The cracks were already showing, and they'd barely been at this for two months. "Well," Lyra said finally. "That went great." "Shut up." "I'm serious. We needed to have that fight."
"Better now than when we're too far gone to fix it." Cole looked at her. "You think this is fixable?" "I think anything's fixable if people want it badly enough." Lyra stood and stretched.
"Go talk to her." Cole hesitated, then stood and followed Kaya's path. He found her outside the boarding house, leaning against the hitching post, staring up at the stars. "I'm not apologizing," she said without looking at him. "I'm not asking you to."
"Good." Cole stood beside her, hands in his pockets. "You're right, though. We're losing something." "I know."
"So what do we do about it?" Kaya finally looked at him. "We make a choice. Either we commit to this, really commit, not just in name, or we admit it's not working and figure out something else." "I don't want to give up."
"Then stop acting like you're going through the motions. This isn't just another job, Cole. This is our lives, all four of us. And if we're going to make it work, we need to be present, not just physically, but in every way that matters." Cole nodded slowly. "You're right."
"I know I am." "You're also impossible." Kaya smiled faintly. "That too." They stood there in silence, the night air cool against their skin.
Then Cole made a decision. "Tomorrow, I'm quitting the mine," he said. Kaya turned to him. "What?" "You heard me."
"I'll quit. We'll find something else, something we can all do together." "Cole, we need that money." "We need each other more. You said it yourself."
Kaya stared at him, and something in her expression softened. "You sure?" "No. But I'm doing it anyway." She reached out, took his hand, and squeezed it once.
"Thank you." They walked back inside together, and when they told Lyra and Sani the plan, both women looked relieved. The tension that had hung over the room like smoke began to dissipate, and by the time they went to bed, things felt almost normal again. The next morning, Cole quit the mine. The foreman cursed him out, called him unreliable, and told him he'd never work in Gravel Springs again.