Red Sun (23 page)

             
I eased up and let a smile break free. 

             
“K, let’s smile this time,” he suggested for the second photo. 

             
I shook my head no and was prepared to have this one look just like the last.  “These booths always make people look ridiculous.” 

             
“It’s supposed to be fun.  Who cares if we look stupid?  We’ll look stupid together.”  Elan nudged me a little and sighed when he realized I wasn’t gonna budge. Eventually he pressed the button for a second time.  I straightened the straps of my tank top and cleared my throat, staring at the camera expressionless.  At the last second before the camera flashed, I felt his finger in the crease behind my knee, causing me to laugh out loud again – leaning right into the lens while doing so.  I quickly sat back up, but it was too late.  Elan was out of breath from laughing and didn’t even seem to feel it when I hit him in his arm.

             
“Why’d you do that?”  Maybe he would’ve believed I was really mad if I hadn’t been smiling so hard.

             
“Cause if I didn’t the picture would’ve been boring,” was the excuse he gave.  “Loosen up a little.”

             
I hit him again and then turned back to look straight ahead.  “You make me sick,” I hissed, not even convincing myself with the feigned animosity. 

             
He pressed the button again and we waited for the click.  “I’ve got a joke.”

             
I rolled my eyes.  “What is it?”  I asked dryly, knowing that he was trying to get another laugh out of me for the sake of the picture.

             
“What do you call a dear with no eye?”

             
I sighed, feeling the corniness coming on.  “I don’t know, Elan.  What?”

             
I could hear in his voice that he was smiling when he answered.  “I have no eye-dear.  Get it?”

             
It was such a perfectly unfunny joke that I couldn’t help but to laugh.  It was one of those laughs that start in your nose as kind of a reverse snort – not cute.  At the worst time, the camera flashed and I knew that it was another one of me looking crazy.  I hit him again and pushed his back into the wall of the booth, not hurting him despite my best efforts. 

             
“Quit!”  I was half smiling, half snarling.

             
“Okay, okay, I quit,” he promised. 

             
He cleared his throat and pressed the button again.  I was watching him from the corner of my eye and waiting for him to say or do something else to make me completely embarrass myself again.  It seemed like he was going to behave himself…..but then he opened his mouth again.

             
“Okay, last one.”

             
I shook my head and sighed.

             
“What’s the quickest way to a girl’s heart?”

             
This one sounded just as stupid as the last one, so I braced myself.  “Surprise me,” I replied.  And he did just that.  He gripped my chin in one hand and turned my face to his and gave me the wettest, sexiest kiss I’ve ever had in my life – even better than in the movies.  Through my closed eyelids, I could see the bright flash of the camera, but I didn’t stop kissing him.  He had to pull away because I never would’ve.

             
“Through her mouth,” he stated.

             
“What?”

             
“The answer to the riddle – through her mouth.”

             
Again, I rolled my eyes, trying to regain the feeling in my legs after that kiss.  I reached for the strip of pictures and smiled – especially at the last one.  We looked good together – at least we did to me.  Elan looked at them over my shoulder and snatched it from in between my fingers. 

             
“These are mine in case you decide to disappear on me for three days again. At least I can
look
at you,” he said.  I’m not the type of girl to let a guy know just how much I’m feeling him so I kept this to myself, but I didn’t plan to let that much time pass in between seeing him again.  I found myself becoming more and more attached.

             
He glanced down at his watch and sighed.  “You gotta be somewhere?”  I asked.

             
“Not tonight.  We have to be on a job by five in the morning though.  And in case you haven’t guessed, I’m not exactly a morning person.”

             
He could see in my eyes that I was disappointed, realizing that our night was coming to an end. 

             
“I’m still coming to pick you up tomorrow though, remember?”

             
I nodded.  “I know.”

             
“And maybe we can hang out Friday after that thing you have going on with Ruthann too.”

             
I nodded again and stood from his lap, holding his arm while we walked to the car.  It was a slow, reflective walk.  I was going over the night in my head and how quickly things were changing between us.  Surprisingly, I don’t think I thought about Jolon even once while we were together this time.  That was a first; usually when I was with one, the other crossed my mind frequently.

             
“Have fun?”  He asked.

             
“Lots,” I replied.  “That was just what I needed.”

             
Elan smiled and nodded. 

             
I held his arm even tighter and watched as we closed the distance between us and the truck.  It was all coming to an end too quickly for me.  We stopped walking and Elan opened the passenger side door for me, with a look on his face that matched the disappointment that I felt.  He paced around the back of the truck to his side and climbed in, moping a little in his posture.  I held onto his hand all the way back to the bridge that separated my house from the reservation.  Elan shut off the lights but left the engine running when I got out and grabbed my purse.  It was my idea for him to let me walk from here so I could tell my father that I’d been with Kaya all this time to keep his level of suspicion low.  Elan agreed to comply only if he could watch me to make sure I got home safe.  I thought of him the whole time I walked.  I wasn’t worried about my dad seeing through my lie.  I wasn’t worried about Jolon.  I only thought of Elan. 

             
When I made it inside, I half waved at my father and gave him the excuse I’d prepared and then went to bed.  It felt like I lay there half the night and relived our date.  I was beginning to think that this mission he called himself being on was unnecessary if his goal was to help me see him.  Truthfully, I was having a hard time seeing past him to see anything else.   One night was enough. 

