Page 20 of In the Light of the Moon

He looked down at his empty coffee cup but dropped his arms to rest on the table, “Yes?”

“What changed?”

His brow wrinkled and so did his nose, just slightly. After a long silence where he seemed to be turning over my question again and again, he finally asked, “What do you mean?”

Though I wasn’t upset anymore—far from it, really—my lingering anxiety couldn’t let go of this unknown shift in the way he talked to me. “Until four nights ago, you acted quite cold. What changed?”

The skin on his forehead crinkled even deeper before his eyes lifted to meet mine underneath his long lashes. He held my gaze, and I felt myself leaning in. But I remained quiet, giving him time. Orion’s attention flitted somewhere beneath my eyes before settling on them once again a moment later. “I was bewildered. And… uncomfortable that you’d seen me that way. That I scared you.”

I said nothing, sensing that he was still working out what he wanted to say. His gaze was swimming across my face, as if he was struggling to find the words. When I gave him an encouraging tilt of my lips, he homed in on the change in my expression, and with a relaxing of his shoulders, he continued, “I’m not…greatat social interaction. After I hurt your feelings, I realized my mistake. I’m sorry.”

My head tilted, picking up that there was more to be said about that. But, who was I to judge? We both seemed to lean toward being more anxious, and I realized that I felt comfortableholding space for the awkwardness that sometimes crept up between us. Maybe I was too soft. Or a fool. But after the bar and him helping me study, I knew that I had forgiven Orion. For hurting me physically and emotionally, and I was more than willing to give him a chance. Even more than that, I was burningly curious to see where this could go with him.

“It’s okay. I forgive you.”

He let loose a bigger sigh than I would’ve thought he was holding, but before he could share what he’d been about to say, someone stopped before our table and stole the conversation. “Long time, no see, Sylvie.”

My mind took a moment to catch up, having been so absorbed by Orion’s presence. I looked up to see a familiar but unexpected face. “Uh, hi. How’s it going?” Jasper had been among the group of kids running around with Josie the day we met. His mop of sandy brown hair was still present after all this time, though he’d grown taller and broader over the years.

“Pretty good. Nice to see you back in town,” his smile at me seemed to harden like crystalized sugar when he focused on Orion beside me. And Orion, having been soft and shy with me earlier, shut down. His pink lip was curled back, nearly in a snarl.

“So… how are things at the store?” Jasper’s father owned the mom-and-pop hardware store that was still hanging on downtown, and both had been nice enough to me throughout my visits with Granna.

“Fine, same as always. See you’ve met this bookworm, here.” Even after this short amount of time, I’d worked out the fact that Orion struggled with keeping eye contact, but he and Jasper were locked into an intense stare down that felt out of place for the commercialized chill of the coffee shop. They clearly knew each other, andveryclearly disliked each other.

And though we hadn’t even gone on a date yet, I felt oddly protective over Orion. His shoulders held a new tension, his eyes hard and sharp gems. Perhaps it was a bit forward, but I put a hand on his forearm. I looked at Jasper, “Yeah, Orion’s great and was helping me study. It was nice to see you.” Kindness was my default, but my tone now chilled significantly. Jasper’s friendly smile toward me took on a knowing glint, and Orion’s arm beneath me tensed even more.

He stood, nearly toppling over his chair. If I thought the night Orion lashed out at me in fear was frightening, I now had a new standard for that side of him. His back, though already framed with wide shoulders, seemed to broaden or thicken, like he was making himself bigger to both cover me from Jasper’s view but also tower over him.

I craned my neck to better see around Orion’s body. They weren’t saying anything. Just staring at one another with faces pulled tight in barely-contained rage. Jasper looked as if he were rearing to make a move, but then his eyes widened, seeing something on Orion’s face that I couldn’t from where I sat. Jasper broke first, expression and posture wilting in submission.

“Hey, what’s goin’ on?” I almost groaned in exasperation at yet another interruption, this time with the swaggering nonchalance of Chief Thompson’s son. He was stereotypically handsome with chocolate brown waves tousled in that way that was supposed to look unintentional.

“Nothin’,” Jasper made one last effort to puff up, but Orion was still standing just as tall and imposing as before. In fact, by the way his hands and jaw were clenching, I was anticipating a physical fight to break out.

Graham gave a shit-eating grin to Orion while palming the back of Jasper’s jacket and started shoving him toward the exit. Some nonverbal comment passed between Orion and Graham,and I had to assume that it was about me. Because Graham’s cocky stare landed on me and gave a wink.

I watched Graham and Jasper leave, the first sauntering, the second scuttling, and I wondered what the hell that had all been about.

“Sorry,” Orion’s voice was deeper and strained, as if he was trying to rein himself back in from that disquieting display. Now that he was eye-level with me, I got a better view of how tensed for an attack he really was. A full pink flush was slowly receding but still visible, and the muscles in his neck were tightly clenched.

“Are you okay?” I reached for Orion’s arm again, squeezing the soft fabric of his flannel shirt.

Before turning back fully to me, he closed his eyes and took a deep inhale. His chest stilled then fell with an even longer exhale. He did this rhythm a few more times, always inhale, hold, then exhale, and I watched his whole body relax. My hand remained, and he didn’t shove it off.

I sat and observed, the coffee shop noises slowly trickling back into my awareness, and then Orion opened his eyes. He still wasn’t as relaxed as he’d been before Jasper’s and Graham’s interruptions, but it was far from how he’d been just a few moments ago.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the weak smile he gave was little reassurance, but I decided not to press him on it. Aside from growing up with my father, my circles of family and friends mostly consisted of women. Even with the men I’d dated in the past, I had never been privy to such a primal display of… whatever that was.

“Okay. Well, I should get going,” I felt his arm tense all over again, “but we’re still on for dinner tomorrow?”

His brow pulled low as he took a long blink, “Yes. Please. I can pick you up?”

My hand smoothed over his sleeve, “Sure. I’m looking forward to it.”

Orion nodded and stood, although this time, the motion was smooth and controlled. I followed and shoved my things into my bag. We took our dirty dishes and tray to the designated area near the door, and the air between Orion and I had nearly cleared by the time we parted ways outside.

I walked toward my car, parked a few spots away, and tried to make sense of what had unfolded back there. Since moving to Antler Pointe, I barely saw Jasper or Graham, and never spared either of them any thought. I made a mental note to ask Josie to see if she would know any reason why the two of them seemed so at odds with Orion, who, from what I could tell, was a quiet and solitary sort of guy.

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