He wasn't going to, I don't think. He came to say goodbye, and he stayed because my people are his people now and he was paying attention to them because they matter to me.
When the girls eventually pile toward their cars in a cloud of hugs and promises and Madison saying she's going to follow the fox release content obsessively, I walk them out and come back inside to find Anthony at the table with his second coffee and Colt's borrowed copy of the resort opening program, pretending to read it.
He waited for me.
I sit back down.
"Four hours," he says.
"To drive back, yeah."
"Text me when you're home. Do not text and drive, but if you pull over for gas or food, text me then too. Let me know you’re safe."
"I will," I say.
He reaches across and tucks a strand of hair back and leaves his hand there for a moment, warm against my jaw. I lean into it.
"January," he says.
"January," I confirm.
"The landlord."
"After the editor."
He smiles. "Good girl."
I'm going to drive four hours home and call my landlord and call an editor and build something new from the pieces of what's changing, and I'm going to do it knowing exactly what I'm building toward. Who I’m building toward.
The elk calves, growing strong in the straw.
The fawn who stands on her own now.
The reindeer earning their names.
A cabin on the east side with good morning light and fiber internet.
A tall quiet man who brought me coffee before I asked and calls me good girl when I do the thing and holds my hand in library armchairs and asks what I need before he tells me what he has.
The road home is four hours. January is six weeks. Spring is when the bear cub goes back and the foxes are released and the world opens up again after winter.
I have never looked forward to spring so much in my life.
MAYA: I'm home.
HOLLY: Safe drive?
MAYA: Perfect.
EMILY: How are you feeling?
MAYA: Like the version of myself I was always supposed to be and just needed the right year to get to.
MADISON: That's the best thing you've ever typed in this chat.
LILY: Did you text him?
MAYA: He was the first text when I pulled in.
