Chapter 33
Chapter 33 — The Last Coat
Alex wakes Saturday morning in Patricia's cabin and slips out before dawn. He checks on Jodie's cabin and finds the food plate untouched but the note gone. He spends the morning applying the final coat of finish to Maya's bookshelf in the workshop. JJ visits him there and they talk about the departures and what the commune becomes when people leave. Chloe finds him later and they share a quiet, playful moment that doesn't lead anywhere physical — a shift from the summer's pattern. In the afternoon, Alex helps Maya sort through her belongings for Portland. She finds an old photo of herself from before the commune and almost throws it away. Alex keeps it. They carry the finished bookshelf to her truck together. The chapter ends with Alex sitting alone in the workshop after Maya drives down the road to test-load the shelf, and he hears a knock on the workshop door — Jodie, standing in the frame, holding his note.
He woke in Patricia's bed. The room smelled like her — lavender and sweat and something darker underneath. She was asleep. Her back rose and fell with slow, even breaths. The candle stub had melted into a puddle of wax on the nightstand. The window showed nothing. Still dark. Maybe five.
He found his clothes in a pile by the door. He dressed without sound. Shirt first, then shorts, then boots. He didn't lace them. He carried them to the door and sat on the step to tie them there.
The path back to his cabin was damp. Dew on the grass. The sky was turning from black to the deep blue that comes before gray. He didn't go to his cabin. He walked to Jodie's.
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