“Wait, you dowhat?”
“Seventy-five percent of my salary goes back to the organization. My boss Holly won’t let me return all of it. I tried, and she threatened to fire me.”
“That’s…really good of you.”
“Stop it. It costs me nothing, Claire. When I say I’m wealthy, I’m understating by a lot.”
For so long she’d thought he was an entire galaxy of contradictions, but he wasn’t contradictory at all. Each piece of his personality explained all the others. Claire couldn’t sort through the thoughts and feelings that filled her chest.
“Tell me about your mom.”
“She was great. She loved baking; her decorated cakes looked professional. She let me be…” He shrugged. “Myself. Especially my music—he thought it was a waste, but Mom loved it.”
He. It was the only thing he’d called his father. Not Dad, not so far.
Tai drew in a breath that shook, then let it out. Then he did it again.
“Tai?”
He glanced to the partition, to the corners of their booth. “Can we go outside?”
“Of course we can.”
They exited the café and stood on the sidewalk, bathed in sunshine and the random chatter of pedestrians, the coasting tires of cars searching for parallel parking in front of clustered downtown businesses and restaurants. Tai walked over to a tree and stood under it as if he needed a shield, and Claire followed.
“Hey,” she said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine now.” He pressed his palm to the trunk of the tree, then rocked in place a few times. “Sorry. Trying not to be dramatic, but I think I need space to move.”
Claire scanned her mental filing cabinet for ideas. “I’ve got just the place. I’ll drive.”
Tai went quiet on the drive away from downtown. Within twenty minutes, Claire was winding her car along the tree-lined drive into the state park they both knew well. Tai had been less than a mile from here at the waterfall with Peter. When she struck out on an uphill trail, he followed silently. Soon he was hounding her heels.
“Claire.” The first thing he’d said since they got into her car.
She turned back to face him. “Want to run?”
He nodded, and the hint of a smile tugged his mouth.
“We’re headed to a particular destination, so don’t outpace me, Speedy.”
“I won’t.”
Then they were darting at full speed, easily avoiding the few humans on the trail by slipping into the trees, then slipping back onto the path when they were truly alone. Claire took him up a sheer cliff, free climbing, propelling themselves higher, using the full power of their bodies. A climb that would take humans all day took them less than an hour. They weren’t dressed for it, but their ease of movement—not to mention their lack of sweat—kept their clothes mostly pristine.
At the top of the cliff, Claire spread out her arms. “Here you go. Space to move.”
No human hikers could make it up here without major equipment. They were too distant to overhear anyone on the trail, much less be overheard. And the view… Well, Claire hoped it would speak peace to Tai the way it always had to her.
“Oh,” he said quietly as he gazed out on the vista. Endless trees below them in every direction, a lake far off to the right that glittered diamond-like in the sunshine, mountains at the horizon, wreaths of clouds.
Tai sat on the edge, dangling his legs, swinging his feet in spite of his slip-on shoes. Claire removed her canvas wedges, which were equally likely to slip off and fall hundreds of feet. Barefoot, she sat beside him and set a hand on his thigh.
“Can we check in? You’ve been quiet for a while.”
Tai covered his hand with hers and met her eyes. “Thank you.”
“I hoped the climb would help you get through whatever that was.”
