Maggie let out a breath, shaky but lighter. “Don’t get smug.”
Maggie folded her arms tight, trying to hide the shiver. The wind tugged at her hair, cool against skin that still felt overheated from adrenaline. Her voice came out softer than she meant, carried off by the canyon air. “I feel so small, like nothing matters.”
Gwen finally looked at her. Eyes steady, unblinking, as vast and unyielding as the view itself. “Or maybeeverythingmatters, Maggie.”
The words hit harder than the height, harder than the endless drop below. Maggie turned back to the canyon fast, blinking against the sting in her eyes. The expanse stretched out forever, but it was Gwen’s voice echoing in her head — quiet, certain, impossible to shut out.
The wind whipped harder at the rim, tugging Maggie’s hair across her face. She kept her eyes fixed on the canyon, on the impossible sprawl of it, because looking at Gwen again felt too dangerous. Gwen’s words were still lodged in her chest like a splinter she couldn’t pry out.
“It kind of reminds me of Santa Fe,” Maggie said. “The colors.” She knew it was a gamble to mention their honeymoon — gambling with whose heart, she didn’t know — but she wanted to share the realization.
Her fingers itched before she even realized what she was doing. Slowly, like testing the air, she reached sideways and found Gwen’s hand. She laced their fingers together and gavea small, quick squeeze. Not much. Barely anything. But enough.
Gwen didn’t pull away. She didn’t squeeze back either, not exactly. She just let Maggie’s hand settle there, warm and steady in hers, as if that was answer enough.
Maggie swallowed hard, blinking against the wind and the sting in her eyes. For the first time all morning, the world tilted not with fear, but with the unbearable sense that maybe she hadn’t imagined it — that maybe, even here at the edge of forever, Gwen was still hers in some unspoken way. She wanted to stay in it… just the two of them, the silence, the ache.
“Group photo.” Pete’s voice shattered the moment, echoing across the rim like a battle cry. Maggie startled, jerking her hand free so fast she almost stumbled.
Pete came bounding over, arm raised with her phone. “Everybody, huddle up. This one’s going on the fridge.”
Danica groaned, still looking vaguely green. “I do not need evidence of this day.”
“Yes, you do,” Pete said cheerfully, dragging her forward anyway. “Posterity, babe.”
Izzy had already wrangled Kiera into place, Kiera dutifully brushing hair out of her face and trying not to laugh at the way Pete was corralling them like cattle. Lillian strolled up last, sunglasses on, radiant as always, like this was her magazine cover shoot.
“Come on!” Pete barked. “Maggie, Gwen, stop brooding over the abyss and get in here.”
Maggie rolled her eyes hard, but her cheeks were hot, and she didn’t dare look at Gwen. She shuffled into place, Pete looping an arm around her neck, pulling her in tight.
“On three,” Izzy said, her grin already wide. “One, two?—”
“Grand Canyon sluts!” Maggie shouted, and the whole group cracked up, even Danica, and the sound rose brightagainst the endless canyon air, laughter echoing like it belonged there, as the camera shutter clicked.
CHAPTER 16
Gwen
The poker roomwas quieter than Gwen expected — no jangling slot machines, no blaring music. Just the steady shuffle of cards, the low hum of conversation, the occasional groan when someone folded too early. It felt like a library for degenerates.
Pete and Izzy, naturally, stuck out like neon signs in matching floral print button-ups.
“Raise,” Pete declared after barely looking at her cards, tossing in a chip like she was starring in a mob movie.
Izzy side-eyed her. “You don’t even know what you have.”
“I haveconfidence,” Pete shot back. “Which, incidentally, always beats math.”
Across the table, a middle-aged guy in a Hawaiian shirt smirked, calling her bluff without hesitation. Gwen sighed, sliding in her own chips, while Lillian sat poised beside her, sipping a martini as though this was exactly where she belonged.
The hand played out predictably: Pete bet way too high,Izzy teased her, Lillian kept her face calm, and somehow Gwen walked away with the pot while Pete looked personally betrayed.
“This is rigged,” Pete muttered, stacking her dwindling chips like they might multiply if she stared hard enough.
“It’s just strategy,” Gwen said mildly, though she hadn’t done much more than wait out their antics.
They went a few more rounds before Pete leaned back, rubbing her temples theatrically. “Okay, I’m officially bad at poker, I think.”