             
The perfectly relaxed night contrasted the hectic morning that followed.  Joanna and her family were waiting in the shop when I got there and I could barely set my purse down when her aunt started asking me questions.  “Which is more practical?  Silk or fresh flowers?  I keep telling Joanna that getting fresh ones is a mistake, but she won’t listen.”

             
Politely, I smiled and responded.  “I’m not sure as far as practicality is concerned, but in my opinion if the bride wants fresh flowers, then that’s what she should get.”

             
As nice as I was, the woman still didn’t like my answer.  “What do you know?”  She mumbled under her breath as she walked away.

             
“Ooookayyyyy,” I breathed and looked over at Ruthann.  She was busy taking a count for something, so busy that I wasn’t even sure that she’d noticed I was in.             

             
“Morning,” I said cheerfully.

             
She looked up quickly and waved, dropping her gaze back down to the paper before her.  Quickly she did a double take and looked me in my eye with a faint smile on her face.  “Somebody’s happy this morning.  I take it your date went well.”

             
The women were bickering amongst themselves which gave me and Ruthann a chance to talk.  “Very well actually.  We went to a fair out in…….I guess I don’t know where it was, but it was nice.”

             
She nodded.  “Well, you’re practically glowing.  If I didn’t know better, I’d say there was love on the horizon.”

             
“I wouldn’t go that far, but I like him a lot.  A
whole
lot.  He was……perfect last night.  Chivalrous.  Funny.  He looked good.  Smelled good.”  I stopped and shook my head.  “Perfect.”

             
“Look at you gushing over him.  I’m no expert but that looks like love to me.”

             
I shook my head in protest again.  “No way.  I don’t fall that easy.  Never have.  He’s just getting to me a little.  It’ll wear off in a few days.” 

             
She stared, not believing a word I said.  “Solei…….your homework is to define the word denial.”

             
This time I laughed.  “Ruthann, I can’t afford to fall in love.  I’m leaving in a few months, remember?  I’m not dumb enough to fall in love with someone I have to leave behind soon.”  The brutal reality in my statement – the part about leaving in a few months – caused the smile to fade.  It hit me like a ton of bricks, like I’d forgotten that little bit of information until now.  Of course I was seriously trying to come up with a way to stay here on my own, but the truth of the matter is, I don’t know how I’d make it on what I was getting paid at the shop.  So, I had no choice but to face the fact that I may be going back to live under Alicia’s roof one day soon.  The thought made me shiver.

             
Ruthann saw the reaction and dismissed it.  “You can’t stop yourself from falling in love.  Trust me.  I know.”

             
I zoned out and focused in on a tree off in the distance, watched how it swayed a little when the warm breeze disturbed it.  I looked down when I tried to shake off the notion that there may be some truth to Ruthann’s words.  Was I dumb enough to let myself fall for him – I mean
really
fall for him?  How idiotic.  If this is true, this could possibly be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in my life.  So, what was I going to do when I had to leave and go home in December?  Elan and I live three hours apart so it’s not like we can spend time together like we do now.  It would be torture wondering about him and missing him while he carried on with life here without me.  The more I thought about it, the more disappointed I became in myself for getting caught up.

             
“Don’t beat yourself up over it.  It happens to the best of us,” Ruthann assured me, but I found no comfort in her words.  “But we’ll finish talking about this when we get back.”

             
“When we get back?”  I asked.  “Where’re we going?”

             
“To the church with Joanna and her family.  I’ve been before, but I need to refresh my memories on some of the measurements and the pew count.  It’ll give you a chance to see how everything’s laid out.”

             
“But what about the shop?  What if customers come by?”  I asked.

             
She shrugged.  “It’ll only be for an hour or so; if it’s important they’ll come back.”  She reached for her keys and started toward the door without another word.  I followed behind her and waited while she locked up. 

             
Moments later we were at the old church I’d driven past many times before.  Inside, I associated the smell with the library back home – it was that of dusty books and an abundance of wood, cedar maybe.  I looked up at the ceiling rafters, at the beautiful stained glass windows, and at the freshly polished cherry wood pews, lined with red cushions that matched the red strip of carpet that covered the wood floor of the middle aisle only.  The outside did it no justice.  It was gorgeous.

             
“Hideous isn’t it,” Joanna whispered resentfully into my ear.

             
“Are you kidding?  It’s all so pretty!  What don’t you like?”

             
She looked around as if she was trying to decide where to start.”  It’s just so…..so……so old fashioned.  There’s nothing here that reflects my personality.  This place is everything I’m not.  It’s traditional, it’s plain, it’s…….just so blah.

             
I reevaluated my surroundings to see if I’d missed something.  This place was none of those things to me.  All I saw was beauty.  I shrugged.  “It’s just simple,” I replied.  “Yes, it’s traditional, but I’d hesitate to call it plain.  But blah?  No, not blah at all.  I’m sure Ruthann has some great ideas to make it suit you and your fiancé better.”

             
Something I said caused her to roll her eyes.

             
“What?”

             
She shook her head as if she’d reconsidered sharing her thoughts.