inding cliffs. The air smelled like sea salt and sun-drenched pine. The radio played low, some mellow folk tu

not lost?" she ask

steering wheel. "We're not lost

fully. "That's what you

it twenty min

s light, this open. Their summer retreat-a spontaneous trip to a small coastal town named Harrow's Cove-was a

quaint cabins that dotted the hills like something out of a painting. Camila had helped them book the place-"The Hone

arching over like a tunnel. The sun broke th

pulling into a cl

ith a wraparound porch and a garden thick with lavender and thyme. The ocean

athed i

he said.

he teased, grab

lothes, and a heap of snacks they'd overbought in excitement. The place smelled like cedar

arefoot on the porch, and watched the stars come out one by one. The moon

" Ava murmured, curled into

ss to her temple. "But we'd miss

l quiet. "Do you think we're

k we're finally learning how to be

-

er, sometimes dancing in the kitchen to old soul records left by the cabin's previous guests. In the afternoons, they wandered through

reading it out loud. Jace would sketch while she spoke, capturing her in the moments she di

d her one evening. "Not just

ing. "You always knew how

e said honestly.

-

as it approached-wind whipping Ava's hair, thunder rumbling in

t soaked," Jace

ut, rain beginning to pat

and, and together they danced under the downpour-laughing, shouting, kissing between lightning flashes. They collapse

ne," Jace sa

ve it," she

d

for the first time since reuniting, bodies trembling not from lust alone, but from relief. From the knowledge that they'd made it back. Tha

again in the rain," he

eep. "You didn't fall again. Y

-

d pancakes in nothing but bo

one and laughed. "We

y. "I'll take your crimes ov

e and ate in the garden, bees hu

ournal and asked him a ques

see yourself i

his sketchpad. "With

blin

er I'm doing," he adde

t tightened

-

d the sunset from a bluff near the ocean, sitting on a plai

t have to go bac

We'll take this with us. Not just

omi

ing his fingers through

low and deep, li

rm on their bare skin. The cabin's windows were open, the ocean

r a mess and her skin flushed from s

lot," she murmu

wh

I'm the only th

zily. "You k

For a long time, they just stayed like that-bodies

y ventured down to the

othed stones. Waves rolled in steady and rhythmic, and the clouds from the ni

ut herself. They walked in silence, their fingers brushing, then int

y k

ocks. Jace sat on a dry patch of sand, knees bent, sketching quickly- desperately trying to capture the way her ha

to him flushed

drawing m

es

me

but alive-her figure caught mid-turn, the suggestion of j

at the im

u," he said softly. "

"I don't think I ever

wet strand of hair behind her ear.

-

jars of honey, bundles of herbs, and locals chatting as if everyone knew each other

into Jace's as they w

s," she said. "Everything feels slower he

out here. It's like... all t

e let it come back every tim

e have to. Because the world doesn't slow

, and a salad with strawberries and goat cheese. Ava lit candles. Jace put on a playlist of mellow acoust

-

ket and sipping the lavender syrup in warm tea. The stars above

Jace's shoulder. "I wish I

r head. "If I could pai

You and your ar

love

d

n I ask you so

way

think we'd be here right n

Then she said, "I don't think w

t a goo

I hated it. It broke me. But I also think it gave us space to grow. And no

lowly, taking

hoosing it," he s

heart

he whispered. "Let's ke

-

the sea. The trail was narrow but manageable, winding through wild

gs dangling over the edge, the entire cove

n her hands. "Pro

yth

in, when the real world comes knocking-

ht. "We don't have to go back to who we w

Starting over

parents are sell

inked.

o downsize. My dad's retiring. The place w

O

said. "But maybe... maybe some chap

. "What chapter do yo

oked

aint. Maybe by the water. Maybe not. But full of quie

, but she laughed. "

al," he said quick

iping at her eyes. "

-

something about the weight of goodbye had crept in overnight. It hung

etry aloud when the rain returned briefly. They nappe

les on her bare back as she

e in fate," he whispered.

idn't

dn't n

ce, her warmth beside him

-

sn't about returning to what they had. This was something entirely new-