Chapter 8: The Clerk Grants One

That night my chest hurt so badly that I couldn't lie flat.

I took my blanket out to the end of the lake dock and sat with my back against a post.

The water was black and the sky was full of stars, and the pain came and went in waves.

At the cabin, every light was off but one.

Cora had said only one thing to me after the beach.

"Ask me on day sixty," she'd said. "Not before. I'll tell you then, if I'm still allowed."

"Allowed by who?"

"Day sixty, Seren."

Then she'd gone inside and shut the door.

Boots sounded on the boards behind me.

I didn't turn around.

"You should be in bed," Tiernan said.

"I can't breathe lying down."

"Then you should be in a hospital."

"The nearest one has a cardiologist who can see me on the ninth of December."

He was quiet.

He came and sat on the planks beside me, close enough that his shoulder was against mine, and he didn't say anything else.

I could feel the warmth of him through two layers of wool.

Another spasm tightened my chest, and I pulled in a short ugly breath.

"Hey," he said. "Hey. Look at me."

I looked.

His face in the starlight was very serious, and for once he didn't look careful.

"What do you need?" he said.

I knew what the answer was, and I knew my rule.

I said it anyway.

"Stay."

"Seren."

"Not a wish to the house. I'm not asking the house." My voice shook. "I'm asking you. I want somebody to stay."

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