Page 30 of Leveling

They lay like this for a while staring up at the sky, a soft ocean breeze blowing across the rooftop. Luna rolled her fingers around the soft hairs on Beckett’s stomach. Occasionally kissing his chest nearest her lips.

Finally Beckett said, “You know I was thinking, I know I just met you, but I —”

Luna adjusted to look up at the side of his face as he spoke.

He said, “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but many prestigious scientists predict that this is the last big emergency. One more swell of water, a rising and then a leveling. If we can just adapt, stay safe, we can get through it. I’m so sick of change, but I don’t know, I have hope.”

Luna kissed his chest.

Beckett reached for her hand and entwined her fingers just over his heart. “I have the mountain house, and it will be above the predicted water level, everyone agrees.

“So what I was thinking, was that I hope—I want to come and get you. You and your family. I have time left, of duty, but I get to pick now, since I volunteered, and I was thinking that I would ask to be transferred to the settlements. Maybe I could even be there by the time you get there. Then we can—”

“Me and my family?” The words caught in Luna’s throat.

Beckett pulled his head up and looked down at her, “What Anna?”

“It’s nothing, It’s just so—I wasn’t expecting.”

“But that would be okay? If I came to the settlement to find you?”

Luna nodded her head, tightening her hug on his body.

“Good, I’ll put in my request tomorrow. I’ll be there when you get there.”

Luna nodded again.

Beckett kissed the top of her head, then held tight.

Finally, she quietly asked, “My whole family?”

“Of course. Or wait, how many of you are there?”

“Either seven or twenty-one depending on the day.”

“Hoowee, twenty-one? Well, I’ll figure that part out.”

Luna flipped over onto her stomach looked down at him and kissed him on the lips. A tear rolled down the side of her nose, dropping to his cheek.

“Are you crying?”

She nodded and buried her face in his chest.

His hands stroked the back of her hair and he tried to pull his head up and see her expression, but she was hiding her face, her tears.

“What’s happening, what’s going on?”

“You just surprised me, and I don’t know—I feel so safe and—”

“You are safe. We’ve got this.”

Luna’s head shot up. Her eyes were red-rimmed, scared. “Beckett, you have to be careful. You can’t just say that—we. The word we, it means a lot to a Nomadic person. It’s a big word. It’s the kind of word that means you’re becoming a part of someone’s family. You can’t just use that word with me and not mean it, it’s too big.”

“I mean it, Anna. I mean it exactly like that.”

“Me too.” She dropped her head to his shoulder so that her forehead rested at the steady thrum of his neck. “Tell me about your mountain house.”

“It’s beautiful. It’s been in my family for a really long time. It has three bedrooms and two baths, which is big these days, and—”

---