Chapter 17: The Twenty-Seventh

"Then I'm asking," I said.

I was lying on my back in the sled bag with her hand in mine, and the last of the lights fading over the pines.

"Come to the lake with me. Live in the cabin. Run the team with me and sleep in my bed and stay."

Astrid turned her head on the canvas to look at me.

"That's more than one question," she said.

"It's the question I've been carrying since Christmas Eve."

She was quiet for the length of three breaths.

"I want to say yes," she said.

My heart climbed into my throat.

"But I'm not going to say it tonight."

"Why not?"

"Because I said I'd only say it when I was sure it was for me." She sat up and pulled the bag against her chest.

"I'm sure I want you.

I've never been surer of anything."

"Then what?"

"The cabin ends tomorrow, on the twenty-eighth.

I lose the only roof I've had since April." Her voice was steady and miserable.

"If I say yes now, I won't know if I'm saying it to you or to the roof."

"I'd know."

"You'd say that.

You're generous." She touched my cheek.

"I need to take down the sign first.

I need to do something with my own two hands that isn't hiding."

"The sign?"

"The one on the door. I'll take it down myself." She breathed out. "Then ask me again, and I'll know."

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