Moon White: Color Me Enchanted with Bonus Content Read Online Free

probably obsessing over this sudden feeling of displacement. I just need to catch my breath and regain some perspective. I know I wasn’t dancing my best today. For one thing, I was too uptight. My best dance always comes when I’m relaxed. But how can I relax next to someone like Elizabeth? Maybe I just need to give it time. I go through these mental aerobics as I drive home, trying to reason with myself, but as I pull into our driveway I feel crushed. Maybe I’ll quit ballet altogether. I’m tempted to callLucy and pour out my problems, but then I remember that Lucy is mad at me.
    “It’s the equinox this weekend,” I hear Augustine saying as I come in the back door. “I think we should throw a little celebration.”
    “Uh-huh,” says my dad.
    I can tell by the contented tone of Dad’s voice that he and Augustine are probably in the middle of one of their kitchen embraces. I hate walking in on them when they’re like this. I feel so intrusive, so out of place. It’s like they should still be on their honeymoon or something. They certainly don’t act like the parents of a teenager. But then I guess they’re still technically newlyweds. Even so, sometimes I want to tell them to get a room. Oliver rubs himself against my legs and I lean down and scoop him up, scratching under his chin until he purrs happily. I guess we all need a little affection sometimes.
    Still, it bugs me that I don’t recall my dad ever hugging my mom like that in the kitchen, back when she was still with us. Oliver jumps down and starts picking at his kitty kibbles, and I just stand there in the laundry room feeling like this isn’t even my house. Maybe I should just slip back out to the garage and pretend like I’m not here. But I can smell something cooking, and I suspect that Augustine is putting together some kind of dinner for us. Since cooking’s not exactly her specialty, I should probably stick around.
    Augustine is vegan too, but my dad is not. Although he’s recently given up red meat as well as poultry, he still eats fish and eggs and dairy. And I must admit that sometimes, especially when he makes a grilled cheese sandwich, I consider giving up the vegan thing myself. And I suppose if I was to be perfectly honest, I’d have to admit that I probably only stick with it because it’s helped me lose a few pounds and because Augustine is so happy to have two vegansin the house. Not that I don’t care about animals. I really do. But, like Lucy so frequently points out, milk cows probably don’t really suffer that much. Still, I’d feel like a failure if I gave it up after only a couple of months. I can do better than that.
    I hear little giggles and that kind of quiet talk that warns me this is a private moment, so despite the aroma of dinner, I tiptoe back out the door, get into my car and drive north. I have no idea where I’m going, but this stretch of the road goes along the ocean and I usually find it soothing. I drive all the way to North Bay, a small coastal town about twenty minutes from Westport. Mom and I used to come here to get ice cream sometimes, but the old ice cream store was replaced by a cheesy tourist shop a few years ago, the kind of place that sells a little bit of everything and has lots of plastic junk lined up in its grimy windows. Still, I drive by just for old time’s sake. But I’m surprised to see that the store has changed. It looks classier. The sign says The Crystal Dragon, and some of the glassware in the window looks interesting. I pull in front and park, unsure as to whether it will even be open since it’s nearly six. But I notice someone walking inside, so I decide to check it out.
    A bell tinkles on the door, and the first thing I notice is the smell. It’s an interesting mix of scents, very herbal and floral, but also sort of mysterious. I like it.
    “Hello,” calls a woman from the back of the store.
    “Hello,” I call back, pausing to look at a shelf full of candles.
    “Can I