Even so, a smirk fought to break through as I stood and backed toward the door. "Alright, I'll start breakfast. Come out when you're ready." I ducked out before the temptation to push my luck could take over.
I headed for the kitchen, still biting back a grin. As fun as it was to see Rowan flustered, it didn't feel right to tease him too hard. He'd had enough thrown at him lately without me adding to it. Still, the image of him going beet red and pretending he hadn't just woken up practically draped across mychest would stay with me for a while.
I kept myself busy at the hob, quietly moving around as I got breakfast going. Nothing fancy, just scrambled eggs and toast. But the sizzle and warmth helped settle my leftover nerves from the night before. I kept an ear tuned toward the bedroom, just in case, but I didn't expect him to show up too soon.
At some point, I finally heard soft, shuffling footsteps. I glanced over my shoulder to see Rowan lingering in the hallway. He hesitated for a second, then wandered in and sat at the table without a word. His shoulders were still drawn in a bit, and he didn't look in my direction. But he didn't seem to shut down, either. He just looked awkward in the way a person gets when they don't know what to do with themselves.
And his ears were still faintly pink.
I turned back to the hob and focused on the eggs before I said something dumb. Tempting as it was to tease him, I left it alone. I didn't want him to think I was laughingathim. Actually, I was just glad to see a little bit of the old Rowan breaking through the fog. Pink ears and all.
I gave the eggs another slow stir, then decided to break the silence. "Oh, hey, just so you know, I can't fully feel my arm. I might've overestimated my ability to cook in this condition. If breakfast turns out problematic, you're not allowed to complain."
He didn't look up right away, but after a pause, he said, "Define problematic."
"Unidentifiable. Possibly sentient. Maybe a biohazard."
Behind me, I heard a quiet huff thatalmostsounded like a laugh. "So your usual, then."
There it was. I couldn't even remember the last time he managed that kind of comeback. If that didn't prove he was coming back to himself, I didn't know what did.
We didn't talk a lot through breakfast, but that was fine.The silence didn't feel heavy like it did some mornings. Rowan didn't flinch at every sound or freeze up when I moved past him. Even though he was quiet, the awkward edge faded the longer we sat there. His shoulders gradually relaxed, and his hands stayed steady as he picked at the food.
When he was finished, he stood up and carried his dishes to the sink. I watched from the table as he rinsed everything off, slower than usual, his eyes drifting up toward the window. He lingered there longer than I expected, and it became clear that something outside had caught his attention.
I set my fork down, suddenly alert. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but the way he went quiet made my pulse tick up. Marcus hadn't been at the door for a few days, but that didn't mean he wasn't loitering outside when we weren't paying attention.
"What's up?" I asked carefully.
He didn't answer at first, but then he tilted his head. "The Davises put a reindeer on their roof."
It took a second for that to register. "What?"
He stepped aside and held the curtain out of the way so I could see. Sure enough, across the road, an inflatable reindeer stood at a crooked angle on the roof. Poor thing must've been launched up there and left to suffer.
I let out a short laugh, mostly out of relief. "Well, that's... Festive. And mildly concerning."
Rowan didn't say anything to that, but he didn't move away from the window, either. He leaned forward just a bit with his arms resting on the sink edge, eyes tracking across the street and down the road like he hadn't really looked outside in a long time.
Which he hadn't.
I nudged my plate aside. "What's going on in that head of yours, Ro?"
He stayed quiet for a moment. Then he asked, "What'stoday?"
"Thirtieth of November. Why?"
He finally turned from the window and leaned back against the sink. "God, when did that happen? Last I checked, summer holiday was just ending."
He wasn't wrong. With all the stress and dealing with Marcus, the past few months had both flown by and dragged on. I didn't know what to say to that except, "I guess time flies when you have a lot going on."
A few more minutes passed where neither of us spoke, but I could tell by the look on his face that he was thinking about something. I couldn't tell what that something was, and I didn't want to press, either. He'd been doing pretty good about not having panic attacks lately, so I didn't want to trigger one.
Then, out of the blue, he asked a question I definitely didn't expect. "Do you think later... Maybe we could walk around a bit?"
I blinked. "Walk?"
"Yeah, just..." He finally looked up to meet my gaze. "When it gets dark. See who's got their lights up. Like we used to."
