TheWaterDragon by Tianna Xander

Chapter One
     
     
    Summer frowned down at the yarn looped through her fingers in one hand and the crochet hook in the other. “I’ll never be able to crochet the way you do.” She looked up at the older woman across from her with a frown. Emily’s afghan looked beautiful, while Summer’s effort was uneven, curly and even had a few holes where she’d dropped stitches.
    “Of course you will, love.” Emily reached out to pat Summer’s knee. “I didn’t learn to crochet in a week and I daresay you won’t either.” She stopped rocking for a moment to take a sip of her tea.
    Emily was English through and through. She just loved her four o’clock tea and biscuits.
    Summer picked up a small cookie and smiled. It was just like Emily to put them on the tray and insist they were proper biscuits when she couldn’t find her usual imported fare at the local specialty grocery store.
    “It’s just that yours looks so perfect while mine…” She eyed her efforts with disdain. “Mine looks so sad.” She popped the small cookie in her mouth and chewed before swallowing the last of her tea.
    “Not to worry, love. You’ll do fine.” Emily gave her a serene smile. “How is that man of yours doing?”
    “He’s not my man. He’s April’s man.” She sighed, knowing where this was going already.
    “When do you plan to bring your date by to say hello ?” Emily started rocking again.
    Summer supposed the older woman thought it made her look as though she wasn’t waiting impatiently for the answer, though she knew Emily was doing just that.
    “Sometimes I wonder if you’re not ashamed of your old friend.” Emily pursed her lips while she stared down at her handiwork, turning it this way and that.
    “You know it’s not that.” Summer bit her lip. “I don’t have a man.” She wanted a lover of her own, but she wouldn’t settle for anything less than a dragon and, so far, none of the men that her sister’s husband brought home had even asked her the time. “Believe me, when I get a steady date, you’ll be the first to know.”
    “Bring him by when you find him and I’ll give him a pair of slippers.”
    “I’ll do just that,” Summer said with a smile. Emily crocheted slippers for everyone. Summer had about six pairs herself. It was enough to last her quite a while. She looked over at the older woman and knew that she loved her as much as she had loved her own grandmother before she had passed on.
    “Your lesson’s over for today, love, and the tea is cold. It’s time you went back to your sister’s.” Emily didn’t even look up from the afghan in her lap as she dismissed Summer.
    “You’re right,” she said, checking her watch. She didn’t take offense at Emily’s dismissal. It was just her way. “It is getting late and April’s having another one of her parties tonight.” Summer rolled her eyes. “You know how I love attending those.”
    “You’ll meet your true love, soon,” Emily said with a smile. “I know. I’ve already got his slippers crocheted. They’re light blue.”
    Emily saw everyone in colors. She saw Summer as a light yellow with shots of gold.
    It didn’t escape Summer’s notice that her color was a similar color to her hair. She smiled and clamped her lips tight. She could hardly expect her true love to have blue hair. If he did, he sure would be easy to spot.
    Emily set her afghan aside and moved to stand. “My hips ache.” She grimaced as she struggled to stand up. “I wish that medicine the doctor gave me worked better than it does.”
    Summer wished it worked better, as well. She hated seeing the old woman in such pain, but she was selfish enough that she wasn’t ready to let Emily go. Not yet—possibly not ever.
    “You don’t have to show me to the door.” Summer gave the older woman a hug. “I should know my way out by now. If not, something’s wrong.”
    “Fiddlesticks.” Emily pursed her lips. “What kind of hostess would I be if I didn’t see my