Page 98 of To Catch a Firefly

“Whales?” I ask curiously.

His grin lights up his face. “Humpbacks, El. Too many to count, migrating south for the winter. A couple breached the water while we were there, and it was…” He blows out a breath, vision getting lost somewhere else. “They’rehuge. You think you know, but then you see one in person, and it’s astonishing that such a large creature can exist in a world that’s almost entirely separate from our own. Did you know they sing? The males sing for their mates.”

I settle against the pillow as Lucky tells me about the humpback song. How the vocalizations are broken up into parts, some sections repeating the same way a refrain does. How, each season, the song can change and how, sometimes, the males sing in chorus. He tells me how a whale can sing for up to twenty-four hours straight, repeating his love song over and over again.

He also tells me that whales don’t only sing in their breeding grounds. They sing while traveling, and some scientists believe it’s for practice. So they can perfect their song by the time their migration is complete.

I don’t know why, but that hits me. It feels like us, in a way. We had so far to travel to get where we are, but maybe each step was one needed to perfect our song. Have we? Perfected it? I think, maybe, that’s a journey we’ll keep traveling together.

It’s a while before Lucky falls silent, his hand toying with my chest. “El?”

I hum.

“I won’t leave like him.”

My chest pinches. “I shouldn’t…have said that.”

“No,” he says, shifting until our faces are aligned. “I want you to speak your mind, Ellis. Always. I did move away.”

“Different.”Different than what my dad did.

“Yes, it was,” he agrees before swallowing. “But… Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I did it once, and I won’t ever do it again. I missed you every day I was gone. I wondered, more often than once, if I’d made a mistake. And every time I stayed away a little longer, it felt like I was losing my breath. Like I had less oxygen in my lungs. I was starved of it without you, El. You don’t make me feel trapped, okay? Never. You’re the air I breathe.”

“Luck…”

“I even missed the damn corn,” he goes on, huffing a laugh. “Don’t tell anyone I said that.”

I lock my lips, and he chuckles again before sobering.

“I’m staying with you, El. Because that’s where I’m meant to be.”

And I don’t have a single argument against that, so I don’t speak a word.

Chapter 34

Lucky

Ellis leaves early for work. I’ve gotten used to it the times I’ve been here. Most mornings, I barely wake while he’s getting ready, apart from the moment he places a kiss against my forehead. I always remember that.

It’s late morning when I pull myself out of bed, still a little tired after my twenty-two hour car ride the other day. My body is sore, too, but I have a feeling part of that is the residual stress from my argument with Ellis.

Dressed in sleep clothes, I head from the bedroom. Soft Christmas music filters down the hall, making me smile. That smile falls a little flat when I think about what tomorrow is, beyond Christmas Eve.

Mrs. Cole is in the living room when I pass through. “Morning, Lucky.”

“Good morning.”

“There’s coffee in the pot,” she lets me know.

I thank her and head for a cup. Mug in hand, I return to the living room, trying to figure out how to broach the topic of Mrs. Cole’s ex-husband’s funeral. She speaks first.

“Is everything okay between you and my son?”

“Yeah,” I breathe out, cradling my mug between my palms. “We’re good.”

She nods. “And you’re back?”

“For good,” I confirm. “I’ll still be traveling for work, but I already listed my apartment in New York City. Are you sure it’s okay if I stay here?”

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