I watch him as he looks over it in his hands for a moment, then steps towards me again and holds it out.
My breath catches as I take it into my hands, and all I can do is stare down at it.
It’s his drawing of the hollow heart field. Where the rows stretch across the page in layered strokes of deep brown and sun-warmed gold, and he’s perfectly captured the subtle shifts in the land he knows better than anyone. It’s drawn in a way that makes it feel like I’m standing in it instead of looking at it.
But… there's more to it now.
New lines are worked into the soil, the curves following the dip of the rows to form an almond shape, which pulls my gaze inward to honey flecks and lines throughout soft brown, forming an iris.
Through the middle of the field lies a faint outline, so subtle I almost don’t see it. It looks like stitching, pulling two pieces together. And as I look closer, I see it’s two pieces of a heart, lying over the middle two zones that became one.
My gaze lifts to the top of the page, where the sky above the field is lit with the same sunset tones washing over us now. But he’s woven streaks of red into it that look like ripples of energy.
Warmth spreads through my chest as I take in the incredible details and vivid colours, and I run my fingers over the red streaks in the sky.
“The field was missing something,” Silas says.
I lift my eyes to meet his, and blink back the tears welling in them.
“And so was I.” The corner of his lips tilts up in a soft smile. “You.”
A tear slips down my cheek as I step into him and press my lips to his, and an intense swell of emotion rises in my chest.
I ask myself every day how I got to be so lucky to have Silas Gallant in my life. I always have, and I always will.
My heart was hollow without him. And now, I don’t think it’s ever been so full.
I hold him tight as I let myself get lost in him, in this place where we used to escape the world and create our own stories.
And now, we begin a new one together.
Here, forever, where we were always meant to be.
FIFTY-TWO
“It’s too fuckingearly for this.”
I turn and hold out a travel mug of coffee for Levi, where he stands in the kitchen with the hood of his hoodie pulled over his head, mid-yawn.
“As always, you can go back to sleep,” I say as he takes it, and I move to the door to put my shoes on.
Levi groans as he drags his feet towards the door and shoves them into his sneakers. “I don’t like being in bed without you,” he mutters.
I smile at him, and he immediately squints at me.
“But you’re too perky in the mornings,” he says.
“And you’re too cranky in the mornings,” I say right back.
We stare at each other for a moment before I step into him and press my lips to his, keeping him against me in a soft kiss until I feel his body relax.
“Better?” I ask.
His lips tilt up softly. “Always.”
I pull the door open with a smile, and Winston darts out into the driveway to start sniffing everything in his sight.
Levi groans quietly as we step outside, like just the act of moving this early in the morning is too hard on him. But he’sdoing this to himself, and he does this every morning. He doesn’t have to, but… I like that he does.
