Page 16

Her eyes drop, and the color deepens. “Right. You need clothes.”

I do not know why clothes matter yet, but apparently they matter very much.

Laura picks up a long piece of fabric from the counter and comes toward me, then stops before touching me.

“Can I?”

I understand the question even if answering takes more effort. I touch the fabric and nod.

She steps closer. Her warmth reaches me first. Then her knuckles brush my side as she passes the knitted fabric around my hips, and my whole attention goes to the contact.

She is touching me.

Laura.

Her fingers work at my waist, pulling the ends together. When they brush a tightly woven place low on my hip, something inside me answers.

Kel

Laura freezes.

She presses her fingertips there again.

The answer comes stronger this time, humming through the weave and into her hand.

Kel

Her gaze lifts to mine. “Kell?”

The sound fits something already inside me.

“Kell.”

Her expression softens.

For the first time, I have a word that belongs only to me.

She is still holding the ends of the knitted fabric when I remember something else. Something I understood before I understood my own name.

“Not… lawn furniture.”

Laura stares at me. Her eyes get wider. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

She understands.

I try another word I have known for longer than I have known Kell.

“Lau…” The rest will not come.

“Okay.” Laura raises one hand. “No rush.”

Understanding and speaking are different things. For now, one is much easier than the other.

The scarf loosens around my hips. Laura catches it before it falls.

“We need a better knot.”

She reties it while I study my hands.