He was still trying to figure out what to say next when Mira drew a deep breath. "How 'bout we get this cooler up to the cabin? I think I might need some help carrying it."
Dane could have lifted it onto his shoulder and carried it himself, but it was less awkward with two people. So when she picked up one end, he took the other.
It was easy to fall into step with her. She was clearly used to doing this kind of work with other people, and he recalled that she had said she was a military veteran. She had lots of practice at working as part of a team.
At the cabin, Dane filled the cooler with cold spring water, and left it in the shade. "That'll keep our drinks cool for this evening."
Mira laughed. "You know, I thought I was roughing it onMerrylegs, with just a tiny little galley and a refrigerator no taller than my knee. But you don't have any electricity here at all, do you? How do you deal with it?"
He shrugged. "It just is what it is. I like the peace and quiet."
"Have you ever thought about maybe adding solar panels or a generator or something?"
In all honesty, hehadthought about it, but he stopped himself every time his thoughts started to go down that road. Planning infrastructure for the cabin went along with daydreams about settling down and staying here for years. And he couldn't afford that kind of thinking.
As long as he lived in the moment and wanted nothing, he could move on whenever he needed to.
"No point, if I don't know how long I'm staying," he said.
There was a strangely disappointed look in her eyes. He wished he could soothe it away with his fingertips. "Are you planning on leaving?" she asked.
"I don't know. I can never be sure."
Comprehension dawned on her face, along with a look of sympathy. "Because you don't know when they might find you."
Dane gave a simple nod.
"How can you stand to live that way?" Mira asked.
"I just do. I don't have a choice."
"But surely there's some way to get them off your back. Maybe you could hire a lawyer."
At that, he could have laughed, except he never could have borne laughing at his mate. And she wouldn't be able to understand why the thought was absurd. How could he explain shifters to a lawyer, or subject their secret world to the legal system?
He teetered briefly on the edge of telling her everything. The orca. The training. All of it.
But what if she didn't believe him? What if she laughed athim?
"It just wouldn't work," he said more abruptly than he intended. "I'm going to work in the garden for a while."
"Wait," Mira said. She put a gentle hand on his arm, and his resistance crumbled at her soft touch. "May I come with you? I'm feeling a lot better today, and I don't think I'd tire so quickly. I would really like to help you in return for all the help you've given me."
"Sure," he said gruffly.
In truth he could no more have said no to her than he could have launched himself into the air and taken flight, as an orca or a man.
* * *
It was strange to him how easy it was, working side by side with Mira in the garden.
She had immediately backed off from asking him questions as soon as she realized it was distressing him. Instead, they settled into a relaxed and easy rapport. They had done most of the necessary cleanup from the storm yesterday, but there was still work to do. Water had to be carried from the spring, weeds needed to be pulled, the stones around the carefully delineated garden plots had to be cleaned of moss to keep everything looking nice.
"I know you don't plan to stay," Mira said quietly as they surveyed their work and he indulged in a rare feeling of contented satisfaction in the garden's tidiness. "But it seems to me that you've put in a lot of improvements on the island already. There's the garden, and the shower."
"No need to live more primitively than I have to."
Mira smiled. "You know what might be really nice, if we could get it from the boat? My loose books would have been destroyed in the sinking, of course." A sad look flickered across her face. "But I have a waterproof locker of books. We would just need to get it out ofMerrylegs's cabin somehow. It would be nice to have more books here."
