Page 79 of Even After Sunset

“Whoa!” Silas calls. “Girl’s got muscle!”

I laugh because… well, that statement is totally laughable. But also so like the Silas I used to know.

“Way to go, kid.” Lumberjack Lucy pats me on the shoulder. “I knew you had it in you.”

“I just didn’t want to embarrass Silas,” I tell her.

“Good call,” Silas grins, as we follow Lumberjack Lucy over to a large shallow pool.

Time for log rolling. Which, it turns out, I’m a total natural at. And Silas isnot. I guess everything does all balance out in the end.

The trick is to do continuous, really quick, light steps while you’re standing on the log in order to keep from falling in. Once you wrap your brain around that, it isn’t too hard. I manage to stay up for a solid minute on my third try.

Silas has been at it for over fifteen minutes. He’s so entertaining to watch that I eventually give up with the cheers of support and settle in for the show.

He hauls himself back on the log for about the tenth time, while Lumberjack Lucy calls out to him:

“Pitter patter, Silas! Pitter patter, pitter pat—”

“What the fuck is pitter patter?” he yells. And I double over again. Who doesn’t know what pitter patter means?

Silas, apparently. Who just fell backwards off the log again with a loud splash.

“I give up,” he says, pushing his wet hair off his forehead and oh my gosh, he looks so good right now.

“Get back up there, kid,” Lumberjack Lucy tells him. “Your girlfriend didn’t give up with the axe-throwing, now you need to—”

“Oh! I’m not his girlfriend,” I correct, a little too quickly. Super awkwardly.

Raking his hands through his wet hair again, Silas gives me a look that says “seriously? does it really matter?”

And I turn the color of a beetroot.

Luckily, he’s back up on the log and hopefully hasn’t noticed.

“Quick steps, Silas! Lightly! Imagine you’re a wood nymph. Or a pixie… That’s it—lightly! Pitter Patter!”

And with that, my embarrassment is forgotten and I’m doubled over laughing again.

“Come on, Silas!” I call. “Channel your inner wood nymph!”

He doesn’t look at me, too concentrated on staying up on the log, but he does extend his arm to give me the middle finger. He’s nowhere near pixie-like, but apparently his steps are light enough to keep him upright for several seconds this time. Fifteen, at least.

“Ha! Nailed it!” he yells, jumping off the log right in front of where I’m standing a few feet away. He pushes me under the water with his hand and when I pop back up, laughing and wiping my own hair off my face, he flicks my ear.

“You suck as a cheerleader, by the way.”

“Sorry,” I laugh. “You’d get it if you could have seen yourself.”

“Sure,” he drawls, “Laugh all you want now. But when we’re attacked in a dark alley by a bunch of thugs, you won’t think it’s funny when I take a couple of them out with my axe and leave you to escape the rest of them with your epic log rolling skills.”

“Unless they’re a gang of wood nymphs,” I grin, “In which case—”

“Oh, you’re asking for it…” He wades toward me, his lean body slicing smoothly through the water as I stumble backwards, laughing so hard I barely notice when I hit the edge of the pool.

Silas reaches out to steady me, his long fingers circling my arm. Our eyes meet for a split second and there’s something that passes between us. An intense awareness. Maybe something more…

Or maybe nothing. I’m probably reading a lot more into it—because, like I said, it’s only a split second.

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