Chapter Eighteen
Late Tuesday afternoon, Aaron was trying his hand in Eden’s kitchen. He’d spent an hour shopping in ByWard Market, not far from Eden’s apartment. He figured he could make an interesting dish out of handmade fettucine, shrimp, fresh porcini mushrooms, shallots, and heavy cream. An Ontario white zinfandel should match it, and a salad of mixed greens, feta cheese, strawberries, and fancy balsamic vinegar. He’d been throwing together meals since he was a kid and wasn’t half bad at it, especially now that he could afford decent ingredients. He wasn’t much of a dessert guy, though, so he’d cheated and bought tarte tatin, an apple tart, from a French bakery.
Eden had said she could try to take time off from work, but he knew that would be problematic for her so soon after her week off. He said no, he was happy to explore on his own. Yesterday, he’d borrowed her Smart car and spent the day hiking in Gatineau Park. Today, he’d roamed the city on foot. The Ottawa area was growing on him, but he missed the ocean.
When he heard the door open at six o’clock, Eden arriving right on time, he went to meet her. She wore tailored gray pants and a sleeveless white blouse and carried the gray suit jacket over her arm. The office garb made her look professional and surprisingly sexy.
After a lengthy hug and kiss, she said, “It smells good in here.”
“Told you I’d take care of dinner.” Yesterday, he’d walked over to her office to meet her after work and they’d gone to a French bistro. He hoped tonight’s meal wouldn’t be a major letdown after that gourmet meal.
With her arms looped around his neck, she leaned back and gazed up at him. “I thought you meant you’d buy ingredients. You didn’t have to cook.”
“It’s the least I could do. You’ve given me a place to stay.” They hadn’t told her parents that he’d moved from his hotel to Eden’s condo. He put his hands on her waist and regretfully eased her away from him. “Come eat. This meal’s time sensitive.”
She kicked off her shoes, dropped her purse on the small table by the door, and followed him into the kitchen, pulling off the twister thingy that held her hair back in a ponytail. As he plated the pasta dish, she oohed and aahed, making him feel like he was an Iron Chef, and then they went to the dining area where he’d already set the table.
He was happy with how the shrimp and mushroom pasta had turned out and Eden proclaimed it delicious. As they ate and sipped wine, he asked about her day and, with a glowing face, she told him about the hours she and Navdeep had spent with a funding applicant, a charitable organization that provided equine therapy for wounded veterans.
Even as Aaron thought how great this was, talking over dinner, a part of him was saying he couldn’t ask her to give up a job she so clearly loved.
Eden helped herself to more salad. “This food is amazing. Where did you find all the ingredients?”
“ByWard Market. Your sister and I had lunch there and I shopped after.”
Her fork stopped halfway to her mouth. “You had lunch with Kelsey?”
“Yeah, she called me. We went to Lowertown Brewery and had craft beer and rotisserie chicken.” He’d been happy for the opportunity to get to know Kelsey, who was more approving of him than were Eden’s parents.
“Did you have a good time? What did you talk about?”
“Stuff. This and that. You.” He winked. “It was fun. I like her.”
Eden smiled. “It’s hard not to like Kelsey.”
“I know you think she’s too directionless, but I think she’s doing okay for her age. At least she hasn’t made any major mistakes, the way Miranda always seems to.”
“That’s true. And I really think she’s growing up. Maybe it happened when she was away at university, or maybe when she started looking after Mom. But she is being more responsible.”
“I told her I’d seen her paintings.” He gestured toward one of the walls. Eden had some interesting art scattered throughout her place. Nothing expensive, mostly prints by local artists. There were a couple of colorful abstracts of flowers. When he’d mentioned liking them, she’d said Kelsey had painted them in high school, taking inspiration from their mother’s garden. Eden said it had been one of her sister’s phases, before she got bored and went on to something else. Story of her life, Eden had commented. “I told her I thought she had talent,” Aaron said.
“She did. Art was one of the things she was best at. Painting would be a hard way to make a living, but if she used her talent in advertising, graphic design, computer animation . . .” She shook her head. “But she didn’t want to hear any of that.”
“Maybe none of it resonated with her.”
“That’s the trouble.” Eden pushed her empty plate aside. “Nothing resonates with her, at least not for long.”
“At least she tries things, and she’s getting an education. I gather she’s willing to let your parents help with that?”
