I blink slowly. The elephant is still there. I blink again.

“What are you looking at?” Rune asks, his gaze moving from me to where I’m staring.

“Nothing,” I stammer, “I thought I saw a bear,” the elephant, however, is still there. It’s even wearing an elaborately decorated headdress in brilliant colors. It raises its trunk as if in cheery greeting.

Good grief. I’m being followed by Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles.

“You were saying?” I ask Rune, wondering why I’m seeing this, and he isn’t. What has being able to hear Uncle Theo opened me up to? Or am I going crazy?

“I need Julia to believe we’re in a serious relationship,” Rune repeats, “I know it’s asking a lot, Shells, but I really need this favor,” he says when I make an exasperated face at him, “I promise I’ll make it up to you. Come sit in the shade. I think the sun’s getting to you.”

“Yes, I think it is,” I agree, taking a sip of my iced tea and glancing at the trees again. Lord Ganesha’s still there.

I follow Rune to where Lorelei and Charlotte are waiting for us under the shade of a large tree, sitting on Uncle Rueben’s plaid picnic blanket. Part of me is thrilled Rune is asking me this favor, but it feels like a strange ploy.

“I need more information than you’ve given me so far,” I say as the girls jump up from their horses.

“In a minute,” Rune says as he hands the girls the boxes with their sandwiches. As we organize our picnic I glance occasionally towards the forest entrance. Lord Ganesha is still there.

For the next half an hour or so, we cajole and encourage two fussy-eating tweens to eat their sandwiches while Lord Ganesha continues to monitor the situation from the trees. Finally, we have to threaten no chocolate chunk cookies for dessert and agree to judge their horse show if they’ll finish their gourmet grilled cheese.

Rune carted along Lorelei’s wooden eight-horse barn, paddock fencing, and a selection of model horses to keep the girls entertained for this outing. Gunnar built the barn for Lorelei last summer; she and Rune have recently painted it dark green with white trim.

While Rune helps the girls set up everything the way they want for the show, I pick up all our trash and put everything else back in the basket.

I’m still annoyed and flattered by Rune’s assumption that I’ll follow along with his crazy plan. A night at Lake Crescent Lodge with Ian, with real intimacy rather than fake intimacy with Rune could be a lot of fun,” I think as I walk over to toss out our trash.

Suddenly, a resounding gong reverberates through me. Nothing is moving. It’s as if time itself is frozen. There’s no noise except what’s in my head.

Will that truly make you happy? A voice asks in a tone of such deep, rich, melodious sweetness that I almost stumble from its impact on me.

Lord Ganesha isn’t only a vision at the forest's edge; now he’s talking to me.

From where I stand, I can see Ian and his buddies enjoying their meal at one of the restaurant’s outdoor tables. They’re in mid-action, some with sandwiches half raised to their mouths.

Will spending time alone with Ian be worth it? I ask myself, staring down at the full trash in front of me because I don’t want to see other strange sights, or am I simply flattered by Ian’s attention? Would I put my homework from Vivienne to use, or would this be repeating my same old pattern of being too available?

Yes, says Lord Ganesha's voice, with honey sadness, However, It’s your choice. You can accept crumbs now, but I recommend waiting for the feast.

But aren’t I making the same mistake by being too available for Rune? I protest, Aren't I continuing to be too Girl Friday

That’s different, dear heart, the voice says, Rune is truly your friend. Though I admit, his delivery and approach need some work.

What’s the feast I should wait for? I ask, and a marvelous belly laugh rings around inside my head, You’ll see it when you’ve brought yourself into fuller alignment, Lord Ganesha instructs, Keep doing your homework.

Okay, I agree, I just hope I can do all this before I’m too old to enjoy it.

Age and time are false constructs, Lord Ganesha chuckles, but I recommend you keep focusing on your own square of the garden.

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My head is filled with another gong note that shakes my core. My conversation with the Hindu god has ended.

“I would have killed for that barn when I was a kid,” I tell Rune as I sit back on the picnic blanket next to him, hoping I don’t sound as shaky and weird as I feel. I pick up my tea and find it empty; I chomp on a piece of ice instead. How apropos.

“It certainly beats the one we made out of my mom’s old Lincoln logs,” Rune laughs, “though I was pretty proud of that one.”

“So was I,” I laugh along with him, relieved to be focused on something normal. We played with that stable for at least two summers. Rune was the only boy I ever knew who would play horses with me without needing to insert G.I. Joes and some kind of war theme.

Rune is truly your friend, I remember Lord Ganesha saying. I glance at Rune’s wrist and the little silver elephant charm sparkles at me like a wink.

The horse show consists of Lorelei and Charlotte holding their selected show horse up at chest level while also mimicking the movements of the horses with their own legs.

