Let’s write a story – Chapter One

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CHAPTER ONE

 

Warm breath drifted over Sierra’s shoulder followed by the tickling sensation of lips on her neck. She started and pushed the furry face away.

“Reg, buddy, not now.” Sierra lightly tapped her alpaca friend on the nose pushing him with her shoulder and continued unpacking fiber skeins from the clear plastic box. She placed a dark brown skein in a box on her cloth covered table next to another box holding black and white skeins. A third box held her remaining stock of varying grey and brown shades.

Reg nudged her neck again bringing a girlish giggle out of her. She pulled her shoulder up in a half shrug. “Reginald. Stop that.”

A soft hum answered her. She looked up at the animal next to her.

“You know you could have stayed home if I could trust you not to get out of your pen, you rascal.” The black and white alpaca straightened his neck giving her a regal stare before strutting to the back corner of their booth. He wasn’t going to dignify her name calling with a response.

She shook her head and grabbed another skein, briefly wondering what method she should try next to keep the animal contained in his pen at the farm.

Reg had become an exceptional escape artist over the past few months. Every time she tried a new method of securing his pen, he’d magically appear in unlikely places all over the farm. In an attempt to keep him under control and keep an eye on him, she brought him with her to today’s craft fair.

And maybe his presence would be good marketing for her fiber.

“Aunt See?” A child’s voice broke into her thoughts. She smiled easily at Noah, her nephew standing next to her.

“Hey, buddy.” She reached out, tousling his silky light brown hair. He frowned, rubbing the locks she’d touched until they stood up.

“Reg’s got that look again.” The six year old pointed a stubby finger to the animal chewing hay and ignoring them.

Sierra could see the wheels in the animals head turning, bit her lip and shook her head. “Yeah, I know. That’s why we need to keep a good eye on him.”

The boy nodded wisely and puffed out his little chest. “I can watch him good.”

Sierra’s heart melted a little. “I know you can. You’re my big helper.”

Noah sat in his little folding chair bouncing his feet on the ground. “Did Reg get out again today?”

She grimaced. “Yep, gonna need to try something else I guess.” Although she had no idea what to try next.

“He can stay in my room.” The boy offered a cheeky grin reminding Sierra of the boy’s mom, her globetrotting sister Sylvia. Since Reg’s magical feats of escape started, Noah had been campaigning to let the animal into the house.

“Alpaca’s don’t belong in the house.” She reminded him.

Noah studied Reg and then looked back at her. “They’re not pets.” Said like a little adult but Sierra knew the campaign for changing Reg’s address would not be abandoned.

She pulled the top off another box. “How ‘bout you help me finish unpacking here and maybe we can check out the food tables.”

Noah eagerly hopped over, grabbing fistfuls of socks and dropping them on the table.

Sierra followed behind, straightening them out. Her phone buzzed in her shirt pocket with a voice mail reminder. She ignored both the sound and the hitch of stress that came with it. One thing at a time.

“Can we take something home for Bibi?” Noah asked.

“Sure bud.” Not that Bibi, the only name Sierra’s mom would let the boy call her, would appreciate his efforts. Her chest tightened at another issue she was ignoring. She’d tried to get her mom to come with them this morning, but as usual Bibi refused to do anything that would benefit the farm.

Many of the booths at this craft fair were separated by white cloth. Knowing she was probably going to bring Reginald, Sierra had opted for an open booth. A white cloth between would only heighten his curiosity.

“Hi Mrs. Meadows.” Noah’s greeting made Sierra look over at the neighboring booth and her anxiety immediately eased. The middle aged blond dynamo Noah waved at waddled over to her table, plopping the box she carried onto the ground.

“Good morning Noah.” The woman waved, her brown eyes twinkled, almost disappearing into her plump cheeks. “Sierra, my girl, how are you doing today?”

Before Sierra could respond, Mrs. Meadows craned her neck, spotting Reg. “He escaped again?”

Sierra glanced back at Reg who lifted his chin, still chewing. “I wish I could figure out how he’s getting out.”

“I should send my nephew over to your place. Maybe he can help you secure Reg’s pen.”

Sierra stepped from behind the table and helped Mrs. Meadows drape her table with a black cloth. “Is your nephew a professional locksmith or something?”

Mrs. Meadows chuckled. “Not at all, but he’s a very creative sort.” On the table closest to Sierra’s booth, the woman placed her wares of various fruit preserves and nut butters. On the other end, she placed circular mirrors as if she was creating two different spaces.

“Trying a new set-up?” Sierra asked.

Mrs. Meadows smiled. “No. I’m selling some of my nephew’s creations on this side.” She pulled a padded package from her box and opened it on the table. Bits of colored glass winked as daylight hit them. Before she could help herself, Sierra reached and pulled a piece of purple glass from the bubble wrap. She held the ornament up to the sky. Not just an ornament but a beautiful glass teardrop. The purple swirled in shaded patterns around a hole in the center.

“This is beautiful.” She breathed as the light bounced around.

“Thank you.” The warm, slightly rough voice near her ear startled the ornament from her fingers and she gasped. It dropped into a set of male hands. “Careful.”

“Oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry.” Sierra turned her attention to the man standing beside her. He lifted the ornament, studied it and gently set it on one of the mirrors. Morning light filtered through and bounced purple lights at the white fabric ceiling of Mrs. Meadows booth.