“Actually, she’d rather have gone traveling, picking up jobs along the way. But Mom and Dad were horrified at that idea. They place so much value on a university education. Kelsey said she’d try it out, as long as she could at least live somewhere interesting rather than go to the University of Ottawa like I did.” Her mouth twisted. “When she talks about McGill, it’s more about her friends, exploring Montreal, having fun, than her studies.”
As compared to him, who’d been so single-focused. For him, learning to fly was all the fun he’d wanted. Maybe he’d missed out on some things, yet he wasn’t envious of Kelsey. “I feel kind of sorry for people who haven’t found that one thing they really want to do.”
“Hmm. Maybe that’s what she’s waiting for. I just always thought she should pick something and commit to it.”
“Hard to do if you’re not passionate about it.”
“I suppose. Maybe she should see a career counselor.”
“Maybe. I admit I’d like to see Miranda settled on a career path. But she’s twenty-six and she has a kid. Kelsey still has time. If she tries different things, she may stumble across the one that’s special for her. And then she’ll be motivated to work for it.”
“I hope so. I want her to find something that’ll make her happy and financially secure.”
As they went to the kitchen to make coffee to accompany dessert, Eden said, “What did Kelsey say about you and me?”
He let her deal with the coffee machine and took the tarte tatin from the fridge. “That I’m good for you because I got you to lighten up.” He cut two slices of dessert. “I just wish your parents felt the same way.”
“You know it’s not personal. They’re afraid I might move away.”
“Yeah. And yet they didn’t have a problem with Kelsey going to Montreal for school.”
“They protested but gave in when they realized it was the only way she’d agree to go to university. Besides, I’m the older one, the reliable one. They’ve always counted on me and I’ve always been there for them. Even though they complained about Kelsey being flighty, they kind of let her get away with it. Each parent-child dynamic is different, I think.”
Probably Eden had liked being the good child, the mature one, the one her parents relied on. Was there any way that pattern could now be broken, so that she’d seriously consider moving away from Ottawa?
He sighed, wishing he and Eden could have a normal relationship where they could just see how things developed rather than being haunted by life-changing issues.
“We’d better eat our dessert,” he said. “You’ve got that call with Di at eight.”
Helen Blaine and Di SkySong had been Skyping almost every day, and introductions had been made so that now Helen’s husband, her daughters, and Seal SkySong had all spoken to each other. Di had said she so badly wished she could fly to Ottawa for a visit, but their SkySong retreat was fully booked and she couldn’t leave until into the fall.
Eden hadn’t had a chance to talk to Di privately and she wanted to do that. And so, after finishing dessert, she took a second cup of coffee to her office to Skype Di. Aaron did the dishes and tidied up the kitchen, then went into Eden’s living room.
Her apartment was comfortable. Relatively spacious. Large windows. Of course the view was of condominiums and town houses. No ocean. No forest. No hummingbirds, but maybe they’d come if he hung a feeder. They did to the feeders outside her parents’ kitchen window, but then that house had a garden.
He picked up the book he’d started, giving one of Eden’s legal thrillers a try, and sat on the couch. Though he’d tried the balcony once, the sound of traffic got on his nerves.
Damn, he was being picky and negative. He had found a number of positive things about Ottawa and should focus on those. Of course the one huge draw was Eden.
“Aaron?” she called from down the hall. “Come say hi to Di.”
Eager to escape his thoughts, he went, pulling up a chair to sit beside Eden at her desk. Di smiled at him from the screen of Eden’s laptop, her slender face, bright blue eyes, and long brown-and-silver hair familiar and yet distorted a little by technology.
“Hey, Di,” he said. “This is weird, eh?”
“I know. It’s like a parallel universe, seeing you somewhere other than Destiny. Or in the air, like you’re a bird.”
He grinned at her. She might co-manage a moderately successful business, but a good part of her was still a hippie, the same as Seal. “Yeah, a bird. That’s me.”
“So, you and my niece. Tiny, bitty universe, isn’t it?”
“Maybe.” If it were, there wouldn’t be so many kilometers between his home and Eden’s.
“Aunt Di,” Eden said, “when I was trying to track you down, I talked to a lot of people who’d been members of the commune, or had contact with it.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It sounded like Merlin wasn’t the greatest guy. Like maybe he abused some of the women.”
Di blinked and didn’t speak for a moment. “Why do you want to know about Merlin?”
