Page 42 of Tragic (Lark Cove 3)

He looked from one ear to the other, then shook his head. “They’re the same size.”

“No, they’re not. Trust me, I spent hours in the mirror as a teenager comparing the two.” That had been my favorite pastime as a seventeen-year-old learning to accept the things about her body she could not change.

Kaine turned and walked over to the wall with all of the tool chests. He opened a drawer, pulled out a tape measure, then came stalking back.

“Don’t move,” he commanded as he proceeded to extend the tape a few inches.

“You’re really measuring my e—”

“Shh.”

I clamped my mouth shut, pulling my lips between my teeth to hold in a smile. Then I stood stoically still as the metal tape whispered across my ears and Kaine’s face narrowed in concentration.

He didn’t just measure the height of my ears, he measured the width, the distance they were from my nose. It was a more detailed inspection than I would have expected from a plastic surgeon’s office.

When he was done, he stepped back from my face with a smug grin and his tape measure. “Your right ear is an eighth of an inch smaller than your left.”

“What?” I gasped. “No way!”

He nodded. “It is.”

“Are you kidding?”

“All this time you’ve been hiding the wrong ear, Dumbo.”

“Hey!” I smacked him playfully on the shoulder, then broke out into hysterical laughter.

To my surprise, he did too. Kaine’s laughter was deep and hoarse, almost like he hadn’t used it in so long that it needed to have the rust broken free.

But it was beautiful as it filled the shop, making the already-bright space shimmer.

And the sight of his smile, wide and white underneath those soft lips and between those dark bearded cheeks, was more breathtaking than even the ridge on our mountain.

He was dashing.

I refused to blink, not wanting to miss a moment of that rare laugh. And I vowed, then and there, to make him smile more often.

A sense of pride filled my chest, squeezing out the pain from past memories. Knowing I was the cause of his smile and laugh was empowering. I did that. Me.

I made Kaine smile.

He made me forget.

Now I had to make it three days without him. Three days. I’d force myself to wait those seventy-two hours because being around him was too good. It was too dangerous.

Could I make it three days?

With the way my heart was sprouting wings, I’d better try and make it four.

Two days later, a fist knocked on the Airstream’s door, making me shoot out of bed. It was dark, and after a quick glance at my clock, I saw it was after midnight.

My heart raced, my mind immediately imagining the worst. Was someone here to kill me? Would they feed my body to a bear? I grabbed my phone and dialed 9-1-1, ready to hit send, but I hesitated.

As quietly as possible, I slipped out of bed and ducked low. Then I crouched, getting on my hands and knees to crawl out of the bedroom.

Logan and Thea had bought this Airstream brand-new. Its finishes were light and airy, and it reminded me a little of the apartment I’d left behind in the city. I couldn’t have asked for a better temporary abode.

But at this moment, all I really wanted was a door with a deadbolt.