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I take off my helmet.

Ezra cups the back of my neck, careful of the faint pink line hidden near my hair. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

He kisses me. Slowly.

The last of the road falls away.

Theo steps close behind me, one hand settling at my hip. I turn enough to kiss him too. For a moment, we stand tangled together beside the motorcycle, Ezra’s fingers in my hair and Theo’s chest warm against my back.

Ezra pulls away first. “I prepared a picnic, and I need at least six minutes of admiration before you two ruin my layout.”

“Six?” I ask.

Theo looks toward the blankets. “You packed half the house.”

“Courtship requires materials.”

We settle beneath the oak as the first stars appear. Theo pours the cider.

Ezra picks up my plate before his own, then catches himself and looks at me. “What do you want?”

I point at the chicken, two pieces of bread, and the strawberries. “And one of the little cakes.”

“Before dinner?”

“I nearly died recently.”

“You have used that excuse eleven times this week,” Ezra says.

“It’s effective.”

Ezra gives me the cake. Theo shakes his head but moves the entire tray closer. We eat as the sky darkens.

Ezra tells us Honey tried to send a second picnic basket because she didn’t trust him to provide enough food. Our laughter fades slowly. The candles burn lower. Crickets sing in the brush. Beyond us, the spring reflects the first bright stars.

I watch Theo and Ezra across the blankets.

They’re different without the old bond. More deliberate. Theo asks instead of simply knowing when Ezra wants the bread. Ezra looks at Theo when he laughs, checking the sound with his eyes instead of some invisible frequency between them. There is tenderness in the new uncertainty as they learn one another again.

Ezra catches me watching. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Liar.”

“I like looking at you,” I say.

“Which one?”

“Both.”

Theo’s gaze settles on me. The clearing grows quieter. I set down my cup. Ezra does the same. Theo waits. Three weeks ago, the thought of silence terrified all three of us. Tonight, it feels as though the silence makes room for us to breathe.

“I’ve been thinking about the bond,” I say.

Theo’s shoulders tighten slightly.