He holds my hand, guiding me to the edge. I freeze as I look down at how far the ground is. He sits, his legs dangling off the edge, then pats the space beside him.
I very carefully lower myself to the spot, immediately hugging into his side. “Don’t let me go.”
Milo’s eyes soften. “I won’t. I promise.”
I lean my head on his shoulder, taking in all the glittering lights of this small town I’ve known all my life and yet never seen like this. How can you know something for so long and not really see it fully?
“There’s your house.” Milo points.
My shoulders tense slightly.
“Where’s Joe’s?”
He adjusts his finger and says, “Right there.”
I lean into his hand and close one of my eyes so I can see exactly where he’s pointing. Then I put my head back on his shoulder. “It’s beautiful.”
His lips gently press against the top of my head. “Beautiful.”
We sit there for a few minutes in silence, the symphony of crickets filling the night air. Milo’s shoulder is soft yet firm, and I realize this is the most content I’ve felt in a long time . . . until my eyes widen with a new realization.
“Milo?”
“Hm?” His tone is lazy and unworried.
“How do we get down?” A slight panic rises in my chest.
I can feel him smile without seeing it. “The same way we came up.”
“Well, I guess I live here now,” I say with resignation.
“Hey,” he says gently. “Look at me.”
I lift my head off his shoulder, turning to see how his blue eyes are so much brighter than the night sky behind him.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll go down first and help you find your footing if you need me.”
I nod reluctantly. “Okay.”
21
SADIE
I’m holdinga brass light fixture in my living room that might have more dust than it does brass. I tilt it side to side, watching the grime fall like evidence. “What do I do with this?”
“Just set it to the side and I’ll take care of it,” Grant says from the ladder. He’s twisting wire with practiced ease, installing the new black fixtures—simple, modern, nothing sentimental about them.
“So,” he begins casually, “what’d you do yesterday?”
“I—”
The pause is small, but it feels loud. Sadie Summersbefore the listwould’ve filled it with reassurance. Sadie Summerswith the listlets the silence sit.
“I went to see Joe,” I finally say.
Grant hums. “How’s he doing?”
“He’s good. Well, he wasn’t home when I got there. Milo had taken him down to the café.”
