"Thank you." He said quietly, his pale eyes holding mine across the worn formica tabletop. "For this. For the lagoon. For..." He struggled with the words, his jaw working as he tried to articulate something that clearly ran deeper than he knew how to express.
"For asking about how they lived instead of how they died?" I finished for him, understanding settling warm in my chest as I watched him struggle with emotions he'd kept locked away for years.
"Yeah." He nodded slowly. "For that. For all of it." He held my gaze. "I've never told anyone their names before. Not outside of official reports." He swallowed hard. "It felt like... if I said them out loud, it would make it more real. Make them more gone." He shook his head. "But this morning, telling you about them... it didn't feel like losing them again. It felt like..." He searched for the words.
"Honoring them?" I suggested softly, squeezing his hand where it rested in mine, my thumb tracing the ridges of his scarred knuckles.
"Yeah." Something eased in his expression, the hard lines of his face softening as he looked at me with something like wonder. "Yeah, exactly. Honoring them." He squeezed my hand gently, his pale eyes bright with an emotion I couldn't quite name.
Mae brought the check, which Silas paid over my protests, and walked us to the door with instructions to come back soon and bring "that pretty girl" again.
"I like her." I told him as we climbed back into the canoe he'd somehow transported to the diner parking lot without me noticing, settling into the front seat and pulling my sweater tighter against the morning breeze. "And I like your secret lagoon. And your terrifying four-in-the-morning date ideas." I looked back at him with a smile, watching the way the sunlight caught the silver at his temples.
"Good." He pushed off from the shore, his paddle barely disturbing the water. "Because I plan to show you more." He said it quietly, a promise and a warning all at once. The paddle back to my cabin was slow and peaceful, the sun warm on my face,his quiet presence solid behind me. When we finally pulled up to my dock, Gumbo was waiting on the shore, watching us with his ancient amber eyes.
"He approves." I said as Silas helped me out of the canoe, his hands steady on my waist, nodding toward where Gumbo watched us from the shallows, his ancient amber eyes unblinking.
"How can you tell?" He looked at the massive alligator with something like wariness, his body shifting subtly into a more defensive stance, one hand still resting protectively on my hip.
"He hasn't tried to eat you." I grinned up at him, delighted by the flicker of uncertainty on his usually stoic face.
"Comforting." He said dryly, but there was warmth underneath the sarcasm, his pale eyes crinkling slightly at the corners as he looked down at me, his hand still warm on my hip. We stood on my dock, the morning light slanting gold through the cypress trees, and he reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"Thursday." He said quietly, reaching out to brush a loose strand of hair from my face, his calloused fingers gentle against my cheek. "The meeting. I'll be there." His pale eyes held mine, steady and certain.
"Try not to—" I started, reaching up to straighten the collar of his t-shirt, my fingers brushing the warm skin of his neck.
"Start any fights." He finished for me, something almost like amusement flickering in his expression. "I'll do my best." He paused, then added: "Thibodaux really does have a punchable face, though." His lips twitched.
"Silas." I laughed, surprised by the unexpected humor, delighted by the way his stoic mask had cracked to reveal something lighter underneath, something almost playful.
"I'm joking." He said, then paused. "Mostly." And the corner of his mouth actually curved upward, just slightly, like he wasremembering how to smile. He leaned down and kissed me one more time—soft and slow and thorough, his hands cradling my face like I was something precious. Then he stepped back, his pale eyes holding mine for one long moment.
"Thank you." He said quietly, his pale eyes bright with an emotion I was only beginning to understand. "For today. For seeing me. For..." He shook his head, the words clearly inadequate for what he was feeling. "Everything." He finished simply, his voice rough around the edges. Then he was pushing the canoe back into the water and paddling away, disappearing into the bayou like he'd never been there at all—silent and deadly and somehow, impossibly, mine.
Gumbo rumbled from somewhere behind me.
"I know." I said, pressing my fingers to my lips, still feeling the ghost of his kiss. "Three down. None to go." I smiled, something warm and terrified blooming in my chest.
Now came the hard part. Making them all fit together.
Chapter Fourteen
Artemis
Thursday came too fast.
I spent most of the day cleaning my cabin like it was going to be inspected by royalty, scrubbing counters that were already clean and rearranging furniture that didn't need rearranging. Gumbo watched me from his spot by the window with what I could only describe as judgment.
"Don't look at me like that." I told him, wiping down the kitchen table for the third time, my green-gold eyes meeting his ancient amber gaze. "This is a big deal. They're all going to be here. Together. After..." I trailed off, my cheeks warming at the memory of three different kisses, three different men, three different flavors of want.
Gumbo rumbled, low and knowing.
"Yeah." I sighed, tossing the rag into the sink and pressing my palms against the counter. "That's what I'm afraid of." I admitted to the empty room.
The truth was, I had no idea how tonight was going to go. The individual dates had been intense. Wonderful. Terrifying. Eachof them had shown me something real, something vulnerable, something I hadn't expected. Harper's quiet devotion at the gazebo his grandfather had built. Remy's raw honesty at his grandmother's cabin, the song he'd never played for anyone else. Silas's secret lagoon and the names of his fallen brothers, spoken aloud for the first time in years.
They'd each given me a piece of themselves. Now they had to figure out how to share.
