“Get a room,” Miekil called from the kitchen, too far away to know what I was doing or feeling or seeing.
That never seemed to stop him though.
Rolling my eyes, I hauled myself toward him.“That’s all I want to do, believe me.”
“You two are good now?”he asked between chomps of raw baryer fish.
My stomach churning, I grimaced and turned away.“I guess near-death experiences will do that to a couple.Any couple.Even us.”
“Right.Love conquers all,” he said, and I didn’t miss the note of hurt in his voice.“So what now?”
“Meaning what?”
He kicked the refrigerator door closed and looked me right in the eye.“Meaning what now?You love her.She loves you.What now?”
“She needs time to heal.After that…” I understood what he was asking, but the truth was I didn’t know.
She hadn’t said she forgave me, which was fine.I didn’t expect her to.But were we really in the same place as we were before she found out the truth?Or were we someplace different with only a vague sense of the path forward?
“I have no fuxxing clue,” I admitted with a sigh.“We haven’t had a whole lot of time to process everything between this show and always dodging death.”
Miekil turned to retrieve two jars of casnut butter from the cupboards, twisted them both open at once, and slid one toward me across the island counter.“That’s why I was asking.I’m not blaming.”
I opened the drawer of spoons and shoved one toward him across the countertop.“Good.Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.I take it she’s still pregnant with your baby?”
I couldn’t stop the grin from splitting across my face if I tried.“Yes.My baby.”
“NowI feel okay saying congratulations.“ He clicked his spoon against mine and dug into his food.
“Nera is still processing…well, everything.Nothing is set in stone yet,” I explained.
“Except for you two.You twoareset in stone.I knew this from the beginning.”
“Okay, how did you know this from the beginning?”
Miekil took a big bite of before answering.“She revolves around you like a planet to a sun, and vice versa.Sometimes the sun beats down a little too hot is all, but you still need it.You still crave it.You can’t thrive without it, and you’re locked in its pull.”
He was right, of course.It seemed we were made for each other, meant for each other, like the air in our lungs and the rain on the soil.Despite our pasts, there was nothing we could do to change our connection.
“After everything she’s been through,” I said, swirling my spoon around the jar, “I don’t want her locked in anything she doesn’t want to be.”
Miekil nodded.“I get that, but it’s not just about her anymore.It’s also about the baby, if you both decide to keep it, of course.”
“Yeah.You’re right.”
“And on that note, I’ll butt out.”
“Thanks, Miekil,” I said, chuckling.
“For butting out or opening your jar of casnut butter so your weak, scaley muscles didn’t have to?”
I rolled my eyes.“You know what I mean.”
“I’m here for you.”He slapped me on the shoulder on his way to the sliding glass door, and I stared after him, shaking my head.“For whatever you need.”
Obviously, I shouldn’t have been surprised by his selflessness, but here I was, struck near speechless all over again.My worst enemy had slowly become my best friend…or something close to it.
