Zane's eyes closed for half a second.
When they opened, they were hard and clear. "He put my land in Cascadia's file."
"Yes."
"He made my no look temporary."
"That's how it read to me."
"Did you bring the packet?"
"No." I said it quickly. "I didn't take it. I didn't email myself anything. I didn't copy maps or remove documents. I wrote down the page titles and exact phrases I saw because I was assigned to check the materials and I couldn't pretend I didn't understand what they meant."
"What phrases?"
I read from the note. "External Broker Summary. Revised Access Appendix. Land-Use Map. Fletcher McCrae, McCrae Land Brokerage. Beargrass Lake access. Adjacent McCrae parcel. Viable acquisition or easement path. No owner agreement noted."
Zane took the note then.
His fingers brushed mine.
This time, neither of us had the space to pretend the touch was only a touch.
He looked down at my handwriting. "You told Monica?"
"I disclosed that I had a conflict connected to the external broker and the landowner. I told her I'd seen access language without owner agreement noted. She told me not to remove materials or make accusations until she reviews the broker history."
"Good."
That single word hit me so hard my eyes stung.
Zane looked up.
I pressed my lips together, but it didn't help.
"I'm not done," I said.
His face changed again, but he didn't step back. "Okay."
My breath scraped in my throat.
This was the part I'd hidden from him through four shifts, one lake, and every moment he'd looked at me like maybe the paperwork wasn't the whole story.
"I didn't tell you why I'm here," I said.
"You didn't have to."
"I know. But I let you think it might be worse than it was because I was ashamed. And then I kept not telling you because every day made it harder, and then you touched me, and I wanted to be someone who hadn't done something so stupid."
Zane's voice went rough. "Daphne."
I shook my head because if he got gentle too early, I might not get through it.
"My ex-boyfriend's name is Julian Thomas. He cheated on me. I found out, and I handled it with all the grace and emotional maturity of an overcaffeinated disaster in a parking lot."
Zane stared at me.
I closed my eyes. "Sorry. That was a joke. A bad one. I'm nervous."
