\u201cHey,\u201d Gray said, his voice gentle. \u201cAoife, you don\u2019t have to cry. Are you okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d she grated, then sighed. \u201cNo. It\u2019s complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFamily tends to be,\u201d Gray agreed, sliding his arm around her shoulders again. She leaned into his embrace, his nearness and warmth a comfort she needed more badly than she cared to admit. \u201cYou want to see him badly enough that we\u2019re walking to Michigan, though.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided we were going to steal a boat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot stealing if they\u2019re dead,\u201d Gray said, a trace of grim humor in his voice. \u201cBut you\u2019re right. We\u2019re going to try to sail there as much as we\u2019re able. Question of routes, though\u2014do we try for rivers, or do we just sail the lakes and hope we can get through where there might be ice?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can hope to get lucky and that the ice will melt,\u201d Aoife said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good hope,\u201d he said, squeezing her a little closer. \u201cAssuming that the northern Great Lakes aren\u2019t solid sheets of ice right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that<\/em> cold, was it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe not here, but who knows about up there.\u201d Gray shrugged. \u201cWe\u2019ll cross that bridge when we get there, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n And hope we don\u2019t end up somehow trapped or farther away from where we need to be than we were when we started walking.<\/em> Aoife sighed. \u201cI hate logistics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll figure it out,\u201d Gray soothed, then smiled. \u201cCome on now. You were talking to me about a pile of miscreants.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMiscreants,\u201d she echoed, then smiled. \u201cI guess we were in some ways, weren\u2019t we? Always in trouble, doing what we wanted because we wanted to\u2014and to hell with what my uncle actually wanted. It wasn\u2019t such a bad life, I guess, while the peace held. It was nice, really, even if Neve and I always had to be the good ones. We were most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the time?\u201d Gray asked with a grin.<\/p>\n Aoife laughed, nodding. \u201cYes. Most<\/em> of the time. A girl\u2019s got to have some<\/em> fun, right?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cHey,\u201d Gray said, his voice gentle. \u201cAoife, you don\u2019t have to cry. Are you okay?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d she grated, then sighed. \u201cNo. It\u2019s complicated.\u201d \u201cFamily tends to be,\u201d Gray agreed, sliding his arm around her shoulders again. She leaned into his … Continue reading