We turned our heads slowly—like a pair of teenagers caught behind the bleachers—and found Winnie standing three steps away with her arms crossed, her fake eyeball swinging on its string, and a suspicious amount of smugness in her eyes.
“Am I gonna have to steer this whole ship by myself or ... ?” she asked, her little hand slapping the outside of her thigh.
Selene choked on a laugh. I bit back a groan.
“I mean, I’m just saying ...” Winnie continued, adjusting her crooked pirate hat. “We’ve got a whole neighborhood of candy to plunder, and the lovebirds are smooching on the porch.”
Selene covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking with laughter.
I dragged a hand down my face and muttered, “She’s only five, right?”
“Five and highly observant,” Selene said.
Turning on her heel, Winnie said brightly, “C’mon, the captain doesn’t wait for romance.”
She stomped off down the sidewalk, hook hand raised in triumph.
I glanced at Selene, still breathless beside me.
“We should ...” I nodded toward the retreating pirate. “You know.”
“Right,” she said, smoothing her dress and grinning up at me. “Before she mutinies.”
I offered her my arm and Selene took it.
Together, we followed our fearless, one-eyed, seaweed-haired captain into the night.
THIRTY-NINE
SELENE
I stood barefootin the kitchen, one of Austin’s shirts hanging off my shoulders, sleeves rolled up past my elbows as I spooned batter into the waffle iron. The house smelled like cinnamon and browned butter, and the faint hum of something upbeat came from the living room—Austin, humming off-key through a mouthful of coffee.
Winnie was off with her dad for the weekend, with plans for rebuilding the fallen Fae kingdom in the woods behind the school playground. She’d packed two granola bars, a half-empty roll of duct tape, and a hand-drawn map that she insisted Brian take very seriously.
Brian had taken Winnie for his overnight, and I’d watched in awe as Brian and Austin shook hands. It still struck me how easy it could be if I just let thingsbe.
Now it was just the two of us in the morning. Quiet. Easy. Full.
The waffle iron hissed, steam curling into the air as I leaned back against the counter and watched him. He was lounging at the table now, his hair was still a little mussed from sleep, and he hadn’t bothered with shoes—just flannel pants and that worn gray T-shirt I liked a little too much.
He smiled at me like I was the sunrise.
It wasn’t flashy, this life we were building. It didn’t come with guarantees or perfect days, but I’d never felt safer.
Austin had been humming more lately. Sometimes I’d catch him running his hand along the doorway or fixing something he’d already fixed. Winnie had started asking for double tuck-ins—one from me and one from him. Then she’d whisper something about how he made the best monster voices and demand he do one more story before lights out.
Somehow, without planning it, we’d slid into something that felt suspiciously like forever.
The waffle iron clicked. I opened it, then glanced up when Austin’s voice drifted across the space between us.
“Hey,” he said.
I turned, catching the light in his eyes, the way his mouth tilted like he was holding back a secret. “Yeah?”
His brows furrowed. “Can I show you something?”
I smirked, bouncing my eyebrows at him. “Is it a sexy something?”
