Page 124 of Black Bird

“I see. It doesn’t sound like she’s giving up on you, though. I think she’ll come around,” Rhaena offered, stepping out into the dry grass. It crunched beneath their boots and the smell of colder weather pressed heavy on her senses. “Do you feel better?” she asked, closing and securing the storage room door.

“Yeah … I really do.”

They walked toward the back steps and Rhaena slowed, turning to face him. “Then why don’t you look happy?”

He looked around at the trees and smiled softly at the sunlight filtering through them. Rhaena couldn’t help but admire how attractive he looked when the wind caught his hair, and it shifted over his brow. “I am happy,” he said quietly, meeting her stare and shrugging a shoulder. “I already have way more than I deserve. I just miss her still.” Rhaena’s mouth turned up in the corner.

“It’s cute.” A rough laugh rasped in her throat.

“What?”

“Seeing you in love. I like this side of you.” She nudged his elbow with hers and he rolled his eyes. “Do we have enough logs in the house? I feel like this weather is gonna get worse.”

Athan glanced back up at the sky. “What are you talking about? It’s bright as fuck out here.”

“Look, I may not be as old as you, but I’m an entirely different creature. I know what I feel, and I feel like something’s coming. Do we have enough, or not?”

“No, not unless you have more out here somewhere.”

“I do, but it’s not cut. Wanna take out your frustration on a stump?”

“Is that your nice way of telling me to make myself useful, Fleabag?” He smirked. Rhaena whacked him in the arm, reaching for the freezer bags.

“Alright,Blood Daddy…” she cackled. “Give me those. The stump is by the tree line. There’s an ax in the shed.”

“You don’t say,” Athan crooned, smiling as he shoved her on his way past toward the woods.

Rhaena snorted as she went up the stairs and in through the back door.

Wren swatted at Denver, who was getting a bit too curious of the large bird in the tiny cage that squawked relentlessly at his proximity on the hutch.

“Get back, fatty. That’s not a buffet.”

“Wren, you better get a handle on your pussy before Athan does,” Rhaena called from the kitchen, loading a crock pot with frozen soup.

Sarah jerked her head around. “What?”

“The cat,” Wren clarified, throwing her hands up when Rhaena cackled.

“Not funny,” Sarah snapped, returning her attention to the handwritten book that was laying against her raised knees on the couch.

“What are you reading?” Wren asked, shutting Denver in the bedroom and walking over to where Sarah was sitting.

“It’s his journal. He left it at my house the other night when he was stalking me like a creep.” Sarah smiled, turning the page. Wren sat down on the couch, grabbing the remote to a really old boxy TV and switching it on.

Sarah and Athan had kept their distance from each other last night after they’d gotten in, and neither Wren nor Rhaena pressed for answers until she was ready to give them. It had taken almost an hour after they’d gone to bed for her to open up about it, and Wren was surprised to hear her initiate that conversation on her own. After the benefit, she’d been alittle distant from her again, but Wren understood that sometimes you just needed a few days to yourself to process everything before confiding in someone. Rhaena had been dead asleep when Sarah started whispering about their conversation on the porch, so she could only assume that maybe she was a little apprehensive about sharing all the details with someone so close to Athan yet. As bad as Wren wished she could talk to Rhaena about it, she wouldn’t risk being called a Judas again.

She noticed that Athan ate very little of the chicken soup they’d poorly made last night and seemed to have a great deal on his mind. He had barely spoken this morning either, after making coffee for everyone and neatly tidying up where he’d slept. Wren had caught him staring after Sarah several times before they had decided it was time to call it a night.

“Where is Athan, anyway?” Wren finally asked, flipping through channel after channel.

“Outside,” Rhaena called as she plundered around the kitchen and repeatedly stopped to fan herself.

“Are you okay?” Sarah asked, noticing the repeated movement.

“Yeah, I’m good. Part of the process. I’ll probably be a bit more dramatic as the week goes on, guys. I’m sorry.”

“Anything we can do, Rhae?” Wren chirped.

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