“You okay?” he asks, voice low.
I nod. “Yeah.”
His mouth curves in a soft smile — the kind that feels like it’s for me and only me.
He leans down and kisses me once more, slow and tender, before pulling the blanket around us and settling at my side. My head rests against his shoulder, our legs tangled, the cold kept at bay by warmth and closeness and something deeper I’m not ready to name.
For a long time, we just breathe.
Eventually, I lift my camera—almost without thinking—and snap a photo of him. Not posed, not prepared. Just Kendrick looking at me like he’s seeing something he never expected.
When I check the screen… my chest tightens hard.
It’s the best photo I’ve ever taken.
And I know — painfully, clearly — that it’s also the one I’ll never be able to show.
Not without telling the whole truth.
EIGHT
KENDRICK
I don’t sleep.
I drift for an hour at most, half-dreaming of water and her hands and the way she’d whispered my name against my skin — but every time I start to fall deeper, my body jolts awake like it’s remembering she’s not there.
When the sun finally edges through the curtains, pale and cold, I give up.
I throw on a shirt, find my boots, and wander into the kitchen where Gran is already stirring a pot on the stove.
She doesn’t look at me at first. She doesn’t have to.
“You’re pacing,” she says, which is impressive considering I haven’t moved more than five steps since entering the room.
“I’m not pacing.”
“You are,” she repeats, tapping the spoon gently against the pot. “Has something got you twisted up?”
“No.”
She hums — the kind of hum that means she absolutely doesn’t believe me.
I open the fridge. Close the fridge. Shift my weight. Exhale too sharply.
Gran turns, leaning on the counter with her elbows. “Is this about the photographer?”
I freeze. “No.”
“That’s a shame,” she says. “You seemed lighter yesterday. Happier.”
“I’m always the same amount of happy.”
She gives me a dry look. “You came home last night looking like your heart had been wrung out and hung up to dry.”
“That’s dramatic.”
“True, though.”
