How could I forget? I was behind him, using my arm to guide his, my other hand on the tight muscles of his lower back as we focused on the target together. When I stepped away and he hit the bullseye, Sean gave me this proud grin that made me feel like I’d won the lottery. Only trouble was he no longer needed my help after that. And I kept waiting for him to screw up.
“The guy is a natural,” I mumble, itching for her to continue.
“Yeah, he’s made for this shit, for sure. Anyway, I mentioned it to Luke how great it would be if something sparked with you guys, because I could tell you liked him. And then I sighed, said I was bummed out that Sean doesn’t feel the same way. Luke asked what I meant. I told him, I never see Sean looking at Celia. Remember when we came back home from Sedona that first day and saw them on the porch? How we both noticed how he had this air of possession over her?”
I interrupt, “Wait, what?”
“We did! When we rode up the driveway and you three guys were on the porch, Sean was standing next to you like you were his, even though Atlas was on the other side. It was a vibe thing. He was standing like this, like it had already happened—his claiming of you! And there you were in the middle of this dumb triangle and had no idea!”
Excited to hear to the rest, I sit down, hovering on the edge of my seat. There’s something sparking inside me now…
Hope.
Sofia continues, “So I’m waiting for Luke to agree with me and tell me we must have been wrong, etc. but instead he just lays there, right? All silent with this weird look in his eyes. So I asked him what was up.” Leaning forward, Sofia Sol pauses for effect. “That night after dinner, remember when he asked to speak to Sean right after he and Atlas almost got into a fight?”
“That first night you guys came back home?”
“Yes! When they were out there, Luke told Sean that it was obvious he had feelings for you, and to knock it off if he wanted to become a Cipher.”
I blink at her as Sage says a low and long, “Whoa.”
Sofia takes a sip from her water bottle, eyes never wavering from my shocked stare.
Standing up in a daze I walk the parlor and replay the time between then and now over in my head in little flashes. All those times he waited until someone else sat next to me so he could have someone between us. When I came out of the shower at the same time he exited his room, he muttered, “Forgot something,” and disappeared back inside like I had the plague. The couple mornings we woke up before the rest of the house, and he left to go on a walk alone. “Need to get centered, sorry,” he mumbled when I offered to join him. And so many more.
“I thought he just didn’t like me anymore. I mean, at all! Barely a friend, you know? He laughed so much more with you guys and avoided me!”
My Cipher sisters come join me by the gauzed window, sunbeams drifting onto us. Sofia wears her excitement subdued, a cocky I knew it in her pale grey eyes. But Sage is bouncing in her skin like she wants to drag Sean in here right now to make him ‘fess up.
“What do I do?”
“That’s the problem,” Soph says, pointing at me. “You can’t do anything.”
Sage loses momentum, shoulders drooped. “Oh shit, the family.”
“And what does Sean want more than anything?”
Sage and I answer in unison, “To be part of the family.”
Groaning, I cover my head, pacing. “What do I do?”
“Talk to your mother, Ceels. She’s the one who would vote him out. And she might make your dad vote no, too.”
Frustrated I throw up my arms, “It makes no sense. He’s more than proven himself. Even when he’s beaten to a pulp he won’t quit. He’s making up for lost time, all those years of experience we have behind us, but what good does that do if she keeps acting like he’s a pariah unworthy of trust!”
They both nod, because they’ve seen it, too. Every Cipher, except my mother, has remarked on how Sean is willing to go the distance even when he can barely stand, and that he fits right in because of it.
Chewing on her cheek, Sofia stares into the ideas passing through her brain. “My dad might overrule her vote, but what good does that do you if you want something more than friendship? Your mom and dad have to accept him, Ceels. We can’t live in a house where they don’t. You guys would have to move.”
“Okay, you are getting way ahead of yourself.”
Sage reminds me, “After what Sofia went through, she’s just being careful.”
“Right, I know, but come on! Stop getting my hopes up!”
Sofia is staring off again. “You need to speak to Tonk Jr., Ceels.”
I blink at her. “You could not have surprised me any more if you’d have said Superman. How in the world would my brother be able to help me here?”
“He’s way smarter than the three of us put together. He has an idea how to get through to your mom. I’d bet Sage’s life on it.”
“Hey!”
“Well, I’m too happy now to bet my own. And I have a fiancé to look after.”
Sage pinches her, “You’re such a jerk, Soph.”
Sofia grins and tries to pinch her back, but Sage dodges it and runs off. “I have to go to the bathroom. You’ll clean up the mess?”
We both answer a firm, “No!”
She laughs her way out of the room, giving us
