Page 24 of Serenity at Seagrove
He sat up, watching as she moved around the space like she’d been doing this forever.
"Does it get easier? Not pushing so hard?"
She paused. "It gets different. You learn to push in new ways, toward different things."
Their eyes met, and something unspoken passed between them. Archer found himself wanting to ask her more about her journey here, about how she’d learned these lessons herself, but the moment was broken by Tom returning to retrieve his forgotten water bottle.
"I should go," Archer said, although he made no move to leave.
"Yeah, I’ve got a therapy client coming in about an hour. But how’s the shoulder?" Luna asked.
"It’s—" he rotated it carefully. "Actually better, even after pushing too hard. I don’t understand it."
"Maybe you don’t need to understand everything, Archer. Maybe just accept that better is enough for now."
He watched as she gathered her teaching notes, struck by how different she was from his physical therapists and doctors. They all wanted to explain everything, map out every detail of recovery, but Luna just let things be.
"Sunday dinner was nice."
She looked up, surprised. "It was. SuAnn’s already planning the next one, of course. This time she wants to try her hand at Japanese food, but I told her I really can’t help her out there."
He laughed. "Of course, she’s already planning it.” He stood, wincing slightly. "This town doesn’t do anything halfway, does it?"
"Oh, says the man who just tried to push himself too far in a gentle movement class," she said, accenting the wordgentle.
Their eyes met, and Archer felt the corner of his mouth twitch. "Touché."
Luna smiled, and this wasn’t her professional smile. It was something quieter, sweeter, more real. For a moment, they just stood there with unspoken words, but then the chime of Luna’s phone broke the silence.
"Ah, it’s my client wanting to know if she can come early."
"I won’t hold you up," Archer said, walking toward the front door.
“See you next time?” she asked as he headed outside.
He nodded, not trusting himself to say anything more. But as he left Serenity, he found himself already looking forward to the next class, and he knew it had absolutely nothing to do with his shoulder.
* * *
Julie organized a shipment of books on a new release shelf at Down Yonder, while Dawson sat in one of the oversized armchairs nearby. He was supposed to be helping, but he seemed to mostly watch her work.
"You know, you're staring again," Julie said without looking up.
"Can't help it. You're cute when you're in librarian mode."
She laughed and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You know, I'm trying to get these displayed before my writing group shows up. My editor has also been breathing down my neck about my next book deadline. I promised I'd have the file over to her next week."
"Speaking of watching people," Dawson said, trying to get her off the topic of work so she was less stressed out. "I saw Archer leaving Serenity this morning after another class, and you know what he looked like? Peaceful."
Julie paused. "Peaceful? Hmm, that must have really been something. Luna's good for him. She sees past all of his defenses."
"You mean like you did with me?"
"Oh, you didn't have nearly as many walls as Archer does," Julie said, sitting on the arm of his chair. "I think I had way more walls than you did. A terrible, cheating ex-husband, two grown daughters, and a lot of heartbreak."
He pulled her into his lap. "I wasn't going to let you get away."
"And now look at you," she said, laughing, "married to a romance author who runs a bookstore. An energetic little boy. Running an inn together. Life's crazy, huh?"
