21. Chapter Twenty-Two #5
“That was a very careful answer.” I told Luca as I set my camera somewhere dry and noticed he had also placed one of my full water bottles beside breakfast.
“I learn.” Luca replied, and the small smile he gave me made it clear he knew exactly why I appreciated the distinction.
After breakfast, I packed my clothes, toiletries, medical pouch, and the rest of my supplies.
The camera batteries were fully charged, and the waterproof box remained beneath the worktable.
I almost told Luca he could put it away.
Instead, I left it exactly where it was. Malek’s shirt went into my overnight bag, Tavian’s seed and shell went into the protected pocket of my camera bag, and Luca’s blanket stayed on the sleeping platform.
I stood in the doorway for a second longer than necessary, looking at the room I had slept in and the things I was leaving behind before making myself turn away.
At eight twelve, Luca walked with me to the terrace where the radio signal had been strongest the night before. Morning sunlight reached farther across the stone now, warming one side of the old wall while the shaded sections remained cool and damp.
“Base, this is Evie. Morning update.” I spoke into the handset when the channel cleared, resting my camera bag beside my boot while Luca waited nearby.
“Evie, base. Go ahead.” Mara answered through the radio, her voice carrying a faint crackle of static.
“Safe, no injuries, and I got the morning work I wanted.” I told Mara as I glanced over the terrace toward the forest. “I’m packed and starting back now. Expected return is still before ten.”
“Copy that.” Mara answered over the radio, and I could faintly hear paper moving behind her voice. “Weather looks clear for the walk back. See you before ten.”
“See you then. Evie out.” I answered Mara before releasing the button and clipping the radio securely onto my belt. Luca picked up neither of my bags when I joined him, and that probably shouldn’t have felt significant, but it did.
He walked with me through the maintained courtyard toward the path leading back into the older sections of the temple.
Morning light filtered through gaps in the canopy, leaving shifting patches across the stones we had crossed the day before while damp air carried the smells of soil, greenery, and faint smoke from the cooking fire behind us.
We reached the first old wall before Luca stopped.
“You’ll come back?” Luca asked, his voice quieter than it had been over breakfast as he watched me.
“I have to go back to the station.” I reminded Luca as I adjusted the camera bag across my shoulder, although the way he looked at me told me immediately that wasn’t what he meant.
“I know.” Luca replied as he rested one hand against the weathered stone beside him. “That wasn’t what I asked.”
I looked past him toward the rooms hidden behind the courtyard walls. Somewhere inside was a sleeping platform covered in blankets and pillows I had rearranged without thinking. A waterproof box sat beneath a worktable beside an outlet he had noticed I could use. One cleared shelf waited above it.
And on my first night sleeping in their actual home, I had surrounded myself with pieces of all three of them without consciously deciding to do it.
“I’ll come back.” I told Luca, meeting his eyes so he knew I meant it. The tension in his shoulders eased.
“Okay.” Luca answered quietly, accepting the promise without asking when or trying to turn it into something bigger.
I stepped close enough to slide one hand around the side of his neck and kissed him.
Luca’s palm settled briefly at my waist, his sandalwood-and-herb scent surrounding me for a few seconds before I pulled away, reluctant enough about doing it that I noticed.
“Now I really do have somewhere to be.” I told Luca as I stepped backward toward the trail and glanced at my watch.
“Before ten.” Luca reminded me, a small smile appearing as he nodded toward the radio at my belt.
“Look at you remembering things.” I teased Luca as I shifted the camera strap higher on my shoulder.
“I told you I learn.” Luca answered, his smile lingering as he stayed beside the old wall rather than trying to follow me toward the station.
“See you later.” I told Luca as I turned toward the trail, looking back once before the vegetation began closing the distance between us.
“See you later, Evie.” Luca answered softly, remaining where he was while I started into the trees.
The station still expected me before ten, and I still had photographs to back up, equipment to clean, notes to update, and an assignment that existed outside the three men hidden in the rainforest. None of that had changed simply because the temple had started feeling different.
But as I followed the familiar trail back through the trees, I couldn’t stop thinking about the sleeping platform I had left behind, the blankets I had moved without realizing why, and the three different scents I had gathered around myself before falling asleep.
I had made a nest in their home, and for once, realizing I had started making a place for myself somewhere didn’t make me want to undo it.