“Shelby, you be the announcer since you know what you’re talking about,” Lorelei instructs in her bossy voice. The girls are walking in a big circle a few feet from where we’re sitting as if they’re horses just entering the show ring.

“Ouch!” Rune objects, “I think I’ve watched enough shows from the sidelines to remember what to say.”

Lorelei shakes her head, “Shelby’s much more of an expert, even if…” She stops quickly when she sees Rune make a ‘zip it’ sign across his mouth.

“What’s that about?” I ask, intrigued.

“Nothing,” Rune says nonchalantly, “you’re up, announcer. Tell them what to do.”

“Trot, please,” I say in my best announcer voice, “everyone trot.”

After the girls have each won a class and gone back to playing on their own with the horses on the grass, I turn to Rune lounging on his elbows next to me.

“Spill it, Ruination. More details, please.”

“Okay,” he sighs and lays back, scrubbing his hands through his hair, “Out of nowhere, Julia’s decided she wants to be an active member of our production company again,” he puts his glasses on the neck of his shirt and rubs his face over his hands, before turning his eyes to me, “That’s why she wants to have lunch next week. I’m suspicious because I just pitched the podcast idea, which is supposed to be completely secret, but if I get a green light, it’s perfect because I’ll want her to be interviewed for it.”

“I had no idea she was part of your production company,” I say, though to be fair, until recently I had no idea about the production company either.

“She hasn’t been for years, not since we broke up,” he tells me, “Honestly, she was only nominally involved in the actual work of it before. But yes, Franklin encouraged us to start it. Originally, it was mostly about projects for her."

“Why do you think she wants to get back together? Isn’t she in a relationship with that Japanese rock star?” I ask. When he sits up again and looks at me like he’s disappointed I know this, I continue defensively, “Their pictures came up when I was looking for images of you with long hair. You and Julia were photographed a lot together, and then suddenly, she was being photographed with him instead.”

“Yep, that’s pretty much how it happened,” Rune says darkly, reaching over to open the box with our desserts. He lifts out the éclair and takes a large bite. Then he’s smiling happily over the flavor, licking the chocolate off his lips, “This helps,” he says, holding up the dark chocolate-covered pastry to me. I take a much smaller bite. Oh boy, it’s good.

When Rune slowly licks the chocolate off his fingers, I feel an electric, erotic jolt of desire pulse through me. It reminds of something I’m trying to get up the nerve to expand on for my Sexpectations homework; tongues and what they can do to a woman’s nether regions. Eeek.

Ian who? My libido asks as I look over at the girls playing, trying to get my equilibrium back.

“Part of the reason I’m so reluctant to take any selfies now is that I’m still burnt out on it. Julia loves taking selfies even more than I love dressing up for roles; she lives for it,” Rune says, sounding exasperated, breaking into my fantasies by handing me the pastry again.

I take another small bite but make sure to get some of the custard, “So, is she flirting with you via text or something?”

“Yes. I’ve been through this with her before,” he tells me. He uses his fingers to scoop out some of the custard trying to escape and licks that off his fingers, too.

Is he doing this on purpose? Is he playing seductive like one of his Asher Dillion roles, so we look more genuine as a couple? I glance around at our fellow picnickers, none of whom is paying us any attention to us. Good. I’ve been listening to Vivienne’s advice, learning to desire without needing to manipulate the situation to do anything about it. But this isn’t helping.

It’s time to switch topics, “Why can’t you just say ‘thank you, no thank you’ to Julia?”

“She’s extremely wily and has a hard time taking no for an answer,” Rune says, pulling a gigantic molasses cookie out of the sweets box and taking a bite. His appetite for sweets is unbelievable. But he’s slowly gaining weight and looks healthier, so who am I to judge?

“Can’t you just take Lorelei with you?” I ask, taking a very small piece of the molasses cookie myself, when what I want to do instead is take a pic of him for his Instagram.

“She’s coming too; I promised her a trip to a toy store near the Pike with a big Breyer Horse collection,” he tells me, “You’re important because you’ve known me longer than Julia. She knows we were very good friends. It’s perfect.”

“She knows about me?” I ask, stunned.

“Seriously, Seashell?” He asks, dusting sugar off his hands and lap, “Didn’t you tell your new friends about your old friends, or your school friends about your vacation friends when you were young?”

“Not about you,” I tell him honestly. When his face register insult, I go on quickly, “It would have sounded pathetic if I told school friends I was summertime besties with TV's favorite boyfriend.”

“All right, point taken,” Rune nods, then looks around as if checking to see if people are listening then lifts his glasses onto the top of his head. He leans towards me, his hand reaching out to squeeze my knee gently, if anyone is watching they’ll think he’s about to kiss me, but instead, he asks, “Can you keep a secret Shells, a very big secret? A secret only my dad as my lawyer, and Gunnar and Hank know about?”