"I liked running," she admitted softly after another moment.
That pulled a quiet reaction out of me immediately. "You were fast."
A faint smile touched her mouth before disappearing again. "You kept catching up to me."
"I was letting you lead."
That earned another small reaction from her. "You're impossible."
"I've been called worse."
A soft sound left her then. Not quite laughter, but close enough that something warmer settled inside my chest because of it. I wanted more of those sounds from her. More of this version of her, the one that said impossible to me without flinching and meant it as something other than a complaint.
Isla looked toward the stream again afterward. "It felt different being out there," she said quietly. "Not trapped. Not watched."
I stayed quiet and let her
