Lost Bird

10

10

The lecture passed quickly. James looked up periodically only to make eye contact with one of the two men that had instantly intrigued her. She couldn't understand what it was about them. She had never had any interest in any men who had tried to get her attention. Not since she had lost her Raven.

Technically that didn't count, according to James, because she was too young and innocent for that to be anything more than puppy love. A love shared between two children who had no one else but each other to trust or connect with. She knew that her feelings for Raven had been real. She had meant every word she had written to him in her goodbye letter. But when she said them, she had been totally ignorant to how love evolved between adults and all that entailed.

Even still, any time she had even tried to convince herself to move on, give someone else a chance, she just couldn't do it. Jesus, she couldn't even accept a fruit cup from anyone. It felt too much like betraying him and the promises she had made. It wasn't a great sacrifice for her. No one had ever made her seriously consider moving on. Not until today. She thought.

After class she made her way back across campus to her little student apartment. She had to get ready to have her Monday morning meeting with Max, to go over the progress they had made in their mission so far. She hated that Max always wanted to meet so early on Mondays, but he knew she had an early morning class and would already be up and about. James just really wished she could crawl back into her bed to sleep away the day. She only had her afternoon PhD candidate course on Mondays after her early lecture. It was the perfect day for naps.

But no, Max had to ruin that! She giggled at her bitter thoughts. She could never truly be mad at him. He was her family and she loved him more than naps.

She was walking towards her favorite diner in town when she heard someone calling her name.

"Hey James! Wait up."

She turned to see one of her favorite people jogging up to her from about a block away. She couldn't hold back the huge grin she had.

"Sang! God, its been so long!" She enveloped the tiny girl in a hug. "How are you? How are your boys?"

Sang answered with a huge smile of her own. She always took James breath away when she smiled like that. The girl was just stunning.

"They're great! Overbearing, protective and loving. It works somehow." She giggled and blushed as she linked her arm with James. They headed across the street together.

"So, where you off to this morning?" Sang asked.

"Just to meet Max. He gets a little antsy if I don't make time for him. We have breakfast together every Monday after my early lecture. What are you up to?"

"Just had a few errands to run before we leave for the cabin this weekend. I figured I'd get them done early so I could leave the rest of the week open for Gabe to fuss over packing for us. Guaranteed he's going to think of something we don't have that we absolutely need for our 2 week holiday." James laughed with Sang, that sounded exactly like Gabe.

"I forgot you guys were going away. I think Silas mentioned something about that when we met about our lecture last week."

James and Silas were both going for their PhDs this semester. James was just glad that she was in a course with one of them this year. Mostly all the Blackbourne clan was enrolled in TDU. The only ones who weren't were Sean, he already had his medical degree, and Owen, he already his MBA. All the rest of Sangs boys, and Sang herself, were at different levels of their studying. Most close to receiving their respective degrees.