Burn Season novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Noon on Sunday

Sunday morning I walked down to the cairn with my phone in my pocket and my braid still wet.

Walker was sitting with his back against the stones, and a thermos stood beside his boot.

He had said he'd be at the bottom of the mountain every Sunday I let him.

He got up when he saw me, slowly, and stayed on his side.

The line was mine to move, and I had already moved it twice.

"You decided for me," I said.

"Yes."

"I told you what I hate."

"I know what you told me." His voice was even. "I did it anyway, because I was scared of Saturday."

"Of what?"

"Of watching you walk into that loft and get hurt a second time, and me standing by the wall doing what I was told."

I thought about it.

The worst part was that he hadn't been wrong.

He had also not been asked.

"If it had gone badly," I said, "it would have been mine to lose."

"I know."

"So what do you do next time?"

"I ask you first." He swallowed. "Every time. Even if the answer's no, and even if I'm afraid of it."

"You always say okay."

"I'm not saying okay," he said. "I'm saying I will ask. And then I'll do what you tell me."

I looked at him for a while.

It wasn't forgiveness, but it was a new thing, and I decided to let it stand.

At ten to noon I sat on the flat rock beside the cairn and set my phone on my knee.

Walker stayed where he was, ten feet off, with his hands in his jacket.

"You can stay," I said. "I'd like a witness."

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