The desperate urge to pull it back and revise just one more time.
It doesn't come.
Instead, I feel... light.
Like I've been carrying a weight I didn't realize was there, and now it's gone.
The collection is done.
Whatever happens next is out of my hands.
I close my laptop and lean back against the couch cushions, letting out a breath I've been holding for days.
The common room is quiet this afternoon, most of the club out on runs or handling business.
Just me and my iPad and the lingering satisfaction of a job well done.
RJ is doing another perimeter check.
He's been doing a lot of those lately—more than usual, more than necessary.
Something's changed since the family dinner, since his meeting with my father.
He's more vigilant. More on edge. More careful about where I go and who I'm with.
I've asked him about it and he deflects every time.
"Don't worry about it."
"I'm handling it."
"Focus on your deadline."
Well, the deadline is done, and I'm tired of being kept in the dark.
"Hey, D."
I look up to find Njal standing at the edge of the seating area, two beers in hand.
He's freshly showered, his hair still damp, wearing jeans and a Raiders of Valhalla t-shirt that stretches across his broad shoulders.
Without his twin beside him, he looks somehow younger.
"Hey." I gesture to the spot beside me. "What's up?"
He settles onto the couch—not as close as he usually sits, I notice.
There's an odd distance between us that wasn't there before.
His knee bounces slightly, nervous energy he's trying and failing to hide.
"Saw you working." He hands me one of the beers. "Figured you could use a break."
"I actually just finished. Submitted everything to Greer about five minutes ago."
"No shit?" His face breaks into a genuine smile, and for a moment he's the same Njal I grew up with—the boy who taught me how to ride a bike, who let me win at video games when I was having a bad day, who once punched a kid twice his size for calling me a name. "That's huge, Dalla. Congratulations."
"Thanks." I take a sip of the beer, letting the cold bitterness wash away some of the lingering tension. "Now I just have to wait and see if she likes it."
