He hadn’t thought there was room in his heart for more damage and upset. He’d come back here, with his battered, bruised psyche in full mourning. He knew that what he was carrying back to her was different from the man he was when he left. He could only hope that she would accept it.

But when he’d asked Alvin where she was, and gotten that absolutely withering look in response, he knew something had gone horribly wrong.

The note falling off was just a chance. Just a horrible chance that had caused Paige so much pain. He wondered, if he were in a different state, if he might have been offended that she had been so quick to doubt him. But he couldn’t judge her for that. There wasn’t room. Not now. And besides, she had a history of being left. Things like that leave scars, and all Kehlan could do about them was dedicate the rest of his life to letting them fade without reopening the wounds that had caused them.

When they got to Paige’s car, he realized he’d never ridden in it. They’d always taken his rental wherever they went, since it seemed like a waste not to use it. But now, they climbed into her twenty-year-old boxy contraption, and he couldn’t help but wish that they hadn’t opted for the fancier car every time. This car felt like her. It felt warm and welcoming the way she was. And, it turned out, there was a blanket behind the passenger seat.

“Here. Take off your shirt and put this on. It’s a long way back to town from here.”

She was amazing. He knew how much she cared about him, and how she must have felt when she believed he’d left her. He could see that anger in her, bubbling away under the surface, when she’d first walked over to him at the overlook. But here she was now, sitting beside him, offering a blanket and caring for him. That was Paige—always caring.

They didn’t talk on the way back to town. He had a feeling she understood that there was something too big for him to get out while she was driving. It would wait until they were home.

Home. He had already started thinking of it that way, even so quickly after she’d accepted him back. At least, after he hoped she had accepted him back.

When they got back to the house, it all felt so familiar. Even a week away had made him miss it. The easy, worn-in way that everything had about it. The bits and pieces of the lives of the little family that lived there. And, he realized, feeling sharp little claws suddenly dig into his calf seemingly from nowhere, the little kitten.

Kehlan shed the blanket and followed her, shirtless, into the kitchen. His pants were still damp, even after the heater going full blast the whole car ride back, but that was forgotten for the moment.

He watched as she bent down, looking underneath the fridge. He watched as she grabbed a long-handled wooden spoon and fished out the note, along with the traitorous magnet that had caused so much misunderstanding. He watched her read the note, and saw her eyes go wide with understanding.

She rushed to him, throwing her arms around his still-chilly body and pulling him close.

Finally, now, after what had felt like such a long time, he got to hold her in his arms again. He held her close to him, letting the warmth of her and the nearness of her soothe the constant ache of mourning.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know…”

He shook his head.

“How could you? It’s no one’s fault. And if I had called…I just couldn’t handle telling you. Not until now. Telling you makes it real, somehow.”

It was true, he realized as he said it. As good as it felt to have her close to him again, and to be forgiven for the crime he hadn’t realized he’d committed, it also brought on a fresh wave of pain.

“Was it expected?”

“Yes and no. It was a surprise, but it shouldn’t have been.”

She didn’t seem to know what to ask, and he didn’t know what to offer her as far as information. He would tell her about their conversation. One day soon, when he’d told her more about how they had been all his life, so that she would have the context to understand what it meant for her to use her final breaths to give his new life her blessing.

For now, it seemed, Paige knew most of what she needed to know. She knew enough to comfort him. And he knew her well enough to be comforted.

They didn’t talk about it that night. He didn’t make her any new promises. The promises he had already made stood strong, and were getting stronger by the minute. He would live there, in Stockton, and they would figure things out. And whatever might happen, whether it was good as their previous week together had been, or painful as this past week had been, they would face it. Together.