“So. That was intense,” she said. She was leaning with her hands on the wall looking into the trees.
“Ah—yes. It was a bit. Although—” I paused.
“What?”
“Well. I think we can safely consider you’ve made up for your Galadriel comment.”
“We’re back at Galadriel, are we?”
I cleared my throat. “I meant—”
She turned toward me and raised a brow, mouth twisting into a smile. “It’s okay, Liam. I know you were joking. But youstill owe me for Sexy Chewbacca,” she added, deadpan. “And the boil. I’m not going to forget.”
We stood there looking at each other, the space between us silent and small.
“Wow, that guy was an arse,” she said finally. “Moral high ground? Who the fuck does he think he is?” The sun was sinking below the trees, and a slight chill was starting to settle in. Her eyes searched mine, as if she was after some sort of explanation, but I wasn’t sure what the question was.
“Are you cold?” I asked. She shook her head.
She looked absurdly pretty in the evening light. Softer, somehow. Hard to believe she’d just taken Toby Davenport apart without blinking. He hadn’t seen it coming, either.
And she hadn’t done it for the room.
She’d done it forme.
A few sparks flickered in the air between us, faint at first, then multiplying—little golden pulses above the grass. They blinked in and out like someone testing a string of lights.
“Fireflies,” I said.
“Oh, is that what they are?”
We watched them for a couple of minutes.
“Liam, I’m glad—”
“For?”
“I’m glad you’re nothing like him.” She turned back toward the view, hugging her arms around her upper shoulders. “That’s all.”
I felt a sudden lightness, as if my lungs could finally expand properly.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she said.
I looked at her quietly. She was a silhouette against the fading sun now.
“It is.”
I wasn’t used to anyone stepping in like that.
Not forme.
My arm itched to reach for her, to pull her close, but I wasn’t sure if I should.
“I think I am cold after all,” she said. The sky was clouding over, and a couple of spots of rain were starting to fall. I stepped toward her, but before I could offer her my coat, she’d slipped her shoulder under my arm.
No one was watching. Nobody could see.
Sowhy—?
