Riley: Had coffee with a college friend who reached out to me on social. It was my first casual friend thing in months.
Talon's chest tightened with pride and something else—something that felt uncomfortably like jealousy. She was expanding her world, reaching out to other people. It was what he wanted for her, what she needed for her recovery. But part of him hadgrown accustomed to being her primary link to the outside world.
Talon: How did it go?
Riley: Better than expected. Almost felt normal.
Normal—the word she'd been chasing for months. She was getting there, piece by piece, moment by moment.
Talon: You are normal, Riley. You just went through something abnormal.
He thought she needed to hear it, needed someone to remind her that trauma didn't define her, didn't make her broken.
Riley: When did you become so wise?
Talon: I have a good teacher.
Riley: Who?
Talon: This incredibly strong woman I know.
The helicopter rideover the Arctic landscape was supposed to be routine transport after a long, cold mission, but the northern lights had appeared like magic. The dancing lights turned the entire sky into a canvas of green and gold. Talon found himself thinking about Riley immediately and how shewould react to this kind of natural beauty. He imagined how her eyes would light up.
Talon: Currently watching the northern lights from a helicopter. Absolutely surreal.
Riley: That sounds amazing.
Talon: Wish you were here to see it.
The words were typed, and he hit send. They were honest and vulnerable and completely unlike his usual careful communication style.
Riley: Really?
Yes, really.He wished she were there, wished she were everywhere he went, wished he could show her all the beautiful and terrible and extraordinary things he saw in his work. Well, maybe not the terrible, but he’d come to understand the terrible in the world made the extraordinary things that much more amazing.
Talon: Really. Some things are too beautiful to experience alone.
Riley: That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me in a long time.
If that was the nicest thing anyone had said to her lately, then everyone else in her life was failing her spectacularly. She deserved to hear beautiful things every day. He needed to step up his game.
Talon: Then people aren't paying attention.
Because anyone who was paying attention would see what he saw—strength, intelligence, humor, resilience, beauty inside and out. Riley was an amazing person, and the fact that she didn’t know it made him want to prove it to her.
June
Riley: Started taking self-defense classes.
Talon nearly dropped his phone. After everything she'd been through, she was choosing to learn how to fight and protect herself. Go, woman, go. That was fucking determination at its best.
Talon: Good for you. How's it going?
He was so proud of her that he could hardly contain it. This was huge, not just the physical aspect, but the psychological step of taking control.
Riley: Harder than I thought. But empowering.
Exactly what she needed. She needed to feel powerful instead of powerless. Strong instead of vulnerable.
