“As much as I want to kiss you now,” he said, “once I start, I don’t know that I’ll be able to stop, and I don’t want to miss the show.”

The fireflies arrived right on time, zigzagging through the air like they’d been waiting all day for the fading blue light. Kaden settled back onto the old quilt, and Irene followed, close enough that their legs brushed. A lightning bug hovered a few inches in front of her, its abdomen pulsing a steady beat as sunset faded to dusk. She leaned forward and gently cupped her hands around it. Wings fluttered against her fingers. Tiny legs pressed into her skin as it landed at the base of her palm.

“Kaden.” His name was a whisper.

He turned toward her as the light faded. Irene brought her hands within a few inches of his face. “What…?”

Slowly, she peeled back her thumbs. The firefly climbed along the soft pad of her palm, unsteady. Kaden brought his hand to hers gently, but before he could take the insect, it fluttered its wings and flew off into the night.

“Magic,” Irene said, as she tracked its movement across the yard.

Kaden nodded, but his eyes were on her.

Her lips tilted up, and she reached for his hand. When her fingers grazed his, he threaded them together. They stared out at the world around them, the music of the night soft and low, Irene’s worries over the garden settling into the back of her mind, where she could deal with them tomorrow.

A butterfly landed on her overalls. Another came to rest on her knee. Kaden held out his hand as a third settled on his outstretched fingers.

He glanced at her. “Am I the one making you this happy?”

“You just might be.”

The crickets’ songs grew louder as darkness fell. Stars sprouted in the sky, their pinpricks of light reflected in his eyes.

She leaned toward him. The butterfly took flight as he tucked a stray curl that had escaped her braid behind her ear and held his hand there, the tips of his callused fingers soft against her skin.

Then, he kissed her. Gentle at first, a brush of lips moving against lips. Irene’s chest hitched. Her heart stuttered with every careful movement as his palm slipped from the side of her face to the back of her neck and her hands found their way into his hair. She kissed him like that until time fell away and it was only them and the stars and the warm Kentucky night.

When she finally pulled away, she found the ground around their quilt covered in butterflies. A startled laugh escaped Kaden’s lips.

“It’s called a kaleidoscope,” Irene said, a little breathless. “The swarm.”

“I like that,” he said as one landed on his shoulder. “This happens a lot, then?”

“This many?” Irene asked. “Not in a long time.”