I nod once. “Lock your door,” I say, because I need to end on something practical or I’ll end in bad decisions.
She steps closer, fingers on the edge of the door, eyes on me like a dare. “Say it again.”
“What.”
“I’m joy.”
I should tell her no. I should keep that word in my chest and let it beat like a secret.
“You’re joy,” I say, and it lands between us like a promise.
Her breath trembles. “Goodnight, Fireman.”
“Night, firecracker.”
I step into air so cold it bites, pull the door closed behind me, and listen for the click of the lock before I take the stairs two at a time and cross the brittle yard to my truck. I check her porch light, check the street, check everything except the part of me that’s warming in places I swore off.
Engine turns over. Radio spits static. I don’t go home.
I circle the block once, then twice, because leaving is hard even when you’ve been learning how for years. On the thirdpass, I see her bedroom lamp go off through the thin curtains. A shadow crosses. Pauses. The outline of a woman who plants things where scars live.
I put the truck in gear and roll away into a night that isn’t as empty as it used to be.
The text hits at 1:14 a.m.
EMBER:You awake?
I don’t sleep much anymore.CLAY:Yeah.
A bubble pulses like a heartbeat.
EMBER:The heat works. House sounds different. Like it’s breathing.
CLAY:Good.
A pause. Then:EMBER:If I redraw the outline, will you tell me when I hit a wall?
I stare at the little glowing question and let the truth be the thing that keeps me human.
CLAY:Yeah, Quinn. I’ll tell you.
Another bubble.EMBER:Night, Clay.
CLAY:Night.
I put the phone on my chest and stare at the ceiling for a long time.
Somewhere down the hill, a house breathes. Somewhere under my ribs, something that thought it was ash shifts like embers catching in a sudden wind.
I should be afraid.
I am.
But the fear doesn’t taste like it used to. It tastes like honey in hot water, like citrus on skin, like the word that should’ve burned my mouth and somehow didn’t.
Joy.
God help me, I might be stupid enough to try.
