hold around her. He tasted better than Ella had ever imagined. She felt the electric current starting where their lips met, and her bod
y burned wherever he touched her. She wanted more, so much more. She had never felt this much attraction to anyone in her lifetime, and she doubted she would again. She needed his kiss like her lungs needed oxygen.
Someone cleared their throat behind them. Ella jumped, and River let her go, releasing her clay-stained wrists. She pulled away with his taste still in her mouth.
“I have a storage closet for that sort of thing.” Julia’s familiar voice came from behind them.
Ella looked at Julia with her lips swollen, embarrassed, “Sorry!”
She rushed to wash her hands as quickly as possible, and River followed her example. They thanked Julia for the class and hurried out to the cars, avoiding the knowing glances from the other students.
Once outside, they looked at each other, still out of breath from the excitement of their passionate kiss and the adrenaline from being caught, and burst into laughter.
River put his hands in his pockets, and asked, “Where to now?”
Ella glanced at her phone; it read three o’clock. “Home to shower, change, and then meet for dinner?”
She decided she would enjoy his company while it lasted. Knowing Maggie and Julia didn’t see any red flags helped her feel at ease. Not to mention that world-altering kiss he had just given her.
“Ella Shaw, are you asking me out on a date?” River asked, surprised.
“I am, Mr. Parker. You seem to bring out the forward side of me,” Ella said, opening the door to her Jeep and climbing in.
“Well, I like this side,” River said, giving her a smirk.
She felt heat the heat between her thighs every time he did that. “Meet in the kitchen at five?”
River nodded. “Sounds good.”
Ella shut her door, started the engine, and buckled her seat belt while she watched him get into his own car. She chanced a look back at the studio window, seeing Julia waving and smiling, presumably happy that her plan had worked. Ella wasn’t upset at her friends anymore.
She backed up her car and drove towards the inn, seeing River in her rearview. Excited butterflies were doing flips in her stomach as she thought about the night ahead of her.
She was going on her first official date in seven years.
Chapter 15
After washing the clay off her body, Ella finished getting ready and made her way down the hallway. Passing Mac’s office and bedroom door, she paused. It had been several days since she had thought much about Mac. He was always in the back of her mind, but River’s presence helped her to not feel as sad or lost without Mac. Ella put her hand on the door handle, but hesitated. She wasn’t ready yet. Not tonight.
Ella kept herself busy catching up on paperwork in the kitchen and looking up the blogs and podcasts that River had suggested on online marketing.
Five o’clock came with a knock on the kitchen door, and River’s handsome face peeked through with a signature grin and a wink from his hazel eyes. “Ready, Ms. Shaw?”
Ella took off the black rimmed glasses she was wearing as she answered him playfully, “Ready, Mr. Parker.”
“You know you scrunch your nose when you’re concentrating really hard on something?”
Ella covered her nose with her hand, feeling embarrassed. “What? Really?”
River reached his hand over hers to uncover her blushing face. “Yeah, and I think it’s freaking adorable.” River leaned his head down and planted a chaste kiss on her nose.
Ella wasn’t sure if the nose was an erogenous zone, but she was positive it should be. She looked up at him, stunned.
“You look amazing by the way,” River added.
Ella had gone with a bright yellow floral-print dress with spaghetti straps, showing off her tattoos, and she wore her hair in a high ponytail.
She swallowed hard before speaking. “Thank you. You look good too.” Ella didn’t have to look at him to know that the jeans he wore were hugging his ass perfectly. His short-sleeved black shirt was snug against his muscular arms in all the right places.
“Ready to go? My car is out front,” River said, taking her hand and leading her out the door.
“We can just walk,” Ella said.
“I’m not taking you to the pub. It’s a surprise, so don’t ask.” River turned.
Ella wasn’t sure she liked surprises, but she felt comfortable with River, so she decided to go with it.
He opened the car door for her and helped her get seated before returning to the driver’s side and getting in. They drove down the mountain in a comfortable silence for ten minutes until they pulled up to a building where the sign read, Solstice. Ella had heard of the fancy establishment, even recommended it to a few guests, but she had never eaten there herself. River pulled open her door and took her hand. She wasn’t used to having her door opened, but as cliché as it might sound, she had to admit she liked it.
River wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked in. Ella suddenly remembered watching the older couple staying at her inn, envying what they had. She had got what she wished for. Ella’s stomach turned anxiously. She knew that nothing that seemed this good or perfect usually lasted.
After the waitress had seated them at one of the several dark wood tables, Ella took her time admiring the fine-dining atmosphere. The high ceilings had cherry wooden beams crisscrossing over it. There were giant tiled pillars with lights mounted on either side. A gigantic stone fireplace reached all the way to the ceiling. Some of the walls around the bar were also covered in the same slate-colored stones.
Several other patrons were seated in the giant room. Ella noticed an older couple staring at them as they prepared to order. She smiled at them, offering a polite silent greeting. She was surprised to see the older woman shake her head with a scowl and whisper something to her husband.
“Ella? What do you want to drink?” River asked, motioning towards the waiting server, distracting her from the rude older couple.
“Oh, I’ll have a cranberry and vodka please.”
River nodded his thanks to the server and asked her, “You okay?”
“Yes, I have never been here. It’s gorgeous. A little overwhelming is all,” she said, reaching for her menu.
“One of the managers at the resort recommended it,” River explained.
Their drinks came; River had ordered a beer. Ella decided she would try the Misty Knoll chicken breast, and River ordered the tempura squash blossoms as well as the Heritage pork cutlet. The server left them so that they could continue their conversation.
“This is nice,” Ella said.
River nodded. “What’s on your mind? You seem a little tense?”
Ella took a sip of her cranberry and vodka before answering, “I wasn’t expecting to go to such a fancy place.” She wished she had brought a sweater.
“Is it too much? I only took you here because I figured we could use a night out somewhere new,” River said.
Ella assured him, “It’s great. Just surprised me is all.”
“That’s what I was going for,” River said, smiling.
“I can see you like trying new things.”
“Not usually. I guess being here kind of brought that out of me. You brought that out in me.”
Ella nodded and smiled.
“Does that bother you?” he asked, nodding towards the rude older couple.
Ella glanced at them quickly before averting her eyes. “It bothers me that they think they have a right to say who can and can’t have dinner together. It bothers me that there are people like that who are prejudiced and who are passing their hate onto future generations. Mac was black. My best friend is a lesbian. I am used to the second glances and rude faces. It’s just easy for me to forget sometimes because I hardly go out anymore.”
River nodded. “That’s good to know because being with me will mean we get comments and stares occasionally.”
He lifted her arm and ran his fingers over the script. Changing the subject, he said, “That’s one of my favorite quotes.”
Ella felt the burning trail his fingertip left on her forearm and knew which one he referred to without having to look: You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
Her eyebrow lifted in surprise. “Really?”
“Yeah. Tell me about the others,” River said sipping on his beer and looking intently at Ella. His gaze never left her as she explained that the image of the sparrow on her forearm symbolized joy and protection.
Even the geometric shapes on her other forearm had meaning. Ella explained what the triangles clustered and layered together meant. “The Greeks believed the triangle to be a symbol of a doorway. They thought that combining the polarities would provide a new opening—a doorway to a higher wisdom. Triangles also symbolize creativity, harmony, balance, and the elements. There are so many more meanings, like the trinity of mind, body, and soul, or past, present, and future. It can also mean creation, preservation, and destruction.”
She went on to tell him about the phases of the moon representing the constant changing phases of life. Most of her tattoos were black ink, except for the bright red apple which was for Mac.
She read aloud the quotes that weaved around both arms in the same script as the others. “It’s okay if you’re burning with anger or sadness or both. It is necessary for you to collapse so you can learn how phoenixes are reborn.” She traced one on the other arm. “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
When she was finished, River asked, “What about the one behind your ear?”
Ella touched the black ink mostly hidden behind her ear instinctively, before moving her head to the side to show him the small mark. “It’s a semicolon. It’s for when an author could have ended a sentence, but they chose not to. An analogy for when a person could have chosen to end their life but didn’t.”
Ella turned her head back to face River. She was scared to meet his gaze at first, but when her eyes flickered to his, she didn’t see pity like she had expected. “What are you thinking?” she asked.