“Well, why would they say anything? Anyone would be glad to have you in their family.” Rose looked at Nam for the first time since they’d sat down.

“You’re my family, Rose. You.” They put their hand over Rose’s, and she grasped it. They sat in silence.

Time did what it did best—slipped by regardless. One by one, people went to bed. Eventually, even Nam left to pass out in the cave on a small pile of blankets one of the women had prepared for them. And then it was just Rose and Derrick, sitting side by side under a sky exploding with stars so that all the ancestors sat waiting for what would come next.

“Rose, we need to talk.” Derrick’s voice was low but a bit shaky. “I don’t want to upset you. You have to promise not to get upset.”

“Derrick, I don’t think I have any energy left to be upset.” She was solemn, kept her head down and didn’t even raise a hand to bat away the loose hair by her face.

“I want you to think seriously about what Jean said.” He paused, choosing his words carefully so as not to spook her into flight. “About staying with us.”

“I don’t belong here.”

“You do!” This brought him to his feet. How could she even think that? “Of course you do. You did from the moment you showed up.”

“I showed up with my family.” She stood now as well, slower than him but steadier, too. “I belong with them.”

“Do you? Because they left without you.” It was too far. He flinched from his own words as soon as they left his mouth. “I’m sorry…but it’s true. I would never leave you.” The last part was quiet, bashful.

“I know.”

“You do?”

She nodded, and he caught his breath.

“I would literally do anything for you, Rose. Hell, I would follow you through the woods with a bear trap stuck to my leg if that’s what you wanted.” He laughed, and she smiled. And for a moment, she even looked up, watching his mouth while the laughter fell out. She could almost see it, like thin smoke lifting toward the canopy of stars, an offering to those who watched over them. It made her feel lighter. Like maybe she could lift, too.

He got softer now that he’d broken through. “Do you want to keep chasing ghosts, or do you want to fight these bastards from the safety of a good home, your own home? We’re going to leave here and find a new spot, and you can help build it from the beginning so it can be exactly what you want.” Derrick felt like a salesman trying to pitch this idea.

She didn’t answer, so he kept going. Silence was too heavy. Silence was too close to a no.

“Aren’t you tired of running?” He was getting panicked. He could hear it in his voice. So he took a breath to slow down.