Eden sighed and exchanged a glance with Aaron, who leaned over to put his arm around her shoulders. “At first, I was concerned that something might have happened to you,” Eden said.
When Di didn’t respond, Eden went on. “Now, I admit it’s just curiosity. Once I see a puzzle, I want to figure out the answer.”
Aaron, the reader of mysteries, added his voice. “Me too.”
Di shook her head. “It was a long time ago. Best to let it be.”
“Why?” Eden asked. “If it was so long ago, what does it matter now?”
Di glanced away from the screen, making Aaron wonder if Seal was in the room. She sighed. “I suppose it doesn’t. Okay, then. In the beginning, I found Merlin charismatic.”
A male snort sounded, she glanced away, and then turned back to the screen. “Seal always figured the guy was a poser and it was all about power and feeding his own ego. Seal butted heads with Merlin a time or two.”
“Oh!” Eden gasped.
“What?” Di asked.
Eden turned to Aaron. “Azalea gave us the clues whether she intended to or not. Not just the song, ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ but she also said something about ‘Barry, hairy, quite contrary,’ and bull seals barking at each other. Remember?”
“Now that you mention it,” Aaron agreed. “Damn, I should’ve picked up on that.”
“Did Azalea say anything else?” Di asked, her voice strained.
“Not that made sense,” Eden replied. “But please go on, Aunt Di. I’m sorry I interrupted.”
“As I said, Seal always had his doubts about Merlin. I was more wide-eyed in the beginning, but then I came to agree with Seal. We were in the minority. Lots of the boys emulated Merlin and lots of the girls wanted to be his lover.”
Eden must have wrinkled her nose or made some other expression of distaste because Di said, “You don’t know the times, Eden. We had mind-altering drugs. The Pill was brand-new and we’d never heard of AIDS. Free love wasn’t just available, it was almost a commandment we lived by.” She turned her head, an affectionate, mischievous smile on her lips, confirming that indeed Seal was beside her. “Seal and me as well. We weren’t into fidelity. But in the end, it was always us. Soul mates.”
“I’m happy for you,” Eden said. “But did Merlin abuse some of the women?”
Di’s jaw tightened. When she spoke, her words came more slowly. “He abused his power. There was a lot of sexual experimentation. Some rough sex. Some dom-sub stuff. Not just with Merlin, but other men and women, too. Some people liked it, some didn’t. People who didn’t like it generally left the commune.” Di paused. “Then Merlin himself left.”
“Why would he do that, when he was the wizard who ruled the Enchantery?” Eden asked.
Di started slightly at the mention of that secret name. “Who knows? Maybe he was bored with us. We were kind of a mess. After he left, we tried to carry on. We didn’t want a leader and said decisions should be consensual. Except everyone had different ideas and values.” She was speaking more freely now. “Some wanted to be more organized, to get efficient at growing food and homeschooling their kids. Others just wanted the ‘sex, drugs, and rock and roll.’”
“Not us, of course,” Seal said from out of sight.
“Aunt Di,” Eden said, “do you remember a girl named Starshine?”
Maybe it was due to the technology, but it seemed to Aaron that Di’s facial muscles froze before she said, “No. There were lots of hippie names and it was so long ago.”
“Seal?” Eden said.
“Me either,” came his answer.
Eden continued. “I spoke to Gertie Montgomery. She told me you brought Starshine to the medical clinic, Aunt Di.”
Di gave a smile that looked forced. “Ah, Gertie. So sad about the Alzheimer’s. You can’t trust anything she says.”
“We talked to her in the morning,” Aaron put in. “She seemed pretty lucid to me.”
“And to me,” Eden said. “She said the hippies from the commune almost never came to the clinic, so this was memorable. Gertie said the girl’s name was Starshine and she had long, whitish-blond hair. She’d miscarried and was bleeding badly.”
As Eden spoke, it seemed to Aaron that Di’s blue eyes grew wider, her expression tenser.
Eden continued. “Gertie thought she might have been abused, maybe kicked. She was afraid there might be internal injuries and she advised you to bring Starshine back in a day or two. But neither of you came back. Was the baby Merlin’s, Aunt Di? Did he beat Starshine and was that why she miscarried?”
“How would I know who she was sleeping with?” Di snapped. “Like I said, everyone slept with everyone.” Aaron noticed she no longer denied knowing Starshine.
“Weren’t you concerned about her? You took her to the clinic, yet you let her go back to someone who may have abused her.”
