Not far apart either.
Close enough that their heat made a difference.
The blanket was wrapped around both of their shoulders in an awkward shared circle—two bodies separated by a careful gap and a mutual understanding that comfort didn’t have to mean entitlement.
Outside, the storm banged and scraped and groaned against the cabin like it wanted to pry them out.
Inside, the fire cracked. Their breath fogged in the cold air.
Clara’s hands were steady as she reached into her pack and pulled out a book.
Water-stained.
Edges curled.
But intact.
Jacob raised an eyebrow.
“Do you read?” she asked.
Jacob huffed softly. “Barely. Never had much schooling.”
Clara’s mouth twitched like she found that honest.
“I could teach you,” she offered, matter-of-fact. No flirtation. No pity. Just a practical suggestion like offering an extra nail.
Jacob surprised himself by answering immediately.
“I’d like that.”
Clara nodded once, as if she’d expected it.
She opened to a page already marked and began reading aloud.
Homer’s Odyssey.
Penelope waiting for Odysseus. Years passing. Suitors pressing. A woman holding her ground while the world tried to wear her down.
Clara’s voice was soft but clear, steady enough that the ancient words felt alive again, turning the rough cabin into something almost sacred.
Jacob listened like a man starving.
Not for food.
For something he hadn’t realized he’d been missing: a voice that wasn’t trying to sell him something, a story that wasn’t asking him to be anyone but what he was.
Clara read while the storm raged.
When the fire snapped, Jacob fed it.
When the wind pushed harder, Jacob adjusted the tarp rope.
When Clara paused to wet her throat, Jacob handed her the tin cup without speaking.
Hours passed like that—work and words braided together.
Somewhere around midnight, Clara’s voice slowed. Her head dipped. Exhaustion pulled her down the way gravity pulls ash.
Jacob felt it before it happened.
Her weight leaned gently against his shoulder.
Just enough contact to change everything.
He went very still.
Afraid to wake her.
Afraid to move.
Afraid that if he shifted even an inch, she’d jolt upright and apologize and retreat into her shell of independence.
So he didn’t move.
He stared into the firelight, feeling the warmth of her against him through the blanket, and he realized something that made his chest tighten:
He hadn’t been touched like this—innocently, without demand, without
