However Long the Night

Chapter Six

Will woke up to a crack of thunder. Turning to the bedside table, he touched his phone and groaned when he read 2:00 AM on the screen. Rain splattered against the roof and the sky lit up outside his window as lightning stung the lake. Despite the warm sleepiness that clung to his skin, he shook off the covers and padded downstairs to watch the storm. Glancing around the great room, he realized he wasn't alone.

Skye was wrapped in a blanket, curled up in a corner of the leather sectional as she watched the rain. The floorboards squeaked as Will stepped forward and she gasped, lightning illuminating her startled face.

"Oh my god, you scared the crap out of me!" she whisper-shouted.

"Sorry!" he whispered back, raising both palms in the air. "I just came down to watch the storm, but I'll go back upstairs if you want to be alone."

Skye shook her head. "C'mon, it's your cottage, not mine. You can do what you want." She patted the couch cushion beside her. "You wanna watch with me for a while?"

Her smile wrapped around his chest and squeezed. Pushing the feeling away, he grabbed a soft throw from the blanket box and took a seat on the couch. Outside, the rain beat down, and the trees swayed, persuaded by the growing wind.

"My dad used to love thunder. I was so afraid of the noise when I was little, I'd hide in my closet until he'd come and fish me out. We'd watch storms together, and it made my fear go away."

Will looked at her profile in the dark. "I've been watching storms since I was small. At first, I just liked the big lights and crashing sounds. But now it's more about perspective, you know? I get caught up in my head sometimes. Weather like this reminds me life gets intense, but things calm down again eventually."

They sat in silence for a while, looking out the windows as rain cried down the glass. Saplings swayed in the wind while branches of mature trees slunk lower to the ground than usual, their leaves drenched and heavy with water.

"Will?" Skye sounded shy all of a sudden. "Thanks for having me out here this weekend. I didn't plan on leaving my friends in New York this summer, so it's taken a while to adjust. If you want to know a secret, when Mom first brought it up, I didn't want to come to Reese."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." He laughed, thinking about the scowl she'd worn the first night they'd met. She punched him in the arm.

"Shut up, Will! Now I'm glad about it, okay? Shel and I have gotten a lot closer, and Josh has a way of growing on you. Like a fungus maybe." She grinned. "And I'm happy we met, too."

He found himself wondering what it would feel like to touch her cheek. "Me too, Skye." Looking out toward the water, he tried to sweep away thoughts of her soft skin under his thumb. Another roll of thunder rippled in the air, and a gust of wind rattled the chimes outside.

"You've been so great, I ... well, I feel like I need to apologize." Skye looked down at her hands.

"Apologize for what?" His eyebrows raised in surprise. There was no reason for her to be sorry.

"It's complicated, but I haven't been entirely truthful with you." The sky lit up like daylight, and her 1 flashed brightly for a second. "Look, there is no condo reno, okay? That's not why we're here." It was like the laughing girl from the bonfire had been replaced with a sad-eyed young woman he didn't know.

"What do you mean?" Will shifted uncomfortably on the couch.

Her tone doesn't sound right. Something's wrong.

Skye fiddled with her rings again, turning them around and around. "Shelby and her parents know what's going on, obviously, since we're staying with them, but we haven't told anyone else. Actually, we never meant to tell anyone else."