Di closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. When she dropped her hand and opened her eyes, she said, “I talked to her after we went to the clinic. I said if someone had abused her, she should report him. She said she loved the guy and he loved her. In those days, we weren’t so savvy about sexual abuse. Even now, you know perfectly well that it’s rough on the victim. How does she convince anyone that she didn’t consent to sex, to rough sex, to whatever?”
Aaron’s jaw clenched. He hated that abusers so often got away with it.
“I know,” Eden said. “It’s a terrible situation. So, what did happen to Starshine? Was she okay?”
“She healed after the miscarriage. And she left the commune. I think it was fairly soon after that, wasn’t it, Seal?” She glanced away.
Seal said, “Yeah, I think.”
“Do you know where she went?” Eden asked.
Aaron stifled a smile. She really was tenacious when she wanted answers.
Di shrugged and said impatiently, “People came and went, who knows where? She’s definitely not on Destiny, that’s for sure.”
“And she might have gone back to her real name,” Eden said thoughtfully. “Do you happen to know what that was?”
“Haven’t a clue,” Di said quickly. “Eden, I’m afraid your curiosity is going to have to go unsatisfied this time. Can’t you be content with having found me and Seal?”
Eden gave a small laugh. “I suppose I’ll have to be, won’t I?”
* * *
Aaron’s expression was faraway, kind of wistful. Eden, sitting on a picnic rug beside him at Hog’s Back Park, felt distanced by it.
It was late Thursday afternoon. He had spent the day at the Aviation and Space Museum, and then he’d picked her up and driven to this scenic park, bringing along a sushi dinner. They had avoided the neat lawns and picnic tables with noisy families and instead found a more wildernessy area. It was lovely and peaceful here on the big rocks by a river, under the shade of a leafy tree.
But Eden’s mind wasn’t at peace. Tomorrow, Aaron would be back on Destiny Island. That had to be weighing on his mind, as it was on hers. What would happen to the two of them? She put down the plastic box of takeout sushi she’d been nibbling from. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
He blinked, as if he was bringing himself back to her. “Nothing.”
“Aaron, I saw it on your face.”
He leaned forward to wrap his arms around his knees. “It’s nothing big. Just that I miss the smell of the ocean. It’s not that I was even so conscious of it on Destiny.”
“I was. I guess because it was foreign to me.”
“Now that you say that, I remember noticing it when I first moved to the island. In Vancouver, the ocean was right there, too, but on Destiny there are no city smells to interfere with it. It’s fresh and pure. But anyhow, I guess over the years it just . . . became part of me. It’s the air I breathe. So I stopped noticing it. Until it wasn’t there anymore.”
She copied his posture, dropping her head to rest on her bent knees. “What’s going to become of us?”
He turned his head sideways toward her. “Guess we do have to talk about that?”
She met his gaze. “I do.”
“Okay,” he said resignedly. “I get it. You don’t want to waste time in a relationship that might not have a future.”
She grimaced. “That sounds so harsh.”
“Tell me it’s not true,” he challenged.
“I suppose,” she admitted reluctantly. “Especially not a relationship that’s so difficult.”
“I really do get it. I mean, if we carry on, what do we do? Skype. Have phone sex and—”
“Seriously?”
“Well, yeah. We’re lovers. No need to go without sex, right?”
“Uh, I suppose not.” Phone sex? Was she capable of being that uninhibited? Probably. She’d learned all sorts of things about herself since she’d met Aaron. But she couldn’t believe phone sex would be anywhere near as satisfying as actual physical intimacy. She imagined curling up in her bed afterward, the phone to her ear as they talked. No warm body spooning her, no soft breath brushing her neck.
He’d resumed eating his sushi and she forced herself to do the same. Between bites, he said, “I’m glad I came. This week’s been good. I saw you on your turf, learned a lot more about your job and your city. Met your family.”
“Which wasn’t an unmixed blessing.”
“Yeah, well, Miranda isn’t happy about you either.”
His sister was upset that he was here with Eden rather than back home. No doubt Miranda felt as threatened by her as Eden’s parents felt by Aaron. “Family approval would sure be nice,” she grumbled.
“We’re adults. We don’t need family approval.”
“I know. It’s not like moving away from them equals abandonment. There’s Skype, texts, email, flights.”
He put down his empty sushi container. “Which one of us are you thinking of?”
