That night, the power flickers out just before dawn, and the street transforms into a shallow canal. They light candles and move through the house in gold shadows. Camila finds extra blankets, their soft, worn texture a familiar comfort, and they both nestle into a corner of the couch, the pages of their books rustling softly. Outside, thunder rumbles, a deep, resonant boom that vibrates through the house, but inside, a comfortable silence settles.
By the third day, cabin fever should be setting in. Instead, the house feels smaller in a good way. Intimate. They cook with what is left in Camila’s pantry—pasta with too much garlic, toast browned in a pan because the toaster refuses to cooperate. Through the rest of the day, they go back and forth between reading, movies, and a puzzle until they’re back on the couch at dawn, sharing a single blanket when the air turns damp and cool.
By day four, Valeria has had to call out of work twice, but she can’t seem to care. Not when she’s started noticing things about Camila that seem to take up all her attention—the way she hums under her breath when she concentrates, the third dimple she’d never noticed before that forms on Camila’s chin whenever she laughs hard, the softness that slips into her voice when she says Valeria’s name.
On the fourth night, the rain finally thins to a whisper. The roads begin to clear, and the world outside seems to exhale.
Valeria stands by the front door, her jacket in her hands, with a hollowness in her chest.
“Looks like you’re free,” Camila says.
“Yeah,” Valeria replies, though her voice lacks conviction, and she finds herself hoping for more rain, for another day spent in Camila’s space.
After that night, something shifts. It isn’t dramatic. It doesn’t announce itself, but it lingers—in the pauses between her thoughts, in the way her name feels a little softer in her mind.
Even if she’s not ready to dissect it, it’s there. A quiet warmth she can’t explain. A change in the way the air feels when she’s near.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CAMILA
In May, Valeria stopped bringing coffee to Camila midday and started showing up at the studio at the end of her shift, staying with Camila as she organized her office. Sometimes, Valeria would bring a book and read passages aloud as Camila wrote up restoration proposals. On the nights she had to stay extra late, Valeria would show up with takeout, and they’d enjoy it on Camila’s office couch, both of them talking about their day or their lives before they knew each other. Camila loved those days most, getting to know Valeria better and better. On the days when neither of them said a thing, silence never felt like a gap to bridge. It felt inhabited, comfortable.
June brought warmth, but Camila was barely able to bask in it, as her mother had another health scare. Valeria held her through it. Eased Camila from the edge of panic at the hospital. Even went to Camila’s parents’ house with her, to help pack an overnight bag for her dad. Since then, Camila has been visiting her parents every weekend.
By the end of the month, the heat pressed heavily against the city again, and thankfully, Camila’s mom wasdoing better. One evening, as they locked up the studio together, Valeria slipped her arm through Camila’s, and Camila’s heart nearly gave out.
For the past few months, even the most innocent of touches from Valeria—brushing a stray strand of hair from Camila’s face, lightly squeezing her hand in reassurance, a soft tap on the arm—had unsettled Camila in the sweetest way, leaving her breathless and lightheaded even as she tried to push the feeling down.
July came and went the same way the last six months had, with endless laughter between her and Valeria, growing so close that Camila almost felt it impossible.
By the time August came around, Camila had forgotten all about the camping trip they had all agreed to months ago. Today, they’re all headed to Deception Pass State Park to camp for Lily’s birthday weekend, and for the next three days, it’ll be the six of them.
Clara, Alejandra, and Valeria are already on their way to Camila’s house, and she still hasn’t packed.
She walks into her closet, grabs her carry-on, and starts packing T-shirts, shorts, and swimsuits in such a rush that she barely pays attention to what she’s throwing in. Next, she rushes into the bathroom, grabs her toiletries, and shoves them into her bag. She digs through her garage, fishing out her tent, cot, pad, lantern, and a shovel—she doesn’t know what kind of campsite this will be, and she doesn’t want to take any chances.
By the time Valeria and the girls get to her house, Camila is hiding the key under the mat for Miso’s sitter, and her breath is so uneven she sounds like she ran a marathon. She shouldn’t have left it all to the last minute, because she’s sure she’s forgetting something, but can’t figure out what.
“Hey,” Valeria says with a brilliant smile.Immediately, everything in Camila loosens. The world seems brighter, and her mood instantly lifts, as if Valeria’s presence amplifies everything good.
“Hey,” Camila says, her hands clenching as she resists the urge to run and hug her. Thankfully, Valeria doesn’t seem to have the same reservations as she wraps her in a tight embrace. Camila’s heart beats a little faster, a quick, happy drum against her ribs.
“Wow, I missed you,” Valeria says, holding on to her. “Is that weird?”
Camila’s breath hitches, a sudden tightness in her chest. “Not at all, I missed you, too.”
Someone behind them clears their throat. When Valeria and Camila turn, Clara is eyeing them, an eyebrow raised.
“We should go,” she says with a smirk.
“Right!” Valeria says, helping Camila grab the rest of her things and getting them in the back of Clara’s SUV.
The drive to the campground is uneventful. Valeria falls asleep against the window halfway through. Clara and Alejandra are talking in cryptic shorthand that only they seem to understand, and Camila sketches on her iPad—drawing Valeria deep in sleep, with her bangs messy, and her mouth slightly ajar.
By the time she’s ready to add color, Alejandra chirps, “We’re here!”
“Five more minutes,” Valeria protests, readjusting herself in her seat.
