Tina insisted I spend the next day with her.

“Today is a day for baking pies,” she said, pointing to the window. It was lightly storming outside, with steady rain and dark clouds.

I let her get it started, enjoying several cups of coffee in the morning while she made the dough. I was never any good at that part, anyway.

“Are you afraid to get your hands dirty now, my daughter?”

“Very funny,” I replied. “To be honest, I never really liked getting my hands dirty, even before.”

“Well, that’s alright,” Tina said. “I don’t mind spoiling you.”

Then he had me doing prep work for her for a few hours.

I peeled and cut up apples. Washed and dried berries. Measured out sugar and honey mixtures.

Tina was always a whirlwind in the kitchen. And she was hilarious, too, telling me more stories now about stuff going on in the neighborhood over the past few months.

It kept my mind off other things for a while. I thanked Tina in my mind for this great distraction.

Because now it had been days since I’d seen Nolan last.

And it was starting to feel like…

I couldn’t really describe it.

Lily had started crying at night. Whimpering and whining and being dramatic.

“You have to go back to the prince!” she would shout at me.

“It’s not right to be apart from him…”

I hated it. Because I missed Nolan enough, myself. But the wolf missed him so badly too, and that part felt like a physical pain.

The first night I moved back was pretty much the last night of solid sleep I’d gotten. But I’d been wiped out that night.

Now, all I could think about at night was Nolan. Lily kept me up with her crying and I was hardly sleeping at all.

My hands missed the feeling of Nolan’s scruffy face. His soft hair. And the heat that always came pulsing off his skin.

Sometimes in the dead of night I did start thinking….

That maybe I could go back to him.

Maybe I could undo all this. Ask him to take me back.

Tell him I never wanted to leave him again.

But in the light of day, those sad and lonely feelings always faded.

EVAN

“Did you even go to bed last night?”

Evan thought he had gotten up super early. It wasn’t even going to be light out for at least another hour.

“Oh, hey.” Yena was sitting in the kitchen, which smelled like coffee.

“Can I have some?” he asked, pointing to the coffee maker.

“Of course,” she said. “Pour me a cup, too. I just made it.”

Evan got their mugs out of the cupboard.

“And yeah, I went to bed,” she continued. “I slept a little, but I don’t know… I’ve been having trouble lately.”

“Trouble sleeping?”

Evan went to the fridge for a carton of milk and a can of whipped cream. He held them up to ask Yena which she wanted.

“Both,” she said. “And yeah. I don’t know, it’s an adjustment. Trying to sleep alone, again.”

Evan sighed. He fixed up their coffees, topping them both with a big tower of whipped cream.

He turned around and said to Yena, “I’m sorry to hear that.” Then put the whipped cream nozzle into his mouth and pushed it down, and filled up his mouth with cream.

Yena laughed as he gulped it down.

He went to put the can back in the fridge, but Yena said, “Wait! Me too,” and opened her mouth wide.

Evan froze for just a moment.

But then he went over to the table where Yena was sitting, and put the tip of the whipped cream thing in her mouth, and pressed it. She giggled as her mouth filled up fast with the sweet white cream.

Evan shook his head at her as she swallowed and licked her lips.

“I’m gonna go take a shower,” he said, turning away. “You wanna run early today? I can be ready in ten.”

“Sure.”

He grabbed his coffee and got out of there.

Took a very cold shower.

And tried not to look at his sister as they stepped out of the house.

He figured once they were moving, he could focus on the run. Just keep his eyes up and not look at her.

It was getting hard to be around her.

There was a weird energy between them, especially when they were alone together, too. Almost as if Yena might have feelings for him too.

But that was probably wishful thinking.

He just still wasn’t used to this new version of Yena. She kept flooring him with her confidence.

They got started on the route the same way they’d done before. A jog first to get the heartrate up, is what he told Yena.

She’d said she wanted Evan to teach her about running, and so he did. Told her how to breathe for endurance, though she already did a good job of it naturally. And he insisted that this time, they break at the end of the line to do a few stretches, make sure they kept their muscles loose.

It was something to talk about. Talking about running seemed like a safe topic that wouldn’t lead back to Nolan.

Seemed like just about any topic of conversation with Yena often led back to something about Nolan…

When they made it to the end, she did as Evan said and followed his lead on some stretches.

It was hard not to watch as she moved around.

Evan did not like those stretchy leggings that she wore…

They made him think about what it would be like to peel them off her legs, when they were wet with her sweat. Might be hard, if he wanted to strip her clothes off fast…

Suddenly Evan realized that he was staring at Yena’s ass, and she was watching him.

His eyes met hers for a split second. And in that moment, everything was out in the open. The way he wanted her, she knew it now…

But she didn’t look mad. She actually gave him a kind of serious, sexy look in return, arching her eyebrow and smiling.

Evan’s heart started pounding.

It was the first time he’d ever felt like maybe Yena wanted him, too.

“Okay,” he said, looking away. “That’s enough stretching, huh?”

He put his hands on top of his head and looked up at the tree canopy. And hated himself for ruining the moment. He didn’t know why he did it.

In his periphery, he saw Yena starting to walk down the trail.

He fell into step, just a few paces behind her, and said, “Ready?” as he started picking up the pace.

“Born ready,” she said, and then out of nowhere she bolted away, sprinting.

Evan started running after her. He was sure he’d catch up fast.

But he was surprised… he didn’t reach her as quickly as he expected.

And having to watch her from behind, as he tried to catch her. He was getting turned on.

He had to get his eyes off his sister’s ass. It was torture, how good it looked.

He ran faster than he might’ve ever run before in his life, just so that he could pass her.

He didn’t stop till he got to the house, where he collapsed onto the porch steps.