Chapter 165 Day One

Chapter 165 Day One
Lyra woke to an empty side of the bed and the sound of Cade's voice low in the kitchen, already on the phone with someone before the sun had fully cleared the horizon.

She lay there a moment, listening without meaning to. "...two more on the east fence by noon. No, tell them quiet, not obvious." A pause. "I don't care if it takes longer, quiet matters more than fast today."

She got up and found him at the counter, jacket already on, coffee untouched beside him. "You didn't sleep," she said.

"I slept some."

"That's not the same as sleeping." She poured herself a cup and studied him, the tightness around his eyes, the way his hand kept drifting to his phone even when it wasn't ringing. "Sit down for five minutes before you go."

"Lyra..."

"Five minutes," she said. "The south end will still be there in five minutes."

He almost smiled at that, some of the tension easing slightly as he sat, pulling her down into the chair beside him. "You're bossy this morning."

"I'm worried this morning. It comes out as bossy."

"I noticed."

They sat together for exactly the five minutes she'd demanded, his hand finding hers on the table, both of them quiet in the way people get when there's too much to say and not enough time to say any of it properly.

"I have to go," he said eventually.

"I know." She squeezed his hand. "Be careful today. Nothing's happening yet, just be careful anyway."

"Always," he said, and kissed her before he left, longer than usual, like he was trying to store something up against whatever the day might ask of him.



The clubhouse felt different by midday, tension humming under every surface even though nothing visible had changed yet.

Lyra found herself there anyway, unable to sit at the apartment doing nothing, gravitating instead toward Rosa's kitchen where at least her hands could be useful even if her mind couldn't stop circling Friday.

"You're not supposed to be near any of the south end prep," Rosa reminded her, sliding a knife and a cutting board across the counter.

"I'm not near it. I'm in a kitchen."

"Good. Keep it that way." Rosa nodded at the vegetables waiting to be chopped. "Chop something. It'll help."

It did help, a little. Lina joined her not long after, quieter than usual, and for a while they worked side by side without much talk.

"Renzo's on the east fence today," Lina said eventually, not looking up from what she was doing.

"I heard."

"He texted me this morning." Lina's knife paused briefly on the board. "Just to say good morning. He's never done that before."

Lyra glanced at her sideways, careful not to make too much of it. "That's nice."

"It's strange," Lina said. "Renzo doesn't do things without a reason. I keep wondering what the reason is."

"Maybe the reason is just that he wanted to say good morning."

Lina considered that, something soft and uncertain crossing her face. "Maybe."

HOURS LATER

Cade called just after two, his voice tight with something that wasn't quite alarm but wasn't calm either.

"We found something," he said. "Not Friday-related, I don't think, but I want you to know before you hear it secondhand."

Lyra's stomach dropped slightly. "What."

"One of the reinforcements we're bringing in, moving equipment along the east fence. We had a small accident. Nobody's badly hurt, but Renzo took a hit to the shoulder helping move a support beam that shifted wrong."

"How bad."

"Bruised, maybe a hairline something, they're checking now. He's already arguing with the doctor about how fine he is." Cade's voice carried the faintest edge of exhausted amusement despite everything. "Lina's already there, got there before I even finished making the call to tell people."

Lyra felt something warm and worried tangle together in her chest. "Is she okay?"

"She's terrified and hiding it badly," Cade said. "You should probably go be there. Rosa too, if she'll leave the kitchen."

"We're already on our way."

The small medical room at the back of the clubhouse held Renzo sitting stiffly on the exam table, shirt off on one side, a doctor probing gently at his shoulder while he winced and tried not to show it.

Lina stood close, arms crossed tight over her chest, watching every movement of the doctor's hands like she could will the pain away through sheer focus. "I told you it was fine," Renzo said, catching sight of Lyra and Rosa in the doorway.

"You always say that," Lina said, not looking away from him. "It stopped meaning anything a long time ago."

"It's true this time."

"It was probably true the other times too, and you still ended up here eventually." Lina's voice cracked slightly on the last word, and she caught herself, straightening, clearly furious at her own reaction.

Renzo looked at her properly then, something shifting in his expression. "Lina."

"Don't," she said quickly. "Don't do the thing where you're gentle about it. I'm allowed to be annoyed."

"You're allowed to be annoyed," he agreed, quiet now.

The doctor finished his examination, declaring it a deep bruise, nothing broken, though he'd need to take it easy for at least a few days, a suggestion Renzo was already visibly planning to ignore.

"Friday," he said, once the doctor stepped out. "I'm not sitting Friday out over a bruise."

"Nobody said you had to sit it out," Lyra said gently. "Just be careful the next few days getting there."

Renzo nodded, pulling his shirt back on carefully, wincing once more before he managed it.

Lina hovered near the exam table even after he'd finished, close enough that it would've looked odd from anyone paying attention, though nobody in the room seemed inclined to comment on it.

"You scared me," she said quietly, once Rosa had stepped out to fetch water and Lyra had drifted toward the door to give them space.

"I know," Renzo said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, just be more careful." Lina's voice was rougher than usual, thick with something she was clearly working hard to keep contained.

"Friday's going to be worse than today. I need you to actually come back from it."

"I will."

"You don't know that."

"No," Renzo admitted. "I don't. But I'm going to try harder than usual, if that helps."

Lina looked at him for a long moment.

"It helps a little," she said finally, and reached out, adjusting his collar where it had folded wrong, her hand lingering just a beat too long before she pulled back and turned toward the door, leaving Renzo watching her.