He’s leaned against it, holding his injured shoulder with one hand and a red-tipped cigarette in the
other.
His eyes are closed. They open for me, and the world curves in around us.
“Hey there, Siren.”
My heart turns over at the soft twitch of his lips. My body flashes like a light bulb.
“Hi there.”
It takes me a moment to realize the particular look on his face is perhaps a bit of bashfulness.
“I couldn’t watch you throwing.” A grin splits my face. “It worried me for Sean—the catcher.”
That makes him grin in return.
Spurred by a bit of madness, I pluck the cigarette from his fingers and take a choking drag. I blow it out in circles, like that caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland.
Then I hand it back and squint against the smoke. “They’re bad for you, you know.”
He chuckles. “All the good things are.”
I wink, and he says, “Come with me tomorrow.”
“Where to?” I fix my face in an impassive look, as if I wouldn’t follow him to hell and back.
“I thought I’d hike up to the peak.”
Behind us, I hear someone’s laughter. In that sliver of time before whoever rounds the corner, I give him a coy smile. “Perhaps I will.”
Then, before we’re seen alone, I trot away.
* * *
Declan
Knowing how she feels about propriety, I get to her door before the sun is up. It’s cold out. Cold enough to turn my breaths into white puffs and make me wish I’d worn more than a fleece. Overhead, the moon shines, casting a pearly sheen over her porch and gleaming on the door’s six small glass windows.
I should knock. I shake my head at myself, grinning. I feel like a kid at Christmas. Finally, I give a few hard-but-not-too-forceful knocks, then wrap my hands around the straps of my daypack and wait to hear footfall. If she doesn’t answer, I figure I’ll go at it again.
A couple seconds later, the door opens, revealing Finley and her wide-but-sleepy eyes. She’s got on a soft-looking brown robe, and she’s wearing a funny little smile.
“The sleepy Siren.”
“Declan!” She laughs. “What are you doing here?”
“Came to take you on that hike.”
She laughs again, her pretty face incredulous. “Right now?”
“It can be the other way around if you want—you can take me.”
“Of course it will be. Silly interloper.” She looks down at her robe, then up at me again. Her eyes are dancing, her cheeks round with a suppressed smile. “I can’t believe you’re here! I suppose I’ve got to get dressed.”
A small, white head peeks around her robe-clad legs, and I crouch. “I’ve got something for you…”
Finley laughs and whirls away. “Wait there, kindly. No coming inside.”