"That's what Decker reported. Thirty-six hours, they said."
"So we have one more night."
"One more night."
"Then what?"
Tucker holds my gaze. In the amber light, his eyes are the warm green of deep water, steady and clear. "Then I ask for your number. And I call you. And we figure out what this is without a hurricane forcing the issue."
"That's very reasonable."
"Too reasonable?"
"No." I close the laptop—gently this time, like closing a chapter instead of slamming a door. "No, it's exactly right."
The silence that follows isn't empty. It's full—of possibility, of the charged anticipation that comes from knowing something is about to begin. Not ending, not running out. Beginning.
"Hey, Tucker?"
"Yeah?"
"For the record. Ethan kisses Sophie in chapter twelve. I wrote it while you were doing your security round."
His smile is slow and real and reaches his eyes. "How does she respond?"
"She kisses him back. And then she says it's a bad idea."
"And then?"
"And then she realizes the best stories happen off-outline."
He stands. Crosses the room. Takes my hand—just my hand—and holds it, thumb tracing a slow circle against my palm, and the contact is so simple and so charged that my entire body hums.
"One more night," he says.
"One more night."
Neither of us says what happens after. But for the first time in months, the blank page doesn't feel like a threat. It feels like an invitation.
Tomorrow we go back to real life. He goes back to Salt & Steel. I go back to my apartment and the blinking cursor andthe work of turning whatever this is into something that lasts. Unless I do something terrifying. Like take a chance.
Chapter 10
Tucker
The inn's restaurant opens at seven with a limited menu, and I'm there at 6:50 because some habits don't break, and because I want everything to be right.
The hostess---a local woman named Patty who's been running the Tidehaven Inn for thirty years and has opinions about everything---takes one look at me and says, "Date night?"
"Dinner."
"Uh-huh. The corner booth just opened up. Candle's already lit."
"We don't need a candle---"
"Candle's already lit, honey."
I take the corner booth.
