“Does your back still hurt?” he asked.
She nodded.
Tom pressed his fingers into the muscles under her ribs and along her spine. “Why’d you wear those shoes all day?”
She groaned. “I was trying to seduce you.”
Tom laughed. It made Cherry’s body bounce. “Oh, baby,” he said softly, “I’m in the bag. No one in the world has ever needed less seducing.”
Chapter 55
They slept like spoons facing one way.
And then Cherry rolled over, and Tom rolled over, and they slept like spoons facing the other way.
They slept with their arms draped over each other. With their knees and ankles crossing.
Even during the months when things had gone very cold and quiet between them, they’d find each other in the middle of the night and nest in each other’s bodies.
Tonight they didn’t leave space between them for even a stray thought.
Cherry fell asleep thinking that the bed must be so happy to have Tom here. That the whole house must be holding them. That Stevie would defend them from any threat. Cherry alone didn’t satisfy Stevie’s shepherding instincts. But she and Tom were a flock. A family.
Chapter 56
Cherry woke up alone.
The down comforter was pulled up and tucked around her.
She lay quiet, listening for sounds downstairs or in the bathroom...
Nothing.
She sat up, looking around for some sign that she hadn’t slept here alone...
There wasn’t any. Tom’s clothes weren’t lying on the floor. There was no wet washcloth.
A desolate feeling settled in the pit of Cherry’s stomach. A loneliness without borders.
Then she heard the front door open.
And Tom’s hushed voice.
Stevie running back and forth.
She heard the baby gate clicking open, then closed.
And Tom on the stairs.
How many times in the last twenty-four hours had Cherry wished for time to stop? She wanted to be stuck in this moment, like a fly in amber—naked in bed, with Tom climbing the stairs.
He got to their room. He was wearing his coat and hat, and holding coffee. “You aren’t supposed to be awake.”
Cherry clenched the blanket in front of her chest. “Where’d you go?”
He sat down on the bed. “Stevie was at the bottom of the stairs, whining—I think she thought she was being punished. I took her for a walk, so she wouldn’t wake you up.” He frowned at Cherry’s face. Shemust still look hurt. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. He held up the cup. “I brought you a latte.”
Cherry took it. She smiled.
