Page 178 of The Replacement Beat

Savannah felt that land somewhere deep. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Tilly said. “You stayed. You didn’t disappear.”

Savannah swallowed, throat tight, but this time it wasn’t panic. It was recognition.

“I wanted to,” she said. “I didn’t want to lose this. You.”

Tilly stepped closer, not rushing, not careful in the old way. Just sure.

“You don’t have to earn me,” they said quietly.

Savannah nodded. “I know.”

She believed it now.

They stood there a while longer, wrapped in the quiet, the night stretching ahead without pressure. No next crisis. No unspoken test.

Just tomorrow, waiting patiently.

Savannah leaned into Tilly’s shoulder, fitting easily there.

“Hey,” she said.

“Yeah?”

She smiled. “You really are lucky.”

Tilly laughed, warm and unguarded, and pressed a kiss into Savannah’s hair.

“Yeah,” they said. “I know.”

And Savannah did too.