Chapter 10 - The Meteor Shower
A year to the day after the Lumis Hotel gala, there were no chandeliers, no evening gowns, and no passing trays of champagne.
Midnight painted the sky deep indigo far outside the city limits, where the light pollution could no longer reach them. Parked on a high overlook above the valley, Daniel’s rugged SUV sat with its tailgate dropped open and piled high with thick wool blankets, pillows, and a thermos of hot cocoa.
Daniel, Sloan, and Lily sat bundled together on the tailgate, looking up at the vast, star-studded canopy of the Perseid meteor shower.
Lily wore a warm fleece jacket, her fingers tucked into Sloan’s hand on one side and playing with her small piece of meteorite in her pocket on the other.
Across the dark horizon, a bright streak of light tore across the atmosphere, burning up brilliantly before fading into the dark.
Lily gasped silently, pointing up with her free hand. She turned to Daniel, her eyes bright with starlight, and raised her hands.
Slowly, deliberately, she signed: Meteor.
Daniel smiled, his chest swelling with a warmth that had nothing to do with the blankets. He raised his hands, mirroring her movement, and signed back: Meteor.
Then Lily looked between Daniel and Sloan, her expression softening into a radiant, complete smile. She signed one more word—the most important word she had ever learned to make with her hands:
May you like
Family.
Daniel pulled them both close against his chest, watching the sky burn bright above them, knowing that in the silence, they had finally found their true North.
