Page 84 of Let the Light Shine Through

“And that’s the one that’s most like your mom?”

A light laugh floats past her lips. “My dad says the same thing. He thinks she was a Snowy Owl, or a Mute Swan. Something romantic. Gorgeous. Ethereal.”

“But she wasn’t?”

After a moment of Gia losing herself in some faraway memory, she starts again, saying, “Waxwings eat so much fruit, even the overripe fruit that’s fermented.”

Fermented?

“You mean they get wasted off it?”

She nods, and we share a private laugh that goes straight to my bones.

“A bird that gets drunk, huh? Did your mom like her wine or something?” I know mine does.

Gia’s face loses a bit of its glow. “She didn’t drink alcohol at all. She didn’t need to. She was drunk off life. She always had the best time everywhere she went, no matter what the mood was.” It’s easy to see where Gia gets that same quality from. “She loved life so much she was drunk off it. Every fucking day. Even at the end.” She drops her eyes, lost all over again.

Damn. What a sad ending for a woman with so much to live for—a devoted husband, a daughter chomping at the bit to follow in her footsteps, a successful business, a hobby bordering on obsession. And to top it all off, she genuinely loved life, the very thing others waste their precious existence resenting.

Kind of like when their best friend dies suddenly, leaving them all alone.

Fuck.

“How’d you know that one was a male?”

“Hmm?” she asks, bringing her gaze back to mine.

“The Cardinal. You said the males are messages, but how could you tell that one was a male?”

“Because he’s fucking stunning. You can’t look away from him when he’s near. A body like no other, a face that stands out in any scenery he’s in, a quavering voice used to attract his mate. You know when you come across a male Cardinal.”

“Do you think that one has a mate?”

“Maybe. She’d be out of sight but still close by him. Cardinals are never far from their mates for long. They’re…partners, in every aspect, really. Not all species care for each other beyond mating but Cardinals do.”

I scan the trees below, asking, “What does she look like?”

“Different,” is all I hear followed by Gia’s footsteps, and when I look back, she’s gone.

Cardinals.

Something tells me there’s more to that story. A lot more.

Roz

I pop the last bit of beef jerky in my mouth as Bryce ventures over to my perch on a rock overlooking the water. It’s been one visitor after the other since we stopped. They’ve all been nice, just weird. They’re not weird. It’s weird, the fact that so many people are going out of their way to talk to me. I’ve never been somewhere where everyone’s interested in me, and I’ve done televised interviews with live audiences being instructed to be interested in what I’m saying.

Wait.

I shoot a look over to Gia. She’s been steering clear after our little bird chat, but hasn’t kept her eyes off me for very long. Every few minutes, she does a sweep of my area. Just like on the four-wheelers, she’s tuned into what I’m doing while acting like she’s not.

“Did Gia send you over?” I ask Bryce, and he shakes his head, saying, “Not me, no. But…”

Yeah. But.

She’s not catering to me directly, but she’s sure as fuck checking to see if I’m taken care of indirectly by keeping me occupied. Keeping my mind from racing, spinning out of control. Falling into oblivion.

We talk for a couple more minutes, then I start to dig a little deeper, asking, “So, you two never…”