Naime remained in the folding chair long after the coffee had gone lukewarm, letting the night wrap around her. The waves kept their patient rhythm, whispering against the shore and pulling back again as though the sea itself were breathing. Stars burned cold and distant overhead. Their light made the darkness feel enormous, and her own troubles small by comparison. She had stopped counting the cups hours ago. The bitterness in her tongue and the lingering heat in her hands were the only steady things left.
“This is life,” she said softly to the empty beach. “So fresh. So wide. So pretty.” She closed her eyes and inhaled the salt-laden air until it filled every corner of her chest.
“Just like you?” Drake’s voice slid through the quiet from behind her.
She turned. He stood silhouetted ag
