Half Were Mine novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Ask Her

Torsten's POV

I asked her on the twelfth evening.

I had not planned to. For twelve days I had planned nothing, because she had asked me to plan nothing.

I brought her coffee at the east office door, and she said thank you.

I said it was nothing, and she gave me a look that was almost a smile.

I put her name on no list. I left her roster alone.

I stood at the end of the lodge steps when she finished her shift.

When she walked past me and said, "Walk me home," I walked.

That was all.

It was the best twelve days of my life, and I was terrified.

On the twelfth evening she came out of the east office in her running clothes.

Her braid was tied up, and she stopped in front of me.

"Redmond."

"Harlan."

"You run the boundary every night."

"Yes."

"Alone. Along the ridge where you can see my old cabin." She tilted her head. "I asked Cormac."

I said nothing. I could not have told her she was wrong.

"I want to run with you," Bronwyn said. "Not at the cabin. Up on the north ridge, where the trees are old."

I looked at her for a long moment.

"May I ask you something first?"

"Ask."

"Do you want me to come with you, or do you want me to say yes because you're being kind?"

She laughed softly.

"You're exactly the kind of idiot who'd ask that." She stepped closer. "I want you with me. I wouldn't have said so otherwise."

We went up through the cedars until the lights of the lodge were gone.

At the top of the ridge she stripped her shirt over her head and handed it to me.

I tried very hard to look at the stars.

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