Morning was shining through the window. I sat up and looked out. Sunshine sparkled on Yellow Lake like millions of diamonds. The sky was pale blue, cloudless.
Like Peter’s eyes.
Even before I opened my eyes, I sensed him across the room, moving, breathing. He was asleep in the small bed in the corner, snoring gently. The covers were pulled over his head, so just a tuft of spiky white hair stuck out, like the tassel on a stalk of corn.
He must have stayed in the room with me so I’d feel safer. After last night, we were back to being Hansel and Gretel again. Brother and sister. Friends. At least that’s how it seemed in the perfect light that was bringing me peace and calm.
Or was it more than that now? Were we more than that? I couldn’t tell. Something had happened last night, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I tried to piece things together. Jonah had left to go down to the lake. Peter and I had talked. He had told me something about his mother. I had cried. He had dried my tears, held me.
And after that? What had happened?
Remember, I thought. Remember.
It came to me then. His arms, the way they trembled, like he was scared of hurting me. His face. The sweet smell of his warm breath against my cheek. Had he kissed me then?
I pulled the blanket around me, closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the trees – that gentle brushing noise, like a dry tinkling. Under the windows something scuffled. A harmless creature – a tiny mouse or a soft squirrel – was rooting for food.
I looked out onto the lake – a shimmering sheet of gold and silver – and I knew that everything was different, better.
We would start again – me, Peter.
Jonah, too, if he wanted.