Kilian’s gaze finds me the moment I step through the door. He doesn’t react, but watches me walk toward him.
“Miss Walsh.” Sara’s voice is bright.
“Hey, Sara.” I crouch down to her level. “Have a good afternoon. I’ll see you again, okay?”
She nods, and Ronan gives me a two-fingered salute before Sara climbs onto the back of his bike. Ronan pulls away, and Sara’s small hand lifts in one last wave before they disappear around the corner.
“Ready?” Kilian says and holds out the spare helmet.
Two months ago, merely seeing him and his bike sent me into a spiral of alarm bells. Now I take the helmet, buckle it, and swing my leg over the seat behind him like it’s the most natural thing. My arms find his waist. My left cheek presses against the leather when the engine growls to life, and I hold on.
He takes the road out of the main street, past the last row of houses, and onto the back road where it curves around the mountain.
The bike slows when we reach the lookout. Flat Rock, the locals call it, because that’s exactly what it is—a big, broad, level slab of sandstone at the edge of a cliff with no pretense of being anything more than its name.
He kills the engine, and I slide off, pulling the helmet free. The lookout is empty.
I walk to the railing and rest my forearms on the metal. Kilian comes to stand beside me.
“How’s Sara doing?” His voice is low, directed at the view.
“Good. Really good, actually. She’s more talkative now. She raised her hand twice during reading group this week without me prompting her.” I pause, considering. “And she has a new friend. A boy named Silas.”
Kilian makes a sound. Not quite a laugh. “Silas is Kade’s kid.”
Kade, as in the mechanic?
Wait.
Sara knew Silas? Their families are connected… and she still shoved him to the ground? I don’t say any of that out loud.
“So they knew each other before school?” I ask instead.
“Only since she was born. Before I came into the picture, Sara lived with her grandma, close to Kade’s place. I think that kid has a thing for her. Every time Kade brings him to the club, he follows her around.” A beat. “But he’s going to have to prove himself to me first.”
I laugh, but Kilian doesn’t so much as blink. He’s dead serious. The sun is lower now, painting the ridge in amber.
“I wanted to tell you something,” I say, at the exact moment he says, “There’s something I need to—”
We both stop.
My stomach flips, and I think I turn white. The pause stretches, and in that pause, my brain fills the silence with every terrible possibility. He has something to say, it sounds important. He doesn’t know I got offered a permanent position. He’s going to say he can’t do long distance of whateverthisis, because we haven’t even named it, but it would still feel—
“You go first,” he says.
I exhale. Okay.
“The principal offered me a permanent teaching position.” I grip the railing. “Mrs. Leyton resigned. Her family is moving interstate, so the role is mine if I want it.”
Kilian doesn’t say anything. He’s watching me. I hope he’s not disappointed with this news. The thought makes me more nervous, so I talk more.
“You’re actually the first person I’m telling.” I swallow. “My parents… I think they assumed I’d come to my senses and come home. So… I’m not too eager on calling them.”
The wind moves, and I turn to face him. He’s already looking at me.
“Anyway, while I’m being vulnerable and honest…” I take a breath. “I owe you a proper apology. For how I judged you. For what I thought you were. I looked at you and I built a story in my head and I was wrong and I’m sorry. I don’t think I apologized well enough.”
He hums. “So, you’re going to accept it? The job.”
