“You can say no,” Noah said quickly. “I just—I don’t love the idea of you walking back in this.” He met Eli’s gaze, and there was nothing pushy there, no expectation, just concern. Care. An offer.
“I’m not trying anything,” Noah added, his cheeks flushing. “I mean, not unless—I just mean... Safety first. And cocoa.”
Eli’s brain supplied what Noah’s lips didn’t say.
I told you my ex left and I lived in a fishbowl of gossip. I’m not going to risk becoming that story again with someone who doesn’t want it.
His chest hurt. “I…” He thought of Aileen. The guest room and the quilt and the quiet of her house. The sketchbook in his duffel. That old drawing. The boy in the bleachers.
Then he thought of Noah walking home alone in the snow.
“I probably should get back,” Eli said with reluctance. “I promised my sister I’d help with a morning delivery tomorrow. And she worries.”
“Of course,” Noah said with a nod. “That’s fair. She would murder me if anything happened to you.”
“Exactly.” He chuckled. “You’d be building your own coffin.”
“Wow. That’s dark.”
“No, it’s festive,” Eli corrected.
Noah’s smile came back, small but real. “Let me at least walk you halfway.”
The world outside was white. Snowflakes blurred the streetlights, swirling in tiny tornadoes at the corners of buildings. Eli pulled on his coat and stepped out into the cold. It slapped his cheeks, sharp and clean.
Noah locked the workshop and joined him, falling into step so close their arms almost brushed.
“Watch that patch,” Noah said, pointing to a slick spot on the sidewalk.
“Yes, Mom.”
They walked in silence for a block, their boots crunching in the snow. The town was muffled and quiet, as if someone had thrown a blanket over it.
“So,” Noah said, his breath steaming the air as they came to a halt, “thanks for helping tonight.”
“Thanks for the free therapy,” Eli said.
“I guess that means we’re even. Get Aileen to text me, so I know you got home safe. Better yet, get her to give you my number, and you can text me yourself.”
Eli couldn’t resist smiling. “Wow. That was subtle.”
Noah laughed. “Damn, you noticed.”
“Good night, Noah.”
They stood there, suspended, neither stepping closer nor farther away, and for a single, impossible second, Eli thought Noah might lean in, closing the gap between them. But then a snowplow rumbled by, scattering slush and noise, and the spell broke.
Noah stepped back. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” Eli said. “Tomorrow.” He strode off before he could say anything else, but after he’d gotten maybe ten feet away, he turned.
Noah was still standing there in the snow, hands in his pockets, watching him go.
Eli’s chest felt too tight and too full at the same time.
He walked carefully through the white-blanketed streets, Noah’s words echoing in his mind.
I make things glow so no one notices what’s dim.
