Forget-Me-Not
an excerpt

“Who are you?” he called as he approached. The person turned, her figure revealing that she was indeed a woman. Her clothes were wrinkled and unimpressive and her slouch nearly made her appear nonexistent to someone who was not looking for her. Her chestnut hair lay in long, matted locks that brushed along her body and covered her from some inner shame. In fact, despite the fact that she had the body of an adult, she held the stance of someone half her age. She had initially been resting against the edge of the gazebo and allowing all her weight to be held by the banister, but when he called she jumped up and took a stance of flight. “What are you doing in my garden?” he asked irritably.

Her entire body seemed to retreat into the folds of her soft, blue sweatshirt. She tried to form her mouth around the words, finally blurting out “You’re supposed to be eating lunch!”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s noon! You’re supposed to be eating lunch. You don’t walk around the garden until one. That’s cheating; you’re breaking the rules.” As she said this, her voice got louder and her hand grasped with a frightening grip at the nearby railing. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think she were actually trembling.

“Forgive me for saying so,” Max said calmly, calculatingly, coldly, carefully, “but I believe that it is you who is breaking these rules. This is my property and you, miss, are trespassing.” While he said all this in the most tame voice possible, the trespasser appeared to be more frightened than before. “I will ask again now; who are you.”

“Lily,” she grounded out like a petulant child. He raised his eyebrows. She bit her lip and lowered her eyes in guilt. “My name is Lily-Marie Silverman. I just moved in down the road.”

“Mrs. Silverman’s niece?” She nodded. “She talks miles about you. However I had the impression that the woman of her stories would have outgrown sneaking about in other people’s yards.”

“I’m not sneaking around!”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do you know where you are?”

She nodded vigorously. “The Wilder Estate.”

“Very good. Next, do you know what my name is?”

“Max Wilder.”

“Then what, pray tell, were you doing in my gazebo in my garden.” He crossed his arms, both annoyed and amused. “I’m afraid there’s nothing around here worth stealing, all the valuables are in the house.”

She sighed and let go of the bar, choosing instead to sit down on one of the benches that decorated the interior. “I wouldn’t steal anything. It’s just pretty here.”

“Thank you,” he said and maintained posture. “I planted everything here myself, but you probably already know that.” She nodded. “You probably should not continue to climb over the fence and traipse through here on your own whims.” She nodded again and stood to leave, her shoulders curved deeply and her eyes downcast. Max felt no sympathy, but he couldn’t help stop his mouth from releasing these last words “Call first next time and I will open the gate for you.” Lily’s entire body whipped around and he noticed the light in her blue eyes as she smiled.

“Thank you!” She ran down the path and toward her usual exit.

Damn. He was now fifteen minutes off schedule.