"The woods."
"Yeah, but also..." I gestured vaguely at the tent walls, the sounds of the town beyond. "This. I've been so focused on hating Firefly… I ignored the people who were trying."
I had to take a breath as my heart climbed into my throat. Nick waited, his thumb running over my knuckles.
“Pops.” My voice cracked a little. “And now I've got these three knuckleheads who think I'm a wilderness guru. I don’t think Pops could have known back then, but he prepared me for this. Is it cheesy to say I want to continue his legacy?”
“Yeah.” I could hear the grin. “But it’s sweet.”
We lay there in the quiet, hands linked between our sleeping bags. I could hear my own heartbeat, feel the weight of everything unsaid still hanging between us. If somebody had said it’d be a flatlander that’d win me over in Firefly, I would have laughed. But here we were, two outsiders finding one another in a small town in Maine.
“Eventually, Lacie's going to head back to Vanguard,” he continued. This was the conversation that hung out in the shadows, just out of reach. I had avoided giving it any thought. “She's got work, her life. And you... I don't know what happens after your mom's back on her feet.”
"I don't either," I admitted. The storefront flashed before my eyes. The bay window, the "For Sale" sign, and the image of Pops standing outside admiring my hard work. It was so fresh I didn’t dare mention it. I didn’t want to breathe life into it to watch it fail. “Eventually I’ll find another shop.” It left the specifics unspoken.
“It’s a lot,” he admitted.
“A lot,” I agreed. “So, what do we do?" I didn’t add the ‘with us,’ but I hope it had been implied.
“Right now, I'm here. With you. In a tent in the middle of Firefly Valley's town green. Can that be enough for now?”
Things had changed drastically for us since arriving in Firefly. The old me would have called it a fun time and moved on. Relationships had always been a temporary situation. The new version of me? Maybe some strings holding me down weren’t a bad thing. There were lengthy conversations ahead of us, but like he said, right now we were here, together.
“It’s enough.”
I sat up, reaching for my sleeping bag zipper. "Come here."
"What?"
"Just—" I unzipped it fully, spreading it open. "Come here."
Nick hesitated for a second before he moved, sliding out of his own sleeping bag and into mine. We were a tangle of limbs at first, trying to figure out the logistics, both of us too big to fit comfortably. But then he settled with his back against my chest, my arm draped over his waist, and everything clicked into place.
"Okay?" I whispered against his shoulder.
"Yeah." His hand found mine where it rested on his stomach, lacing our fingers together. "More than okay."
His breathing gradually evened out, deepening into sleep. But I stayed awake a while longer, holding him, feeling the weight of him in my arms while the threat of tomorrow pressed down on me.
I didn't have answers. Could I really stay in Firefly, or was I fooling myself? Would Nick return to a life in Vanguard, leaving me behind? Would we stay in the other’s orbit despite distance? The questions tried to press in, but as this burly man started snoring, the questions vanished.
Right now, in this tent, with this man in my arms and the sounds of a town that maybe—just maybe—could feel like home surrounding us?
Right now was enough.
INK ON THE GREEN
Ronnie: Why can’t we go?
Jeff: You owe us.
Matt: Yeah. Why can’t we go?
Jeff: See! Even Matt wants to go this time!
Ronnie: He wants to summon Beatrice.
Matt: We don’t say her name!
