It was like something out of a movie, or even better, the type of book she had loved as a child, in which people had to survive in the wilderness and build their own houses, fixing them up with makeshift dishes and furniture. The cabin had only one room with a small potbelly stove, a bunk bed, and a table made of planks that had a single chair at it. There was a cup on the table with a paperback book beside it. Shelves on the walls, uncovered and made of boards, held a few dishes, some more books, canned goods, and a variety of other things, like candles and matches, folded towels and clothes, and tools.
Despite being a bit crude, it was all clean and nice. The floor was not just swept, but looked like it had been washed. There was a little rug on it. The bed had been made with neat, almost military precision.
"I can make coffee if you folks want any." Dane seemed nervous now, but Lucy didn't think it was that he was nervous of her specifically. It was just that he wasn't used to having other people in his space. Everything about the cabin suggested that he rarely or never had company. He didn't meet their eyes, looking away anxiously.
Eren seemed to have recognized the issue as well. "We have to get going anyway. I gotta get back before dark or there'll be hell to pay with Dad."
"You don't have to keep coming back," Dane said. "You've done enough for me. More than enough. I'll be fine out here on my own."
Eren looked up sharply. "Don't say that. You did more than that for me. You saved my life—saved my soul."
There was a strange weight on the last word, as if he meant something other than what it would normally mean. It seemed as if Dane understood; he jerked his chin up in a brief acknowledgment. His gaze darted briefly to Lucy—peculiar eyes, green and brown, like the forest outside the cabin door.
She felt an odd kinship with him. It wasn't like her inexplicable, instant connection with Eren, the way she had immediately trusted Eren with no reasoning behind it, only instinct. With Dane, it was more of a mutual recognition that they both had secrets. They didn't really trust each other,couldn'ttrust each other, but they both knew better than to pry, and there was an odd sort of comfort in that. She didn't have to worry that Dane would ask her any awkward questions.
He was a comfortable person to be around.
This thought surprised her a little, because she didn't think Old Lucy would have felt that way at all. Old Lucy would have been very nervous around him.
But New Lucy recognized their shared kinship and found it relaxing.
"If it won't get anyone in trouble, and if Dane doesn't mind, I think I'd like to have a cup of coffee, actually," she said shyly.
"It's not a problem," Dane said gruffly.
Eren relaxed a little, and Lucy had the abrupt insight that he hadn't really wanted to leave either, he was just giving all of them an out in case she was uncomfortable or Dane wanted to be alone.
Because that was the kind of guy he was. The sort who wanted to take care of people, who gave them both a graceful out of a social situation they might not want to be in, because he was justlike that.
Her heart fell a little bit in love with Eren right there.
Dane rinsed the coffeepot with water from a large jug and dumped it into a pot on the windowsill with a plant in it. While he put in water and coffee and set it on the stove, Lucy looked at the plant. It wasn't a store-bought plant, at least she didn't think so. It looked like he had dug up a plant in the woods and put it in the pot. It had a single delicate bell-shaped blue flower.
"That's harebell," Dane said. "I think I'll put it back after it blooms. I feel sorry for it, being in a cage when it's used to having its roots free."
Lucy looked at him to see if he was teasing her, but he seemed serious. Eren looked a little sad, and Lucy felt like the conversation had gone to a place that she couldn't entirely understand.
"Oh hey, did you ever plant those seeds I brought you?" Eren asked, changing the subject. "I don't know if they'll grow here, but—"
"Oh yeah, I did." Dane brightened. "You two want to see the garden while the coffee perks?"
"Sure!" Lucy said, and Eren nodded.
They left the cabin and went along a path that wound into the woods out back. The island was larger than it had looked from the water, and when the trees closed around them it was dim and peaceful. There was no getting away from the ocean, though. It was on all sides, a constant susurration of gentle white noise and a crisp tang in the air. Between the tree trunks, Lucy could catch glimpses of sunlight glinting on waves.
I reallylikethe sea,Lucy thought.
This was another New Lucy thought, although she recalled now that it was more like getting back in touch with a part of Old Lucy she had almost forgotten. She used to love the ocean and the beach as a child, and she had always liked going out in the yacht. She had a sudden strong memory of standing on the beach with her father, looking out across the waves as if looking for something they had both lost.
But her mom didn't like her swimming in the ocean. Like all dangers, it was something that her mother had felt very strongly about protecting her from.
Lucy swallowed against an ache in her throat at the thought of her mother, who had been gone for three years. It was enough time for the hurt to scab over, but not to heal.
A hand touched her lightly in the middle of her back, resting on top of the borrowed flannel shirt. "Are you upset?" Eren asked quietly.
"No, no." She shook her head, not wanting him to jump to the wrong conclusion. "I was just thinking about sad things, that's all."
"Well, if you ever want to talk about them, I'm a good listener."