Skonk nudged my leg, a quiet reminder that I wasn’t standing here alone, even if it felt like it.
I took another step back, then stopped again, because something in his expression had shifted, just slightly, like there was more he wasn’t saying.
“What is it?” I asked.
He didn’t answer right away.
Instead, his gaze moved past me again, toward the darker edge of the marsh where the trees thickened, and the light faded.
“The timing is wrong,” he said finally.
“For what?” I pressed.
“For everything you’re trying to do,” he replied. “For what she’s trying to do. For what’s already been set in motion.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It will,” he said. “Just not yet.”
I let out a small, frustrated sound. “You always do that. You say just enough to make everything worse, and then you stop.”
“But it keeps you listening,” he said. “And that keeps you alive.”
“It’s not like I have a choice.”
“You always have a choice, Maeve.”
“Not when my daughter is involved.”
“That is your heart talking.”
“I’m surprised you’d recognize that. You’ve always been heartless, but I won’t lose that part of me.”
His jaw tightened just a little, and for a second, I thought I saw something there that looked almost like regret, but it disappeared before I could be sure.
“That’s exactly why you need to think,” he said. “And not react.”
“I’m not reacting,” I said, even though I knew that wasn’t entirely true. “I’m trying to stay ahead of whatever she’s planning.”
“And you won’t, if you let her control what matters most to you,” he replied.
My stomach twisted at that, because that was exactly what this felt like.
She was about to push me in a direction I didn’t want to go, but couldn’t ignore.
I glanced down at the stone again, the heat steady now.
“You said something was yours,” I said, lifting my gaze back to him. “In Stonewick. You’ve said that many times.”
He didn’t respond right away. Instead, he just watched me, like he was measuring whether I was ready to hear whatever answer he might give, but there was something about his mannerisms that felt familiar or…I didn’t know… as if I’d just seen Gideon this morning already, but that didn’t make sense.
“What does that mean?” I pressed again.
“It means exactly what it sounds like,” he said.
“That doesn’t help.”
“It’s not supposed to.” His dark brows lifted.
