Free See How She Runs by Michelle Graves Page A

Kennan was chopping wood, and by
the grace of God himself he was shirtless. I had seen him without a
shirt before. But this was different.
    This was the real Kennan, not the mockery I
had been seeing for the past two years. I gawked at the intricate
tattoos that started on his back and looped in and out across his
broad shoulders and down his arms. The knots seemed to have no
beginning and no end. They spoke of old magic and times long
forgotten. His muscles rippled and glistened as he swung the axe to
split another log.
    He stacked the split logs on the growing
pile behind him. He turned toward where I was standing and winked
before he went back to chopping. Shocked that he knew I was there
and more than a little mortified at being caught gawking, I blushed
crimson. Yep, certainly glad he was not dear, old Uncle Kennan,
because that would be super skeevy.
    Determined to calm my hormones and distract
my mind from everything happening, I moved into the kitchen to fix
some sandwiches. One for me, and three for Kennan. A growing man
needed to eat. After I piled everything up on two plates, I stuck
my head out the door and hollered that lunch was done. Kennan
picked up his shirts and wiped his face before heading into the
cabin. Between the drizzle and the sweat he was drenched.
    He walked past me toward his bag and pulled
out a plain tee shirt. I was suddenly struck with the desire to be
that shirt clung to him as tightly. Maybe I needed a cold shower.
This was getting out of control. Two years of nothing and then
whammy, hormone overload.
    Trying to distract myself, I headed back to
the kitchen and filled two cups full of water. I sat down and
stared directly at my sandwich. Not willing to make eye contact for
fear of blushing again, I dug into my sandwich.
    Kennan lowered himself into his chair with
more grace than should have been afforded the mountain that he was.
He snickered at me.
    “You alright there, Red? You look a little
flustered. Thanks for the grub by the way. I am famished.”
    “Nope, not flustered, totally fine. Just
feeling a bit weird about the whole Mom letter."
    Even to my own ears I sounded tightly wound
and ridiculous. Luckily for me, Kennan did not press the issue.
    “So, what did it say? Anything that might
help us figure out what to do next?" he asked around a mouthful of
sandwich.
    Must not look at his lips.
    “Hm? Oh, well, she said she could not see
through the fog or something like that. Most of the letter was
about you actually. Were ya’ll really close when I was younger? I
mean, I have these vague memories of someone that must have been
you being around. But nothing that is clear. It gets kind of fuzzy
where you are concerned." I looked into his eyes, realizing the
truth of it. My memories had been hacked again.
    “We thought that it would be best if you did
not really remember me. It would make it hard for you when you got
older to treat me like a peer or a friend. If we had known back
when you were born that I would be your Guardian, I would never
have stayed as long as I did. We are meant to be the same age as
the one we protect. So when I left, I took the memories of a girl
that radiated sunshine and you were left with vague memories of a
family friend." He went back to eating without saying anything
more.
    For a while we sat in silence. Both lost in
our own memories. But a question that kept tugging at my mind would
go unanswered no longer.
    “Wasn’t it weird for you though, I mean to
see me again and have to act like you didn’t know me? Don’t you see
me like the five year old you left, the daughter of your best
friend? I just don’t know how we are meant to be on equal footing
when you have borne witness to my entire life. You still have all
of the memories that were taken from me." I looked at him, hoping
my question was not a foolish one. With everything else happening,
it somehow seemed petty to even spend time thinking about it.
    “I was afraid it would be. After Grams