Izan and Mist

Chapter 11 (Mist): Make Me A Believer

By nature, I'm not a suspicious person. I wasn't raised to be one, either. You looked at people and saw the good in them, knowing they were connected to the universe the same as you, and so you expected the best out of them. Kindness. Generosity. Care. Honesty.

Sometimes people disappointed you, of course, but you wished them well and hoped the universe would eventually straighten out their hearts. We were taught to never let those people who behaved badly to threaten our peace or in any way shrivel our spirits.

Of course, even though these teachings came from our parents and grandparents who were both naturally and herbally mellow, we could still recognize the wisdom in what they imparted to us. Basically, don't let others steal your happiness. And I never had until Yvette, Izan's  sisters and some of his other friends came into my life. For far too long, the lessons I learned on the commune didn't work with Yvette. I did let her shrivel my spirit and take my peace.

That was because Izan didn't deal with her properly. Maybe I should have confronted her, but one, it wasn't in my nature and two, it didn't seem like it should be my job or responsibility. He should have been defending me, not conspiring with her to keep secrets from me. For the first time in my life, I'd been thinking seriously nasty thoughts about another person and that made me feel out of sorts, wishing I'd had some larimar from my grandmother for peace of mind.

Now my possibly-former-possibly-current boyfriend had quit his job and threatened his family with turning his back on them if they didn't start treating me well. That was huge for Izan -- he was as entwined with his family as I was with mine. And he'd come down solidly on my side.

For the entire afternoon, he'd been wrestling calves so my grandmother and I could deworm them. How could such adorable creatures be so difficult when it came to taking their medicine? By the end of the day, Izan, my grandmother and I were dirty, sweaty, exhausted and thinking maybe the calves weren't nearly as adorable as we'd first thought.

So why was my grandmother currently lying to a nearby neighbor?

"No, no, I understand, Case," she said mournfully. "I know you can't possibly take in any more rescues. It's just...oh, Highland calves are so cute and my heart's going to break when the three of them have to be put down tomorrow."

Izan and I looked at each other; he was confused and I was shaking my head while rolling my eyes. I'd grown up watching my grandmother and she was rabid, never mind underhanded, about placing her rescues and finding good homes for them. The commune was at capacity with all of the animals she'd helped rescue so she was on a mission to share the wealth and place the new ones she found or were brought to her. 

"Three?" Izan mouthed to me, knowing there were ten.

I laughed, trying not to notice how good he looked. Some women liked men in suits; some liked men in military uniforms; some liked sports uniforms; I loved a man who'd gotten sweaty and dirty from manual labor, working the land or working on engines. 

My mind flashed to a time Izan had been at his place, working on an engine for a friend late into the night. I'd woken up and gone to find him in his garage -- he was in a grease-stained white T, ripped jeans and sweat and grease were on his face and hands.

He was impossible to resist and I'd thrown off the T-shirt of his I was wearing and walked up beside him, just slightly behind him.

"Can I help?" I asked huskily.

Without looking at me, he shook his head at the engine and he pulled out a shop rag from his back pocket and wiped his hands on it.

"Thanks, mi princesa, but I'm about done for tonight. I think I've figured out the problem and I need a part that I have to get tomorrow."