The sky was beginning to turn gold at the edges, the lake shimmering in the late afternoon light like it was blushing with secrets. Everything around them was quiet, that kind of sacred quiet only nature could give—soft waves lapping at the shore, birds nesting in the tall reeds, the wind brushing lightly across their skin like it was eavesdropping.
Katherine and Kingsley walked side by side down the wooden path until they reached the narrow jetty that jutted out into the water. Neither of them spoke at first. They just stood there, shoulder to shoulder, looking out over the lake, both wrapped in the stillness.
Katherine was the first to break the silence.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice low and sincere, the wind catching a strand of her hair and blowing it across her face. She didn’t
