Page 54 of Mountain Void

“Yvette,” the woman said helpfully.

“I’m sorry. I know we’ve met already.”

“It’s okay. Too many new faces, I know.” Yvette paused for a second. “You’re a teacher.”

“That’s me,” Charlie said. “I teach second grade.”

Yvette smiled, glancing briefly toward Lorenz before returning her attention to Charlie. “You must be very patient.”

Charlie gave a small laugh. “Sometimes.”

“And you were married to Lorenz.”

Charlie’s hand shook around her glass. She raised her eyes to Yvette’s, expecting to see accusation in the woman’s dark eyes, but there was only kindness.

“You know, sometimes second chances are worth taking,” Yvette continued. “I think—“

She didn’t get to finish the sentence. A man—Alex—came and hugged Yvette from behind.

“Hey!” she jokingly complained.

“Come on, we’re going to play darts.”

“Darts?” Yvette rolled her eyes. “In a party with small children?”

“Don’t worry. Jamie’s looking after the younger ones inside for a few minutes. Hugo and Jo are with them, too, feeding their baby.”

The word brought a brief, unexpected tightness to Charlie’s chest. She’d once wished that for herself and Lorenz. She’d been so sure it would happen, and then the dream had been taken away from them.

She shifted her weight, wrapping her fingers more firmly around the glass.

Stay here.

Stay now.

“Darts sounds good,” she said brightly.

Alex whooped and grabbed Yvette’s hand, who sighed in mock exasperation and followed him, bringing Charlie along with her.

“You don’t get to pick Lorenz again,” a good-looking man with bronze skin said, his voice cutting easily through the general noise.

“Shut up, Hiro.”

“I don’t want Lorenz,” Ry replied. “He’s annoying.”

“I’m standing right here,” Lorenz said.

There was a ripple of laughter, and Ry gestured towards a makeshift dartboard set up at the far wall.

“Come on,” Isla—Charlie was pretty sure her name was Isla—said, nudging Ry’s shoulder playfully. “You just don’t like losing.”

“I don’t lose,” Ry said.

“Statistically unlikely,” Isla replied, smiling.

“You will lose today, unless you join my team,” Lorenz said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Charlie found herself drifting closer to him, drawn in by the shift in energy.