Page 118 of Just a Heartbeat Away

Seb had tears in his eyes when she turned to him, joy rising within her like a geyser. It was a feeling she’d become very familiar with in the weeks since Thanksgiving. Maybe she wasn’t the most thrilling twenty-eight-year-old in the world, but her preferred lifestyle fit with Seb and Matty’s almost flawlessly. Lots of home-cooking and chilly afternoons at the playground. She’d introduced them to the rustic joys of the Cobble Hill theater over the big movieplex down the street and the three of them had been back to see three movies together, Matty and Via hogging all the popcorn between them.

There’d been strangenesses as well. The first night that Via had slept over had felt odd for all three of them and had required quite a bit of conversation between every person involved. Although, in the end, Matty seemed to have adapted to Via’s presence in their lives even faster than Sebastian had. For a while, it seemed he couldn’t help asking her if she wanted him to get a babysitter so that they could go to the bar or—gulp—a club. She’d laughed at that last suggestion and firmly persuaded him out of the first. When she wanted to go to happy hours with their school friends, she did. When she wanted to see Fin, she did. She’d even started spending more time with Mary, which was a very happy side effect to becoming part of the Dorners’ lives.

That night, still over the moon about Matty’s confession to Via, they put him to bed and went to Seb’s bedroom themselves. They snuggled in close, only using up approximately a quarter of the bed, the way they always did.

Via pulled the covers up over Sebastian’s shoulder, because he refused to sleep in anything more than underwear but he always ended up a little cold in the middle of the night. She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes as he absently drew patterns on her belly.

“Are you all right?” he whispered, apparently sensing her tension.

“Yeah,” she said. “I guess I’m keyed up from Matty. But, also, there’s something that’s tugging at me. It’s like something is missing, but I don’t know what?”

“Missing...” Seb asked, drifting toward sleep himself but at least making an attempt at being helpful.

Via cocked her head up and looked around the room. She hadn’t moved in, but there were marks of her everywhere. A picture of the three of them on the nightstand. A small jar of multicolored flowers. Her clothes spilling from one of the drawers.

It hit her, all at once, what was missing.

“Seb,” she whispered to him excitedly, her face pressing close enough to touch noses.

“Hmm?”

“I figured out what’s missing.”

His eyes came open. Realizing how close she was, he rubbed his nose on hers. “What’s that?”

She kissed him, snuggling even closer. “I’m not lonely. There’s no loneliness here.”

He stared at her for a moment, coming completely awake. His hand slicked up her back and he drew her mouth to his. “I know, baby. I know.”

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