“Moving?” She handed her own half-finished sushi to him. “Either, right now. I mean, I’m trying to imagine different futures. If I moved . . . Well, Mom’s doing well. Her health’s improving and so’s her state of mind since she and Aunt Di have reunited. I like Destiny Island and I think I could feel at home there. I’m sure I could find work, something that uses my law degree and feels worthwhile to me. Maybe with a charity or nonprofit.”
He touched her arm, his fingers warm and firm. “That’s terrific that you’re considering it.”
“Only considering,” she warned. “It would be hard. How about you? Are you considering moving?”
“Only all the time,” he said wryly. “Sure, there are things to like about Ottawa and the area around it. I did some checking and I could probably get a job flying. Bush pilot stuff and tourist scenic flights.”
“What about Blue Moon Air?”
His shoulders tensed. “I’d hate to give it up. I built it, Eden. When I was a messed-up teen, it never occurred to me that I could build a business of my own, doing something I loved.”
“Maybe you could sell it and use the money to start something similar, based here.” But could she really imagine him doing that? It struck her that asking Aaron to live here would be like caging an eagle in a zoo. It might survive, but it wouldn’t thrive and be happy.
“Maybe.” He gave her a tired smile. “Lots of maybes, eh?”
She nodded. “I know it’s way too early to make decisions, but I don’t do well with uncertainty.”
He gave a soft laugh. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
When he put his arm around her shoulders, she leaned into him. “Even if the problems seem . . . well, not insurmountable but big,” she said, “I can’t imagine saying good-bye.”
“Me either. So we won’t. I can take more time off work every now and then, come out and visit you.”
“If I took an extra day when there are long weekends, I could fly to Destiny.”
“Good. Seeing each other would be good. In addition to the Skyping and, you know”—he squeezed her—“the phone sex.”
* * *
Friday evening, Aaron smoothed dark curls from his niece’s forehead and planted a kiss on her soft mocha skin. “Sleep tight, Fairy-ana.” That had been his nickname for Ariana since she’d become obsessed with stories about fairies. He’d often wondered if that fascination tied in with a subconscious desire to have wings and magic so she could fly away from some of the not-so-nice apartments she and her mom had lived in. Now, though, she was safely tucked up in a toddler bed in the middle of a forest that, while it might not be enchanted, was full of beauty.
Too bad his sister didn’t feel the same way. Miranda pulled the curtains with a brisk swish. “All the trees and the darkness and the freaking silence out there creeps me out. I don’t know how you can live out here.”
“All the city lights, traffic, sirens, and drunks on the street would drive me nuts,” he shot back.
“Whatever.”
They returned to the kitchen and, working together with the ease of long practice, cleared the table and did the dishes. When he’d arrived home late that afternoon, he’d been greeted by his T-shirt–clad sister, his adorable niece, a house that had never been so clean, and the aroma of tuna casserole. It had been one of his and Miranda’s standbys as kids. They’d been able to stretch one tin of bargain tuna, another of cheap cream of mushroom soup, and a mess of bulk pasta into two dinners for both of them.
He’d told Miranda to help herself to the stash of cash in his bedroom drawer and he didn’t like it that his sister was still eating this way. But at least she’d used more tuna, as well as some chopped mushrooms and onions, and she’d grated cheddar cheese on top, as well as adding a side of steamed broccoli.
After the dishes were done, she made a pot of tea and they went into the living room. Aaron took a chair and Miranda curled into one end of the couch, tucking her legs up. She was pale and thin, her body almost disappearing inside the oversized gray T-shirt that she tugged down over loose shorts. Her blond hair straggled past her shoulders, limp and dull. Her bluish-gray eyes, always a shade bluer than his, had mauve shadows beneath them. Despite the dragon tattooed on her arm, the symbol of her strength, she looked miserable.
“You’re settling in okay?” he asked. “Despite hating the trees and all.”
She nodded. “Lionel helped me with a few things. He’s a good guy. He and his girlfriend had us over for dinner a couple of nights ago.” She fiddled with the hem of her tee. “She’s nice, too, Marlise. She told me about a couple of part-time jobs where I could take Ariana with me.”
“I told you, you don’t have to get a job. I’d rather you took some courses.”
“Yeah, I will. I have to, right? I mean, I’m sucking at the whole motherhood thing.” She sounded uncharacteristically fragile.
“You’re a good mother. But you’d give Ariana a better life if you could get a decent job.”
