Page 82 of Lillian

“What?” I roll my eyes. “Spit it out.”

“I just had him pegged wrong is all. He seems like a decent enough guy.” Jim gives me a look as if to say,am I wrong?

“He is. And?”

“I think what my husband is trying to say is, what the fuck are you doing here moping all by yourself when you’ve got a man that loves you two and a half hours away?”

“Well, minus the cursing. But you basically got it, baby. Thank you.” Jim winks at my sister, love shining in his eyes. Just like that, I miss Lincoln. It’s the first emotion I’ve felt besides crushing grief since Thursday. At least I can do something about this one.

I glance at my sister, who is grinning at me. “Go,” she smirks. “Pack a bag for the week, and go take your mind off things.”

She doesn’t say it, but the ‘nobody is keeping you here anymore’is implied.

So I do.

Just under four hours later, I grab my suitcase from the back of my car as I park in Lincoln’s building garage. I grunt under the weight of it. I packed enough for two weeks, including all my work things, so I could get caught up on the backlog of orders this week.

I wheel the suitcase into the elevator and hit the button for the penthouse. Suddenly, I’m a little nervous because I wanted this to be a surprise, so I didn’t tell Lincoln I was coming.

It’s not that I think he’ll mind. He’s been asking me to come over in his texts. But what if he and Becca went to dinner tonight, or they’re out for dessert?

As I raise my hand to knock on the door, I wonder if I’ll have to go back down and sit in my car while I wait for them to come back.

But then the door swings open, and there Lincoln is. Standing in front of me with more stubble than the last time I saw him. There are small bags under his eyes that must match the ones under mine.

He looks exhausted. It’s then I realize how selfish I’ve been. While I’ve needed my space to grieve, he’s given it to me, no matter how it affected him.

When he sees me, his eyes light up, and he pulls me into a fierce hug. My arms automatically wrap around his waist, and I inhale his woodsy scent.

We stand there for a long time, just holding each other.

It feels like home.

“Did I know you were coming?”Lincoln asks after we pull apart. He takes the suitcase from my hand, ushers me into the apartment, and closes the door behind me.

“No. I just missed you,” is my response. His answering smile makes me feel guilty all over again for not being here sooner.

“Linc?” a voice calls from down the hallway, and a few seconds later, Becca comes skipping around the corner. When she sees me, she stops skipping, shocked, I think. There are bits and flecks of paint splattered on her clothes and covering her fingers. This must be from the mural painting Lincoln mentioned in his voicemails. Becca breaks from her stupor and rushes over to hug me, the smell of paint fumes surrounding me. “How are you?” she asks when she pulls away.

Sad. “A little better now.” I give her a small smile.

“We were just about to order in dinner.” Lincoln’s voice is quiet as he observes his sister and I with a look of contentment on his face.

“Thai,” Becca agrees.

“I love Thai,” I tell her, even though I know I won’t be eating much. It does the trick, though, and she beams at me.

“Cool. I’m going back to painting. Call for me when the food’s here?” She directs that question to Linc, who nods his agreement. “I’m really glad you’re here,” Becca says this much to me and then skips back down the hall to her room.

When it’s just Lincoln and I standing in the entryway near the door, he says, “I’m really glad you’re here, too. In case it wasn’t obvious.”

“It was,” I say, humor in my voice. “The way your eyes almost popped out of your head made me a little nervous, though.”

He chuckles. “Sorry, but I was trying to figure out what bird made a nest of my girlfriend’s hair.”

With a stink eye pointed at Lincoln, I smooth down the stray hairs that must have escaped from my messy bun as I drove here with the windows down.

“You moving in?” he teases, looking down at my suitcase—the largest one I own, and stuffed full.

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