I started kicking around the invisible rocks, too.

My eyes moved up to lock with Levi’s and he gave me that silly smile that always made me happy.

“Sorry about scarin’ off the deer.” He stepped closer to me. “I didn’t know anyone would be out here.” He held his pinkie finger toward me.

I locked it with mine.

“What are you doing here?” I questioned.

“My mom and I arrived late last night. It turns out my dad left us his house in the will. It’s a bit of a fixer upper, but Mom said it was always meant to be our home.”

My chest tightened and I moved in closer to him. We were so close, our lips almost touching. I felt his warm breaths brushing against my skin, against my soul. “Are you all right?” I asked.

“I’m all right,” he replied. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m all right,” I replied. My heart flipped, kicked, and fumbled around inside of my chest. “Are you really staying here?”

He combed my hair behind my ear. “I’m really staying here.” His lips lightly danced across mine, sending shivers down my spine. He kissed me with all of him and I kissed him back with all of me. With a soft voice, the boy with the beat-up blue Chucks spoke two words that made tears fall against my cheeks. “Hi, Art.”

I blinked once before staring up into the most beautiful pair of brown eyes.

I loved him. I loved him so, so much. I loved him with no regrets of yesterday and no fears of tomorrow. I loved him in the moment, quietly, with secret whispers of love that only our young spirits could comprehend.

With one small breath and one full heart, I whispered back, “Hi, Soul.”

The End.

Acknowledgments

Always and forever I thank each and every reader who took a chance on me and my novels. There’s no way I can express how much you all mean to me! Thank you so much for your love of words.

To my family, for all of their love and support while I disappeared into my mind for many days on end. A special thanks to my mama who talked me through my panic attacks about the novel and told me to trust my heart.

To my best friends, Vickie, Kyle, and Amber, who still love me even though I missed one too many Friday wine nights to get this novel complete.

To my amazing group of critique partners who are easily some of the most amazing women I’ve ever came across. You all are beyond talented and I’m glad to have you each in my life!

To Stacey, Amy, Anitra, Karin, Allison, Michelle, and Adrienne: the best betas I could’ve asked for. Each and every one of you helped me in so many ways! I’m so thankful!

Thank you to my amazing editor Caitlin at Edits by C. Marie—for dealing with all of my crazy! Also a big thank you to my proofreader Emily Lawrence who went above and beyond.

To Danielle Allen and Olivia Linden: My soul sisters. I love you both so much!

To Kristen Hope Mazzola: My author best friend who told me to trust my heart and listened to me complaining about starting and stopping this story over a million times. I love you!

To those who made my novel beautiful: Lauren Perrywinkle from Perrywinkle Photography for the lovely cover image, and my cover designer, Staci, from Quirky Bird.

A GIANT thanks to all of the bloggers who spread the word on my novels and even give little ol’ me a chance! I cannot express how much you all mean to me! Thank you!

And a final thank you to YOU, whoever you are, for being you. XoXo!

About the Author

Brittainy C. Cherry is an Amazon Bestselling author who has always been in love with words. She graduated from Carroll University with a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Arts and a minor in Creative Writing. Brittainy lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her family. When she's not running a million errands and crafting stories, she's probably playing with her adorable pets.

Other novels by Brittainy C. Cherry include: Loving Mr. Daniels and The Space in Between.

You can find her on Facebook at:

www.facebook.com/BrittainyCherryAuthor

www.twitter.com/brittainycherry

If you enjoyed Art & Soul check out “Finding Laila”

By Author T.K. Rapp

Blurb:

Joey, Cole, Haden and Braxton have been a constant in my life since I was five, and I have loved being one of the guys.

I've been cheerleader.

I've been study partner.

I've been listener.

When we're young, we don't realize the profound impact certain people will have on our lives. I had no idea twelve years ago I'd meet four boys who would turn out to be my best friends, my soul mates - my barmy.

Now school is almost done, our last summer together is drawing closer, and I'm trying to hold on to what we have while I still can. After this, we'll have to say goodbye to each other as our choices will take our lives in different directions. But I don't know if our friendship can survive once secrets and surprises begin revealing themselves to us at every turn.

When it's all said and done, will our friendships remain unbreakable? Or will our once strong bond prove to be weaker than we anticipated?

Letting go is harder than I thought, but some changes are necessary.

And finding Laila...finding myself...may be the greatest journey of all.

Link:

http://bit.ly/LailasBarmy