“Yeah, well, you know how things get confusing in liminal spaces.”
“Lim-what-now?”
Kol also shoved a spoonful of stew into his mouth. That was right, humans didn’t have those, or they rarely acknowledged them for what they were.
“It’s one of the trail names.” Piper swallowed behind her napkin and then went on with more gusto. “I was at work, and he was out hiking, and then we got into a huge argument about trees, so, no, it wasn’t romantic at all.”
As chuckles rose from the MacLeans, Kol watched Piper take another bite, this one with a finality to it. She might have just been adding in fictional bits, but there was enough truth in what she said, and he suddenly didn’t want her to remember their meeting that way at all.
“I didn’t know where I was,” he told the table. “Went for a hike, lost the trail, ended up near here. I wouldn’t admit it and argued with her, but she was right.”
“You crossed the border without getting caught?” Luis screwed up his face. “Did you get arrested?”
“Border? Oh, yeah, no, I missed the…the mounties, eh?”
Piper stifled a chuckle. “Canadians end up in our woods all the time. It happens more often than you think.”
“The point is,” Kol said a bit louder, “Piper knew just where we were, and despite my best efforts to be totally incompetent, she helped me anyway.”
“Of course she did,” her father said, voice filled with pride. “That’s what Pippy’s best at—being helpful.”
Kol caught Piper tense beside him as she stared down at her stew. “It’s more than that. She’s smart and meticulous and dedicated, and she really should have just left me out in the cold and let me suffer on my own, but she’s too thoughtful for that.”
Piper chuckled lightly, gaze still focused on her lap.
“Sounds like something I’d say to get lucky,” laughed Uncle Russ around a mouthful of food. “You just let her think you were lost so that you could score some points before you asked her out.”
Kol felt his brow narrow but kept the chill out of his voice. “No, I was being an ass.”
“You were just stressed,” said Piper quietly. “It was a…tough situation.”
“I was completely out of my element,” he said. “But Piper made me feel like I belonged. That’s what she does for everyone, even when they don’t deserve it.”
She glanced up at him from under her lashes, and Kol realized then that Piper’s eyes weren’t simply brown. They were the color of the earth, of a hopeful beginning and a comforting end, a better shelter than any tree’s bark, and more brilliant than amber. He could walk a thousand enchanted groves and never fine a color that would match just how her eyes looked then, like the safest, warmest place in this and every other plane of existence.
“And she’s beautiful too,” he murmured, leaning close.
Piper’s face flared bright red. “Stop it,” she giggled through lips bitten in bashfulness.
“Gross!” announced Michaela, and laughter erupted from the table, saving or damning them both, he wasn’t sure.
The MacLeans had a way of harping on things and then quickly pivoting away which is how the rest of dinner went. After, Kol meticulously loaded the dishwasher to Piper’s standards while she packed up leftovers, their glances catching and sending a shock right into his chest every time.
Then Michaela skipped into the kitchen and glommed onto Piper’s waist. “We’re having a sleepover tonight, right?”
Piper’s eyes went perfectly round and wide, pinging from Kol to her planner, sitting out on the counter. “That is what’s on the schedule for the eighteenth, isn’t it?” She brushed Michaela’s hair out of her eyes. “Do you have your sleeping bag? Kol needs a bed, so maybe you and I can bunk with Aunt Susan and Aunt Mindy.”
“But I just want to hang out with you,” the little girl whispered. “And the stars are in your bedroom.”
“I’ll sleep downstairs,” he offered.
“Oh, Kol, you don’t want to sleep down there with her brothers.”
“Yeah, they stink,” Michaela interjected.
“I’ll figure something out.” He smiled at her as reassuringly as possible, and after a few moments of hesitation, Piper agreed.
Kol ended up on an extra wide chair in the den, far enough away from Uncle Russ’s other kids for quiet. He found a throw and curled beneath it, shutting his eyes, and immediately missed Piper, but the thought of her happy kept him warm enough until he fell asleep.
