Page 71 of We Can Stay
And what would I be looking for anyway? His car, so that I know he’s actually at work? A big neon sign telling me that he misses me—or that I’m the only woman on his mind?
No. Of course not. I just want to be closer to him, even if there are walls between us.
At least I have my kitten to go home to. Apparently, Cat is mine to keep now, because Sebastian has stopped talking about finding her a home.
Which—and that’s another surprise—is fine by me. The fluffball isn’t too annoying, and there’s nothing like having her climb onto my chest to purr the night away.
The rain cloud that’s been hanging over the water all evening hits the island as I reach my street. Fat, aggressive drops slam against my windshield, and I turn the wipers up to the max.
As I turn into the parking lot, my headlights sweep across my condo’s front step. A figure stands there on the porch, close to the door, trying to stay dry. My first thought is to panic, but then I recognize the person’s form.
Sebastian.
My heart does a flip, and my lips pull into a smile.
I jog up to my porch, getting soaked along the way. “Hey.”
“Hi. Hope you don’t mind me just showing up.” He’s holding a covered casserole dish.
“It’s fine, but aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
“Actually…” He looks sheepish. “I took the day off.”
My jaw drops. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he chuckles. “I’m not sick or anything. I just… I needed it, it turns out.”
“Wow.” I don’t know what else to add, so I just shake my head.
“I know.” He raises his eyebrows.
“What did you do?”
“Uh… Well…first, I freaked out.”
That makes me laugh. “Okay. That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Then I thought about coming into Knit Happens to harass you and beg for a job.”
“You could never harass me.” I take hold of his jacket and tug him closer.
He grins. “Good to know, but I didn’t want to bother you. I tried to force myself to stay home, but it was hard to not do anything, so I cleaned my whole house, and then I took some stuff to the resale store.”
“Wow. That’s a lot. Is that really a day off?”
“It felt relaxing.” He shrugs. “I liked it.”
I nod sagely. “Then, yes. I’d say it’s still a day off.”
“Would you like dinner? I made some lasagna.”
“From scratch?”
“Yeah. You told me that it’s your favorite. If you don’t?—”
“Are you kidding me?” I unlock the door. “The moment you said ‘lasagna,’ I considered jumping you and taking it all for myself.”
“I wouldn’t mind the jumping me part.” He follows me into the condo.
