Page 51 of Hidden Depths

"I'll see what I can do."

Ward found himself laughing with her.

It felt...

Easy.

Too easy.

The smile slowly faded.

Storm noticed immediately.

"What happened?"

He looked back toward the horizon.

"Nothing."

She didn't believe him.

But she also didn't ask.

Grandpa had always said:

"People tell you the truth when they're ready.

Never before."

Storm simply stood beside him.

Watching the sunrise.

Giving him the silence he needed.

Ward looked at her from the corner of his eye.

She wasn't trying to fix him.

She wasn't trying to impress him.

She wasn't asking questions he wasn't ready to answer.

She was simply...

There.

And somehow...

That made it harder not to tell her everything.

Far beyond the reach of the morning light...

A gray fishing trawler altered course again.

A man lowered a pair of binoculars.

"They're settling in."