Chapter Twelve

Today had been the best day of Silver's entire life.

She had said goodbye to Owen and Gunner, dropped Hallie back at Moosey's to finish her shift, and then gone grocery shopping with Corey to stock Silver's new kitchen with food and cooking utensils.

Corey had brought a speaker over and played music as they'd cleaned the singlewide with supplies they'd bought at the store, and ran a load of dishes in the dishwasher, and organized the shelves. It meant a lot that Corey was spending one of her days off work helping Silver get settled.

They made the bed and placed pillows from the store with those really soft jersey knit sheets that were stretchy. She had wanted those for a while, but Rook had only allowed what he'd bought in his garage apartment, which was one ancient flattened pillow that smelled like mildew no matter how many times she's cleaned it.

Corey had given her the passwords to the internet service Gunner had equipped the property with, which meant tomorrow would be the first day she got back to work on her website, and took on clients.

She was excited about feeling like her life could be normal, whatever that was.

When she could afford it, she would purchase a little desk and chair set she'd seen in a craft-store-window in town, but for now, she could work from the kitchen island, thanks to Corey bringing over a tall bar stool for her to sit on there. She'd set up her computer workspace, and already, she loved this place. No one was looking over her shoulder waiting for her to make a wrong move, or say something that required reprimand.

She could just exist.

She could just breathe.

She could be happy.

The second the truck engine sounded down the road, Silver rushed to the door. She got a glimpse of herself in a full-length mirror Corey had brought over.

Her smile made her face look almost unrecognizable. Silver paused and studied herself closer.

"You good?" Corey asked from the kitchen where she was drying the plates they'd found on clearance.

"Yeah, just…" Silver shook her head and looked at Corey, wishing she could explain.

A slow smile took over Corey's lips. "I watched this with Hallie too. I get it."

Silver heaved a sigh of relief. She liked that the girls here just understood, and didn't think her odd.

She made her way out of the house and waved at Owen. He hopped out of that passenger seat as soon as Gunner parked, and strode right for her, bent at the knees and scooped her up as soon as she reached him.

"Hey pretty kitty."

"Hi, beasty boar," she uttered on a breath. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, and he settled her on her feet with a chuckle.

"What have you been up to?" he asked.

"Fixing up my house," she said in a sassy tone. "Want a tour?"

"Hell yeah. Go on, show me, girl."

She grabbed his hand and dragged him up the stairs to the trailer, and then gestured to the lopsided 1-0-1-0 nailed up beside the door. "Corey explained the meaning of the original trailer named ten-ten. I have one of those. I have a trailer called ten-ten."

He laughed and held the door open for her. "Yeah you do."

"Hey," Corey called as Owen followed Silver inside.

"Are you actually being nice to her?" Owen teased.

"She's being awesome," Silver explained, and proceeded to show him her work spot, everything they'd done for the kitchen, the made up mattress on the living room floor, and the bathroom, where she'd organized her toiletries.

She'd been blabbing the entire time excitedly, so when she saw how serious Owen's face had grown, she was surprised, and also confused.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked softly.

"Absolutely not." Owen canted his head and brushed a knuckle down her traitor scar. "You're happy. I can feel it. You aren't doing a single thing wrong."

"Then why do you look so serious?" she asked.

His lips quirked up just at the corners. "I just like seeing you like this."

"Like what?" she asked, heat tinting her cheeks.

"Like who you're supposed to be. Fuck your past, Silver. It's good stuff from here on."

"Even if I caused a war?" she asked.

"You didn't cause anything. Lucia saw that coming. You can't take the blame for anything that comes for us. Your job now is to enjoy every good moment. No one's gonna live forever, Silver. It's what we do with the time we're breathing that matters."

Silver closed the distance between them and rested her face against his chest, just to hide how thoughtful his words were making her. She had wasted years of her life. Not on purpose, she had just been trying to survive day-to-day, but he was right. They had one life, and she had not been living. She had just been surviving.

"Maybe I was supposed to have a hard time so that I could appreciate the here and now," she murmured.

He reached his hand into the back of her hair and gripped it gently. "Maybe so."

"You're sweaty and dirty and you need to clean up," Corey announced. "Owen, I mean. Not you, Silver."

She laughed thickly and looked up at him. "We are meeting at Hallie's house and getting ready together."

"Are you wearing the boots I got you?"

"Hell yeah." She offered him a cheeky grin. "I'm on the hunt for one of those sexy blue-collar boys tonight."

"I hope you're talking about me," he joked.

"Hard hats turn me on."

He chuckled and patted her on the butt, then headed for the door. "I'm going to shower and get ready. What time are we leaving?" he asked.

"One hour," Corey called out, "And Ace already said you and Captain can ride in our truck."

"What about Gunner and Hallie?" Owen asked.

"Do you want to ride in the same truck with Gunner and Captain?"

"Fair point. Yep, we'll ride with you. One hour, meet you at the trucks. You girls have fun getting ready. Silver, send me pictures."

"Gross," Corey said, but there was a smile in her voice.

Silver was just happy and excited and stood in the middle of the living room waving like a nerd.

Owen's laugh filled the house and it was everything.

He thought she was cute.

She could tell.