“I know.”
Much as it annoyed him when she was snippy with him, it felt weird to hear resignation rather than her usual sassy tone.
“Anyhow,” she said, “I can do both. A part-time job and some courses. One of the jobs Marlise mentioned is at a day care.”
“Aside from being a mom, you don’t have any training for that.”
“I know. But I love kids, and that might be a good job for me in the future. There are loads of day cares in Vancouver and it’s perfect work for a mom with a little kid. Some are unlicensed, but I’d want to get proper training. I mean, looking after kids is important, right?”
“For sure.” They exchanged a meaningful look. Too bad neither their mom nor their grandparents had believed that.
She went on. “I can do some research and find out what kind of courses I’d need to take. They’re sure to be available online. I mean, everything is.”
“Great plan,” he enthused.
A tentative smile flickered. “I have a plan. How about that?”
“What’s the other job?”
“It’s at Blowing Bubbles, the cool store where I got the toddler bed. They sell stuff like that, and kids’ clothes and toys. The owner and the other woman who works there both bring their little ones to work, but the employee’s going on maternity leave. Marlise phoned me today to say she’d talked to the owner and I can go in for an interview tomorrow. With Ariana.”
“Go to the hairdresser first, okay?”
She perked up enough to glare at him, but then the energy faded from her face. “I don’t know if I can take a job in the village. Seeing as your house is out here in the boonies, where the bus only comes by a couple times a day.”
“We’ll get you a car.”
The old Miranda roared back with a vengeance. “Jesus H, Aaron! I’m trying to pay you rent, not have you buy me a freaking car!”
He rolled his eyes. “Gimme a break, Sis. I wasn’t going to buy you a new Ferrari. There’s a bunch of used cars around. I’m sure we can find something that’s cheap and in decent shape.”
“It might be cheaper for me to rent a room near the village.” She dipped her head like it was too heavy to hold up.
Something stopped him from uttering another protest.
She raised her head again and said softly, “But I don’t want to. Aaron, this is really hard for me to say, but I need you. I feel like I’m . . . foundering. Floundering? What’s the word?” Not waiting for an answer, she went on. “I’ve been trying to hold it together for so long and I’ve run out of energy. Confidence. Pride, I guess. I need you.”
“You’ve got me. Always. You know that.”
Her head dipped again so he couldn’t see her expression. “But you’re dating this woman in Ottawa. You went to see her, so it must be serious.”
“It’s . . . new, but yeah, it feels like it could be serious.”
“Wow. I’ve never heard you say that before.”
“I’ve never felt it before,” he admitted.
She nibbled a cuticle. “So I guess I’m happy for you. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I’ve ever had.”
“You don’t sound so happy. What’s wrong?”
She hunched her shoulders and dropped her head, not meeting his eyes.
“If you’re worried she’ll come between us,” he said, “it’s not going to happen. It’s a whole different thing. Girlfriend. Sister. Different relationships.” He wasn’t explaining it well, but hopefully she knew what he meant. “Eden has a sister, too. She gets it.”
“Would she move here?”
“It’s a possibility. If, you know, we get really serious about each other.”
In a voice that was barely more than a mumble, she said, “What about you moving there?”
He would never lie to his sister. “That’s another possibility.”
She said something he didn’t catch.
“Miranda? What did you say?”
Her head lifted and he saw tears on her cheeks. “I’m a horrible sister. You’re so nice to me and I’m so mean to you, but I don’t know how Ariana and I would survive without you.”
What had happened to his ballsy little sister? He hadn’t seen her so vulnerable since she was thirteen and cutting her arm with a razor blade—not, she’d assured him when he caught her, as a suicide attempt but so she could feel in control of one tiny part of her life. He went over and gathered her into an awkward hug. “No matter where I live, you’ll always have me.”
She kind of burrowed into him, her face buried against his chest, sobbing. He felt the heat of her skin, the fragility of the bones in her back, the dampness of her tears soaking into his T-shirt. “Hey, Sis, it’s going to be okay.”
They’d been tough kids and they’d turned into tough adults. This depression and insecurity she was going through wouldn’t last. Miranda the dragon girl would recover her spirit and things would be back to normal. She’d leave Destiny, the place she’d always hated, and reassert her independence. She’d cheer him on in his relationship with Eden.
Yeah, it’d happen. Even if right now she was crying so hard it felt like her frail body was about to shake apart.