“He was less dragon and more drowned rat,” Flint says, chuckling.
“Thanks, Chief,” I say, cheeks burning as I lift my glass, though even I can’t keep the grin off my face. I fit here. In this kitchen, at this table. With her. With them.
When Elise died, I thought those doors had slammed shut forever. Family dinners, warm kitchens, laughter around a meal. That belonged to another life. But sitting here, fingers tangled with Ember’s under the tablecloth, it doesn’t feel impossible anymore. It feels like home.
“Coleman,” Flint says suddenly, passing me the potatoes. “Didn’t think I’d say this, but… glad you came.” His tone is gruff, but his eyes soften, just for a beat.
“Thanks,” I manage, my throat thick.
Sienna looks up, cheeks stuffed full of carrots. “Can we do this every Sunday?” She’s missed the laughter around meals as much as me. Harold and May’s Sunday dinners are more sombre with the empty chair at the dinner table a constant reminder of what we’re missing.
The table stills for a second, then laughter breaks out—Flint chuckling into his glass, Ember pressing a hand to her lips, Seraphina giggling outright. But my daughter’s question lodges in me like a spark ready to catch.
Because for the first time in years, I want to say yes.
“Maybe next time we'll have dinner at ours and invite everyone round, including Nannan and Grandad.” I glance around the table. “How are you all fixed for Thanksgiving?”
Flint raises an eyebrow. “You sure you can handle a turkey? You burnt the toast at the station the other day.”
The table bursts into laughter again, and maybe this is a roasting, but I can’t help laugh along with everyone, especially when I see how happy my daughter is.
“It was the bloody grill setting!” I protest. “Faulty toaster.”
Flint snorts. “You filled the station with smoke, Coleman. We had to evacuate.”
Sienna giggles. “Daddy, you’re supposed to stop fires, not make them!”
Ember’s eyes dance. “Maybe you really are a dragon.”
I lean in close enough that only she can hear, my mouth brushing the shell of her ear.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” I say, my chest thudding like I’ve just run into a blaze.
Her breath catches, colour rising in her cheeks. But she doesn’t move away. And under the table, her fingers squeeze mine tighter. “Then you’ll have to show me.”
Her green eyes are almost fluorescent as I gaze into them, ready to lose myself and bask in her light. I know there’s sadness in her past too, but maybe we can fight the darkness together.
Chapter Fifteen
EMBER
Starlight Bay in the fall is breathtaking. I gaze out the car window as Drake drives, the maples blazing like fire along the avenue, their fallen leaves swirling at the roots. Drake’s tyres crunch over a gold and crimson carpet, the sound as crisp as the air itself.
“Do you think something’s going on with Flint and Seraphina?” Drake says with a curl of his lips as he turns the steering wheel.
I chew the inside of my mouth. “She dated my nephew for years. She’s like a daughter to him. She has no family, and I think he sort of feels responsible for her.”
“Right,” he says, and I can’t tell if it’s sarcasm or not.
“Daddy, can we go to the park?” Sienna shouts as we pass the children’s play park and sports field.
Drake flashes me a grin. “Do you have to get back?”
“I have time for the park.” I smile back at Sienna, now bouncing in her booster seat.
Drake parks the truck near the entrance for the swings,and Sienna is the first to jump out and run to the gate. “Stay where I can see you, bug,” he shouts as he rounds the truck to my side.
Like a true gentleman, he opens the door, grabs my crutch and helps me out of his monster truck.
