We stayed at the table for almost two hours.
Maybe more.
Time moved strangely inside that kitchen. The outside world still existed, I knew that. All of it waited beyond the walls.
But inside, for a while, there was only lamplight and low voices, Perse’s hair tickling my jaw whenever she turned her head and her scent filling my soul.
Then she yawned.
Small.
Poorly hidden.
Beautiful.
All four of us saw it.
Mom set her cup down. “Bed.”
Perse straightened. “I’m fine.”
“You are falling asleep sitting on my son.”
“I am not.”
“You are on my son, and you are falling asleep. Both facts are observable.”
Perse opened her mouth, then closed it again, probably because there was no dignified argument against objective reality.
Keres lifted one finger. “For the record, if she needs to fall
