"Keer." That squeak. Just my name. Warm. "Sit down."
I sit.
Close. Not touching.
Yet.
She doesn't say anything for a long time.
"Everything I built." Quiet. "Just gone."
"You'll build again. Here."
"You said that, but is this really home?"
Small. Fierce. Ash tracked into the creases of her neck.
"Do you want it to be?"
Long pause.
Her heartbeat picks up. Faster. Louder.
"Yeah." Barely there. "I do."
My hand finds hers. Her fingers curl around mine. Ash in the creases.
Her hand in mine. Neither of us talking.
Her thumb moves across my knuckle. Back and forth.
"Why are you here?" she asks. "Really."
I shrug, grunt.
"You know." Squeezes my hand. "You just won't say it."
"Won't say what?"
She turns to look at me. So close I can see the freckle near her jaw.
"Just admit it." She's smiling. Small. Tired. "You kind of like me."
My hands lock.
"Melori."
"I'm not stupid, Keer. I can feel it. Every time you look at me. Every time you get close and then pull away again. In the woods. In the moonbright field. At the cottage today." She doesn't look away. "I can feel it."
The words are in my chest and I don't know how to open my mouth and let them—
She's too close. Smells too good. Her hand in mine and her face tilted up and I should go, should leave—
"You should tell me to leave." Voice scraping. "Tell me you don't want this."
"I can't tell you that."
"Why not?"