“Sierra, this is my nephew Zach.”

Zach straightened and faced Sierra, his brown eyes doing a quick study of her face. “Sierra? Animal yarn, right? Llama or something?”

Sierra stiffened hoping Reg hadn’t heard the “L” word. “Alpaca fiber, actually.”

Zach smiled easily and stepped behind the table, assisting his aunt with the glass products.

Shaking off her discomfort, she pointed at the display. “Did you make these ornaments?”

He shrugged, turning a glass piece in his hands and frowning as if he found a flaw. His aunt threw him a displeased look which changed to a sweet smile for Sierra. “Yes, he did make all these himself. Zach’s too modest but he is an extremely talented glass maker.”

“Glass blower.” Zach corrected as he turned his focus to Sierra. She had the distinct feeling he was mocking her.

“Aunt See, I’m hungry.” Noah tugged her hand.

She gladly turned away from this man who looked friendly enough but was oddly unsettling. “Sure buddy, let’s see what we can find to eat. Mrs. Meadows, would you…”

She waved them away. “Go ahead Sierra, I’ll keep an eye on Reg and the booth for you.”

Sierra triple checked Reg’s halter and lead, leaning in to whisper in the animal’s ear. “You behave for Mrs. Meadows and I’ll bring you back a treat.” Reg’s left ear twitched and Sierra smiled. “An apple maybe?” He turned toward her, his brown eyes studying her. “But you have to be here, right in this spot when we get back.”

Reg tilted his head with a slow blink. She stroked his soft neck.

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Zach covertly watched the Alpaca woman and her nephew leave their stall and stroll away. For the first time since he watched her expression admiring his glasswork, he could breathe. Standing next to her had shaken him up. She smelled fresh and clean, a welcome difference to his aroma of burnt newspaper and charred wood.

So that was Sierra. His aunt had undersold the pretty woman. Not that Zach was looking for a relationship. Quite the opposite. No way he was putting himself in the clutches of any woman, cute or not. But like a beautiful piece of colorful glass, he could appreciate her attractiveness.

“Reginald, you stop that.” His aunt strode to the alpaca leaning his fuzzy head into their stall. She tugged his leash from his mouth and created a knot near his long neck. Then she patted him.

“You are a stinker.” Her affectionate tone contradicted her words.

Zach eyed the animal warily. He looked like more than a stinker. He had a look of pure trouble on his face. Black spots covered his eyes within white fur making him resemble a raccoon. And everyone knew what menaces raccoons were.

Reginald lifted his head regally and sniffed. Yeah, he was definitely trouble. Zach was staying away from him.

“Where do you want these?” He drew his aunt’s attention away from her friend, inclining his head to the box of ornaments he held.

“Put them over at that end on top of those boxes.”

He gently set the box where she pointed.

“How much are we asking for these again?” She asked.

Zach leaned against the table. “Whatever you want Aunt Jenny. You know I don’t care about these trinkets.”

She huffed. “Yes. These ‘trinkets’ as you call them are not grand enough for a master such as yourself.”

He grinned, determined not to take the bait. “You got it.”

She took his hand in hers. “Have I told you how much I appreciate you making these gorgeous ornaments for me to sell here?”

Zach tucked his head. He’d do anything for his aunt. She was the one woman in his life who really cared about him and his craft. He’d pay off her mortgage if she’d let him but he hadn’t been able to convince her to take his money. Yet.

“Well, they were just sitting around the studio doing nothing. I needed the practice.”

He’d put a full three days into his ‘practice’ to make sure she had enough of these ornaments to sell for the season. Plus, he’d hoped it would give him a breakthrough for the project he really needed to be working on.

“Anything to help my favorite nephew get ready for the competition.” She turned her attention to her side of the booth, arranging her signature preserves in little pyramids and fanning business cards in front of them.

“Don’t tell Adam I’m your favorite.” He wanted to use the dig on his older brother himself. Adam was too busy being king of his financial empire to care about Aunt Jenny but for some reason Zach’s reminders of his favorited status with her seemed to needle his normally composed brother.

“I would never tell him that but your brother could stand to be knocked down a peg or two.”

Zach folded his arms. “You gonna be the one to do it Aunt Jenny?”

She leveled him with an ‘are you kidding me?’ look and went back to arranging the booth. He watched silently letting the array of colors from his ornaments whirl inside his mind, hoping for a spark of inspiration. The competition he was preparing for, which included the winner apprenticing for a year in Murano, Italy, was in two months and he’d yet to come up with a remarkable idea.

Zach glanced at his bare wrist. He’d taken his watch off to work this morning and forgotten to put it back on. “What time is it?”

Aunt Jenny looked at her cell phone propped up in the opening of her purse. “Eight forty-five, almost opening time.” She frowned. “You forgot your watch again. When are you going to get a phone like normal people?”

Normal people. What a unique concept. “The only person I want to talk to is you and you’re right here. The studio phone is enough for me.” Not to mention less distracting. It kept his father and brother, both texting fanatics, from lecturing him on a daily basis about his life choices.

He stepped over and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. “I need to get back to the studio. I’ll be back this afternoon to help you pack up.”

“I love you, my boy.” She squeezed his arm.

He grinned. “I know. I’m that kind of guy.”

She laughed and swatted him lightly. “Modest too.”

He turned away from her.

Crash

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