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Rowan went to him and laid her hand on the warm skin of his forearm. The honey-colored hairs were soft, and he had several thin parallel scratches healing there.
“Look at me,” she said. Her hand tightened on his arm when he didn’t respond. He stared into the meadow beyond her shoulder. “Hey. Let’s breathe. We’ll do it together, okay?”
Rowan placed Harrison’s hand against the middle of her chest, pressing down to flatten his palm on her sternum. She took a deep breath, intentionally overinflating her lungs so he could easily feel the rise and fall.
“Find my breath,” she said. “Use it to find yours.”
His eyes were hazy, his skin pale. But he looked at her, finally. The hand against her chest trembled.
Once his breath began to slow, she said, simply, “Hi.”
“Hi,” he said back.
“When’s your birthday?”
“February fourteenth.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Scout’s honor.”
“Your birthday is Valentine’s Day?”
Of course it is.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“What’s your middle name?”
“Bryant. Harrison Bryant.” A beat of silence. “Yours?”
“Mmm—don’t have one,” Rowan said.
“How’s that possible?”
“Long story,” she deflected. His respiration seemed mostly normal then, and his skin no longer looked ashen, but his hand still trembled. “Close your eyes a minute. Listen to my voice.”
One of his eyebrows rose, comically suspicious. Rowan chuckled.
“You’re going to have to trust me,” she said. “We’re probably as far from the path’s entrance as it is to the exit on the other side. You have to do this. I can’t carry you.”
He dropped his hand from her chest and closed his eyes. His jaw was tight, and little muscles at his temples flickered as he bit down on his teeth. A bead of sweat coursed from hairline to cheekbone to jaw. Rowan wanted to sweep it away with her fingertip.
“Listen to what’s around you.” Birds and insects whirred and chattered. The tips of the grasses whispered and rattled. “Feel how alive it all is. Nature is simply doing what it does, and our presence here means nothing. We’re irrelevant. Incidental.”
His jaw relaxed, but his eyebrows remained bunched tight over closed eyes. “This is an uplifting chat,” he murmured.
Rowan watched for tiny shifts in the muscles around his mouth, looking for an ease of tension. His eyelids fluttered occasionally, like it was a struggle for him to keep them closed.
“These spiders deserve to be here as much as we do. More, actually. We’re barging throughtheirhome right now.”
Harrison took a deep breath, sequestering his hands in his pockets. A ribbon of muscle in his forearm pulsed rhythmically as he fiddled with coins. Rowan moved close, near enough to feel the heat from his chest, his breath on her face. She intentionally invaded his personal space, forcing him to focus on her instead of his fear.
“We’re simply another passing mammal for them. All they care about is staying in their webs, catching insects, and having their babies.”
The corner of his mouth hitched up in the barest smile.Babies.
No man should have lips like his.If he opened his eyes right now, he’d catch her staring right at them. “Did you know they rebuild these beautiful webs every night?” she said.
