He didn't have that ability. What he had was a quiet need to give her a person she would lean on.
He wanted to be someone she could count on.
Not the only one.
Seaton deserved a whole community protecting her and giving her a space to be...
To be herself.
He was still learning more about her, but he saw the moments when she didn't just hold back, but the moments when she pulled herself back in. Like she was afraid she'd said too much. Or done too much.
Her instinct was to check in with the people around her.
To make sure that she hadn't stepped over a line.
Or on someone's toes.
She seemed, in those moments, just so careful.
Lincoln walked up, almost a half-step ahead and then behind his friend.
He was trying to take one of the bags she was carrying, but she was having none of it.
She laughed and teased and Sam couldn't see a single moment when she was cautious.
He wanted that for Seaton, but he knew it wasn't going to happen over a dinner or a meal in the diner.
It was going to take time, and he had time to give.
It was also going to take Seaton wanting to step out of the shell she had around her.
That, he knew, was all going to be her decision about yes or no.
Her decision not just to step out but keep moving out of that protection.
"Sam?"
Startled, he looked toward her voice and saw her standing on the sidewalk under the warm light from the streetlamp. She had her arms wrapped around herself as if the light sweater she was wearing wasn't enough to keep her warm.
"Hey, Seaton. Thanks for coming."
He didn't wait for her to move, he crossed across the grass to meet her on the sidewalk.
He didn't expect her to close the distance.
Not yet.
And he was more than willing to do that work.
He stopped just a few inches short of her, his shoulders rising and falling with his breath. "I guess you can see that Lincoln is here."
She leaned forward a little and looked at the porch.
When she leaned back over her own feet, he could see just a hint of tension in her face.
"He asked if he could bring a friend and I thought he might bring one of the guys from Station Seven, but he brought a woman."
He heard the lift in his own voice.
