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Nearby, Owen Fitch is arguing passionately with Gus Holloway about whether the drive-in should host horror movies in October for Halloween.

Laurel listens to it for a while before saying under her breath, “Your town is weird.”

I glance toward her. “Your town too.”

“No, I left. That legally removes responsibility.”

“That’s not how hometowns work.”

She watches the flames. “Maybe.”

There’s a softness in her tonight. She’s still cautious and tightly wound underneath, but she seems less isolated. She’s starting to lean into the warmth around her instead of bracing against it constantly.

Lucy suddenly crawls into Laurel’s lap holding half a graham cracker. “I made extra.”

Laurel blinks down at her. “You’re sharing?”

Lucy nods seriously. “That’s what families do at bonfires.”

Laurel goes still.

Then, carefully, she breaks the graham cracker in half and eats some.

Lucy looks pleased, like she accomplished something important.

Maybe she did.

Later, after the crowd grows louder and somebody starts a disastrous karaoke attempt near the trucks, I wander toward the edge of the clearing, needing air that doesn’t smell entirely of smoke, hamburger, and melted sugar.

Luke Mercer is there, leaning against a tree nursing a beer.

Luke always looks vaguely temporary, as if he stopped off in town halfway through a longer trip, stayed, but never fully unpacked.

“Thought I saw you escaping,” he says as I stop beside him.

“I’m observing from a distance.”

“That what they call brooding now?”

“Depends who’s asking.”

Luke smirks slightly before looking back toward the fire. “You guys got yourselves tangled up good.”

Straight to the point.

Expected.

“You hear everything?”

“Small town.” He takes another drink. “Also Briggs looks about one emotional confession away from going full Hulk.”

Out near the fire, June laughs at something Fletcher says before Rex leans over and kisses her shoulder absently.

Wayne adjusts Lily higher against his chest while Noah sleeps across June’s lap beneath a blanket. Evan and his pals sit cross legged on the grass, trading football cards, looking up every so often whenever Wayne says something that earns an eye roll.

The whole thing looks easy.

Natural.