"You're spoiling us," Hank said, already flipping the lid open."Please never stop."
They ate sitting on their makeshift seats, dirt ground into the knees of their jeans, ash smeared on Colby's forearms, crumbs accumulating on Sabrina's fingers.The sandwiches were perfect, substantial and satisfying, the kind of food that actually filled you up instead of just taking the edge off.
The conversation drifted from nothing important, sports scores, and an upcoming race Brian was competing in, to something more substantial.Lila's plans for the café's fall menu, which apparently involved experimental soups and a new line of seasonal pastries.Bree's latest sketch project, relayed secondhand through Lila with wild hand gestures and sound effects.
"You know," Lila said at one point, shading her eyes and looking out over the cleared land, "I can already see the cabins.Right there along the rise, where the old oak tree is.They're very charming in my imagination."
"Same," Hank said, following her gaze."Rustic without being creepy.Good bones, nice porches.Maybe one really good porch swing for sitting and watching the sunset."
Sabrina swallowed a bite of sandwich that suddenly felt enormous in her throat."You two are way ahead of me.I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that this could actually happen."
"Not ahead," Lila said gently."Beside.You get to set the pace, Sabrina.We'll just be over here, ready with muffins and muscle whenever you need them."
Hank lifted his cup of iced tea."To Norman House Cabins."
Sabrina stared at him."You're really doing this.All of you.You're really just...committing to believing this is possible."
"Yep," Hank said simply."You took care of people for a long time.Made them feel welcome.Made them feel like they mattered.It's your turn now."
Something inside Sabrina, something that had always been braced for the other shoe to drop, for the inevitable disappointment, for the moment when people revealed they didn't actually mean what they said...eased.
Not all the way.Maybe not ever, all the way.But enough.
She looked around at the small gathering.At Hank, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his wrist, dirt streaked along his cheekbone like war paint.At Lila, kicking her heel absently against the overturned bucket, her eyes bright with the satisfaction of feeding people she cared about.At Colby, sitting close enough that his knee brushed hers every time he shifted, his gaze open and steady when it found hers.
She felt it then.The quiet click of something settling into place.
Belonging.
Not as the innkeeper who put on a good show for guests and retreated to her room alone at the end of every night.Not as the woman Gavin had spent years trying to mold into something smaller and more manageable, something that fit neatly into his plans.
Just as herself.Sabrina.Whoever that turned out to be.
"Thank you," she said, and the words felt impossibly small for the weight of what these people had given her.
Lila smiled, the expression warm and uncomplicated."We're selfish.We like having you here."
"Speak for yourself," Hank said."I'm just here for the cookies."
She laughed, and the sound came out free and easy, surprising her with its lightness."Liar."
Colby watched her, his expression softening in a way that made her stomach flip pleasantly.There was pride in his eyes.And something deeper, something she didn't dare name yet but could feel growing between them like a living thing.
He nudged her knee with his."You look good out here."
"Covered in dirt and probably smelling like smoke?"she asked.
"Happy," he said."You look happy."
Her breath caught in her chest."I kind of am," she admitted."Which is weird, right?Given everything.It feels like I shouldn't be allowed to feel happy yet."
"Happy doesn't mean healed," he said."It just means you're still alive enough to feel things.That's allowed."
The admission had surprised her when it came out, but it was true.Her muscles ached from the work.Her hands were scratched and dirty.Her heart still carried bruises from everything that had happened, scars that would probably never fully fade.
But surrounded by these people, on this land that had been her family's for generations, with a future she could almost see if she squinted hard enough...she felt something she hadn't felt in longer than she could remember.
Rooted.
