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“I want it, too. So, you’ve got to meet me halfway.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I respect you. I’m the one person in your life who holds you accountable for your shitty behavior.”

His mouth curved at her outrage and cursing. Whether she learned the dialect or not, she was certainly a Light Phase. “I respect you, too. But I also want to communicate with you.”

Randa began to catch on to his meaning. “I don’t have anything to say about those damn flowers.”

“Okay. So talk to me about something else. I’m great at communicating. Too good, actually. Every thought and feeling jumps right from my head to my lips.”

“You’ve been quiet all morning.”

“I know. It was hard and I didn’t like it. I’m not going to do it anymore. Now you’re stuck hearing me say all kinds of shit. And I promise you, a lot of it will be wrong. Talking you into accepting me as your probationary Match was the most eloquent I’ll probably ever be.”

She didn’t look upset by that warning. “Last night you made your poor cousin give the sales pitch. That was Mara being eloquent.” She said in a teasing voice.

“Nope. All me. You wouldn’t talk to me. So, I analyzed how I could communicate my good qualities to you. Mara was the best option.” He arched a brow. “If anyone was struggling to communicate last night, it was you. You locked me out.”

She blew out a frustrated breath, not having an answer for that. “I needed to process.”

“Okay.” He agreed again and then realized he had no idea what that meant. “What’s that mean?”

“It means talking to you would get me all discombobulated.”

“Discombobulated.” He repeated, adoring her fancy words.

Randa sniffed. “Yes. Discombobulated. Sometimes I need space to think about what I want to say. I never learned how to be talkative. No one ever cared what I thought.”

“I care.”

“But you also plow right over me, when you don’t agree with my choices. Like when you were digging into my past. I know you asked Isaacs about it. You always think you’re right, and you convince yourself to just plow ahead. I’m quieter, but you still need to listen. I won’t fight the same fights with you, over and over.”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll start new fights for us.” He muttered.

She snorted.

“I hear you.” Kahn tilted his head to maintain eye contact, when she tried to look away. “I’m sorry for not actually listening, though. You’re right. I got caught up wanting to know everything about you. I didn’t understand why you wanted to keep secrets. But I should have waited until you told me yourself.”

“Yes, you should have.”

“I’ll do better. I agreed to all your guidelines about our Match, and I swear I’ll follow them. I have no desire to change you. None. Please don’t shut me out.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “I will work on letting you into my interior life. And telling you when I need space. Healthy communication is important.”

“Thank you. I’ll work on my shitty behavior.”

Her mouth curved a tiny bit. “You know, you don’t always say the wrong thing.”

“No?”

“No. Sometimes you say things just right. …Occasionally.”

Kahn smiled, and they fell into companionable silence.

He enjoyed sitting beside her, watching the neat row of bungalows across the street. They were all painted pastel colors. Many of the palm trees still had Christmas lights in them. Tonight, they’d be twinkling. Somewhere, a dog barked. The human realm was more open and colorful than the Light Kingdom, but it still had moments that were strangely peaceful.

Or maybe he just felt peace because he was with Randa.

“Mara and the other Light Phases are worried about you.” She eventually said. “About you becoming Gone Wild.”