Chapter 3 The Telescope between them

Frank hadn't expected to see her again. People in Windmere Bay rarely came back twice unless they were tourists or running from something. And Victory - she didn't look like either. She looked like she belonged to a world just outside his reach, full of colors he hadn't seen in a long time.

She returned that evening, just as the sun dipped beneath the horizon and the sky softened into indigo. The dock creaked under her footsteps, and Frank, already setting up his telescope, didn't look up until she cleared her throat.

"Is this a private ritual," she asked, "or can strangers still interrupt?"

A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Depends on the stranger."

She sat beside him without waiting for an invitation, legs dangling over the edge. "You don't talk much, do you?"

"I say what needs saying."

"And how often is that?"

"Not very."

Victory laughed - not mockingly, but like she understood. "You know, the world would be quieter if more people thought that way."

He glanced at her, surprised. Most people filled silence because it made them uncomfortable. But she... she sat in it like it was home.

After a pause, he offered her a turn at the telescope.

"Go ahead," he said. "Saturn's visible tonight."

Victory leaned into the eyepiece. "Wow... it looks like it's glowing. Like it doesn't belong here."

"Most beautiful things don't," Frank murmured.

She looked up at him, and for the first time, he didn't look away.

"You used to do this with someone, didn't you?" she asked gently.

Frank's throat tightened. He nodded once. "Her name was Elsie."

The name hung in the air between them like a constellation - distant, shining, untouchable.

Victory didn't press. She didn't offer the usual "I'm sorry" or ask questions he wasn't ready to answer. She just sat with him, letting the stars speak instead.

And for Frank, that was the first time in a long while that the night didn't feel so lonely.