Free As Love Blooms by Lorna Seilstad Page A

and he wanted the real thing.

    Dust motes danced in the air, suspended in a May sunbeam. Tessa released a contented sigh from her seat on a park bench beside Reese. Strains of “The Land of Golden Dreams” came from the bandstand. The round, open building was built on pilings and set out in the water of Lake Como as if on giant stilts.
    The trills of the flutes echoed off the water, and Tessa let the music feed her fantasy. She imagined the dust motes as fairies, flitting around on the wind.
    She glanced at Reese, and a smile crooked her mouth. She doubted he ever thought about such whimsical creatures. As much as she was given to a flight of fancy, he seemed rooted to reality, and she found that quiet strength oddly attractive.
    So far, their day had been entrancing. He’d shown her the Schiffman Fountain with its cast-iron mermaid spouting water from the seashell in her hands, and the Mannheimer Memorial. The wooden pergola, resting on marble columns, sat on a hill and held a sparkling white fountain.
    They’d laughed at the children running through the recently constructed playground. He’d shown her the statue of Henrik Ibsen, donated by the Sons of Norway, and the elephant topiary, situated on an island in the center of Cozy Lake. When the band concluded, he told her they would return to Cozy Lake, south of Lake Como.
    Reese had proved a most attentive, almost flirtatious companion, but he was probably being kind. A solid man like Reese wouldn’t find a whimsical girl like her of any great interest.
    “Tessa?” Reese waved his hand in front of her face.
    She blinked and laughed. When had the music stopped? “Sorry. I was distracted.”
    “By?”
    By you. Her cheeks warmed. She stood and adjusted her skirt. “I was thinking about the dust motes.”
    “Dust motes.” He didn’t pursue the topic but instead directed Tessa down the long, classical concrete pergola west of the lakeside pavilion. They passed beneath the canopy of red and yellow climbing roses, their sweet fragrance cloying the air.
    “Okay, I may regret asking this, but I have to know. Why were you thinking about the dust motes?”
    “They reminded me of fairies.” She grinned. “Do you regret asking me already?”
    “Not yet. Go on.”
    “I was once in a production of Peter Pan at the Metropolitan Opera House. Don’t look so impressed. I was only the nanny, so my part was small, but the specks floating in the sunbeam reminded me of Tinker Bell and her fairy dust.”
    He chuckled. “And what would you sprinkle fairy dust on right now? Would you have the fairies carry us away to Paris or the Orient?”
    “No.” She looked at him from beneath the brim of her hat, butterflies colliding in her stomach. “This day is perfect as it is.”
    His lips curved and his eyes sparkled like the sun off the water. He seemed to want to say something, but instead he inclined his head toward the lake. “Come on. I want to show you something.”
    She brushed away a twinge of disappointment and reminded herself to quit imagining things where they weren’t. They were friends—partners, even—but nothing more.

    Fairy dust? The way his heart was pounding, Reese would have sworn Tessa had sprinkled fairy dust all over him.
    Focus. Show her the park. Tomorrow they could get back to work on their garden. Back to normal. He didn’t need a relationship with someone like Tessa. He needed someone predictable, solid, normal.
    But why did “normal” hold so little appeal right now?
    Tessa seemed quieter than before. Had he offended her somehow? No, she’d said the day was perfect, and he’d have to agree. Tessa was effervescent—bubbling like the fountain. She delighted in everything she saw, and she made him look at things through fresh eyes.
    Maybe she was the kind of girl he needed after all. Carefree. Fun. Creative.
    Then again, maybe she wasn’t.
    He’d made a poor choice once before and allowed a girl to manipulate him, and he promised himself he’d