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leaned against the old pillar. Maven studied the cracked paint trying to come up with something to say.
     
    “ How come you didn’t go to the same school as Sandra?” He wasn’t but a year older then her. If they were related it only made sense.
     
    “ I lived in Tennessee with my parents.” Henri pushed off the pillar, taking a seat next to her. “I’ve only been here a couple years.”
     
    Maven did the math in her head. Henri knew what was coming next. “Then where did you go to school?”
     
    “ Homeschooled my senior year.” He scratched at his forearm. “I finished halfway through my senior year.”
     
    Maven nodded impressed. “What was the reason you chose homeschooling?”
     
    Henri could feel his heart beating out of his chest. There was no getting out of this one. He started to panic. He had to do something fast. He leaned in, gently kissing her on the cheek.
     
    When he pulled away he was surprised to see the huge smile pinned to her face. Maven’s eyes softened, she touched his face in response, her fingers playing with his hair. Henri closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of her hands against his skin. His heartbeat slowed down and returned to a regular speed.
     
    He touched her hair, pushing it behind her ear like she did when she was nervous. He warily touched her lips enjoying the feel of them against his fingertips. The corners of her mouth igniting in a smile.
     
    He loved how blue her eyes were. And the way all her emotions exuded from them all the time. “I think you’re beautiful.”
     
    “ You do?”
     
    Henri nodded, giving her a smile.
     
    The door to the museum opened thudding against the bench. Henri pulled away, ending the moment. The older woman gave them both a nod as she hurried down the museum steps.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Mysterious
     
     
     
    Henri launched a rock across the water of the creek near his aunt and uncle’s home. He watched the stone skip three times before it disappeared. Tiny ripples ringing outward, a few lazy dragonflies skidding to the surface and then away.
     
    “ Nice one,” Flynn, his older cousin said, chucking a rock of his own at the water.
     
    “ Yeah some things never change,” Henri said with a shrug. He took a seat in the grass drawing his knees up and resting his arms. He stared at the water.
     
    Flynn sat down. “Dinner soon.” He made a point to keep Henri in the moment when he seemed to be drifting off. When Henri forgot about eating he was always there to point him to the nearest kitchen, Flynn was just three years older than he was but he made it a point to hound him.
     
    “ Yeah yeah I hear you. The last appointment I had she said I was keeping up.” He lied. It was the appointment before that she had told him he gained five pounds.
     
    Flynn ignored his tone. Choosing to change the subject rather then get into another argument that just ended with him angry and Henri finding another reason to stay far away from home.
     
    “ Ma says you been hanging around some girl with blonde hair. One of them Wilder girls she said.” Flynn looked over at Henri. “Does she know about you?”
     
    Henri plucked a large strand of grass from the ground. He twisted it between his fingers.
     
    “ Does she know what? There are so many things to tell.” He smirked. “My mother always said I was an extraordinary boy.”
     
    Flynn shook his head at Henri’s goofy approach. He was the only person he knew that could make light of such a situation as his. “You know what I mean. Does she know that you’re not well?”
     
    “ I figure she expects it. Or maybe she doesn’t and that’s why she still is hanging around.” Henri broke the blade of grass letting the two pieces sail to the ground.
     
    “ She could be hanging around because she likes you. And if that’s the case you need to let her in on your little secret.” Flynn sighed.
     
    “ What do I say?”
     
    “ I don’t know the answer to that. Whatever you want