Page 58 of Artfully Wild
He waves me off and shrugs. “Only the best for George’s daughter. We’ve been trying to get him to sell us his store for years, and he never went for it. And now that we have a real chance, I am not going to stop schmoozing you all weekend until the papers are signed.”
The number of times I eavesdropped on my parents discussing Mr. Camp’s continuous offers to buy out the store are too many to count. While they had a good companionship over the years, Dad never even considered selling. I think Mom did at one point when it didn’t seem like the store was ever going to make money, but Dad really believed in it. And now the huge well of guilt becomes a little bit deeper. The prospect of selling always seemed to lift a huge weight off my shoulders, but the weight was only replaced by guilt, whichtended to be even heavier to carry, even if Dad gave me his blessing.
I have no idea how this weekend is going to end.
I tried to convince Mr. Camp to switch me to a smaller room, but he was having none of it. And he was actually serious about Jacob staying in a regular room too, which happened to be a full three floors down from mine. Camp has always seen my siblings and me as his own family since he never had any, but the overprotectiveness is going a little too far. Jacob slinked into his room as soon as we got there, more to appease the man more than anything. Jacob thought he never really liked him much when he was a kid, but I think it’s because he was the big trouble maker around here when we visited, always playing pranks that Mr. Camp ended up being the victim of.
My phone rings as I get the last of my clothes put away in the empty drawers of the oversized dresser in my suite. I answer the FaceTime and am met with a beaming Sophie who is surrounded in bed by dogs on either side of her. “Hey Soph. You comfortable over there?”
She places a kiss to a dog’s snout and snuggles further into the covers. “Mmmm,” she sighs. “Yes, Jacob has the best sheets in the guest bedroom and the dogs fit perfectly.”
“Yeah, don’t get used to it,” comes out of my mouth before I can stop it.
“Oooo, territorial already, are we?”
“Apparently. Sorry.”
“Ugh, don’t be. I like seeing you like this. Seeing you all in love and gross and idiotic. It suits you,” she smiles.
I roll my eyes at her, but I don’t deny it. Which she must catch, because she abruptly sits up, startling the animals around her. The dogs lift their heads and get up to readjust themselves, while the cats that must have been at the bottom of the bed move to the top, settling in the dogs’ warmth.
“Wait,areyou in love?” She shrieks. I shush her even though there’s no way anyone could possibly hear this conversation. This suite is so fancy, it’s more than likely sound proof.
“I don’t…maybe? I think? What does it feel like when you’re in love?” I blurt out.
“Honey, look who you’re asking,” she responds in a deadpan tone.
“Right, sorry.”
“I may not have ever been in love, Skylar Waters, but I am damn sure I know what love looks like on you.”
“And?” I press curious to know her observations.
“Remember when you dated Katie?”
“Yeeess,” I draw out, unsure where she’s going with this.
“You thought you were completely head over heels in love with that girl, right?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Yet, you never told her you loved her. You never brought her home to meet your family or anyone and you never really talked about her other than you were sure she was the best relationship you ever had.”
“Is there a point to you going through my delusion or?”
“Do you feel the same way about Jacob that you felt about her?”
“No,” I answer without hesitation. “This feels completely different. This feels…safe, but also adventurous. He makes me feel like what I want matters and what I want to do is the most important thing in the world. I get butterflies no matter how many times I’m with him and I’m actually convinced he’s somehow changed the chemistry in my brain to become absolutely absorbed in him whenever he’s in a room. Even when he’s not in a room or even near me, he consumes me. He ignited a fire in me that I thought was doused forever.”
“Skylar Isabelle Waters, if you do not tell this man you love him this weekend, I am going to come down there myself and tell him.”
I burst out in laughter at the serious look on her face and I almost believe that she would do it. I can only imagine how that would go over. Our best friend bursting into the lodge frantically looking for us only to find out we are on the slopes and then deciding to follow us there, racing down the hill to tackle me to the ground. The ridiculous scene plays through my head making me laugh harder until Sophie joins in and we are both rolling on our beds, holding our sides, trying to breathe in between fits of laughter.
Sophie wipes at her eyes and takes a deep breath, letting out a soft sigh. “In all seriousness, Sky. You two have a once in a lifetime love story. You have both waited years for this and you’d be idiots not to let it go somewhere. Let it go exactly where it needs to and follow it. I’m begging you. Not everyone gets to have that love story. Embrace yours. Don’t run away from it.”
Don’t be afraid to be carried with the wind, Sky.Sarah’s words float around my head, slowly rising to the clouds, like a hot air balloon on a summer night. We watch it from the ground, taking what feels like forever to get started, then, suddenly, it lifts up and slowly rises into the sky. It floats toward the clouds and away from the people and the town beneath it until it reaches some semblance of peace. Happy to have finally made it where it belongs among the clouds, carried by the wind.
A wind I am no longer afraid to be carried by.
