His voice was low, almost uncertain. Like he was sharing something private.
“I’ve seen the lantern in the window.Burning low against the snow.I don’t knock, I just keep walking.But I always walk real slow.”
Something in his words made her wolf sit up and pay attention. It made her chest ache.
“Some things you can’t go chasing.Some things find their own way home.I’ll be down here in the valley.If you ever want to come along.”
He didn’t say it was about her. He didn’t have to.
“The northern lights don’t shine for asking.The river doesn’t tell you where it’s been.Some things you just sit with quietly.And hope they let you...”
He played the last phrase again. Hummed where the words should be, said something under his breath then stopped.
“Still working on that part.”
She didn’t know what to say or how to feel. Her throat was thick and tight, like it was hard to breathe. The fire blurred her vision.
“Sounds good,” she finally said. “You’ve got a really nice voice.”
He held her gaze for a moment, and the fire popped between them.
“Thanks. I’m glad you liked it.”
Siren stood abruptly, the weight of everything pressing down like a piano falling from a sixth story window.
“We should get some sleep,” she said, opening the door to the van.
She stepped inside, and Reed followed. Inside the van, siren reached for the dinette tables pedestal release. The mechanism stuck for a moment and then gave. She started lowering the tabletop to the seat level.
“Here.” Reed moved beside her in the cramped space. “I’ve got this side.”
They worked together without speaking. He held the table steady while she locked it in place. Then they pulled back the cushions from the bench seats and laid them across the lowered surface, filling the gap between the two sides.
The dinette was now a bed. Wall-to-wall, maybe six feet long. It wasn’t much bigger than the tent had been.
There hands brushed as they smooth down the last cushion. Neither of them pulled away.
“I’ll grab the blankets,” Reed said, his voice low.
He opened the overhead compartment and pulled down the quilt, sheets, and pillows.
She took the fitted sheet and fitted it onto the cushions, turning it into a queen-size mattress.
Reed placedthe pillows at the head of the bed, and then the two of them spread the quilt.
“You can use the bathroom first,” he said, sitting down on the bed and taking off his shoes.
Siren thanked him, grabbing her toiletries from her duffel bag. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth in the tiny sink and pulled off the dress she’d been wearing. Her Glock was still strapped to her thigh, so she pulled that off too, before changing into a pair of sleep shorts.
When she returned to the main room of the van, Reed had already changed into his gray sweatpants and a white T-shirt.
She shoved her duffel bag in the storage compartment and placed her Glock near her pillow on her side of the bed.
Reed went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and emerged a moment later. Siren was already in bed when he climbed in beside her.
The switch to the overhead light was on her side of the bed. “Ready for lights out?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said in a low voice.
