Re: Dock: Clementine & Declan
[Declan knew loss, but it was a different kind than this. He'd never cried over his mother or his father or his wife when they were gone, although he supposed that crying was better suited to women. He thought that it was a little dramatic to go missing people who'd only just left, but vanishing from this community seemed a lot more finite than if one had simply just left down. Leaving here meant leaving to a whole new world, didn't it? Not so dramatic then.]
They may return one day, right? [That happened around here, or so he'd heard. Clementine's breathing went soft and sharp like she was refusing to cry at all, and Declan rocked her a bit where she sat on his knee. The whiskey made her warm, and Declan rested his cheek against the crown of her blond head for a moment. He stared out over the lake for a moment before all of this close contact began to warm him too. He preferred for whiskey to be responsible for that, not the tightly wrapped arms of half-sisters.
So, clearing his throat, he squeezed his hands on her side and released, nudging her hair with the tip of his chin.] Go on and sit over there. [To the other chair that looked out on still water.] And pass me that bottle while you tell me something about them. [She wasn't the only one who could demand stories.]