It was Portia.
I hesitated before answering, suddenly aware of how much had shifted since the last time we spoke.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, Joy,” she said smoothly. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“No,” I said. “Just waking up.”
“Good. Then I’ll be brief.” A pause. “We need to talk more about Montana.”
My pulse kicked. “Yes, we do.”
She chuckled softly. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
We arranged to meet later that morning at Dominion Hall—strictly business, she assured me. Logistics. Timelines. Details.
When I hung up, Micah was leaning against the window, arms folded, gaze angled toward the street below like he was keeping watch even when there was nothing specific to guard against.
He turned when he felt me looking at him.
“Portia,” I said. “She wants to meet about the flowers.”
His mouth tightened slightly. “Today?”
“Yes.” I hesitated, choosing my words carefully. “It’s … detailed. Logistical.”
He studied my face, searching for something I wasn’t entirely sure I knew how to name yet. Since the pier, since last night, he’d been watching me differently. Like he was alert for shifts in the ground beneath us.
“Do you want me there?” he asked.
The question surprised me—not because of the offer, but because of the way he said it.
Protective.
But I knew, with quiet certainty, that bringing him into that room—into Dominion Hall again, into Portia’s orbit—would be wrong. Not dangerous, exactly. Premature.
“I think,” I said slowly, “this one’s better if I go alone.”
He didn’t argue. That mattered more than I expected.
“All right,” he said after a beat. “Call me when you’re done.”
“I will.”
His hand brushed my hip as he passed me, grounding, familiar. “Be careful.”
I smiled faintly. “I always am.”
But as the words left my mouth, I wasn’t sure they were true anymore.
I went back to my condo first—showered, changed, let the hot water rinse away the night before, even though the weight of it all stayed lodged beneath my skin. By the time I dressed and headed back out, the city had fully shifted into day, sunlight sharpening everything into focus.
And when I arrived, Dominion Hall felt different this time.
Not because of the light—I’d seen it in full daylight before, had walked the path and met Micah outside under an open sky that made the place look almost benign. Almost like a very expensive home instead of a fortress.
This was something else.
