Pete sighed. “Okay. I’m gonna go watch the movie. Can you take care of Rikki for a while?”
“I have a lot of work to do in the kitchen. Why don’t you let him out for some exercise?”
“But what if he runs away?” Pete exclaimed.
“Sweetheart, he was born in the wild. He might decide to go back to the wild someday.”
“But he’s just little!”
“Right, and he’ll probably stay right in the backyard where he knows he always has food and water. But if he wants to explore a bit, that’s fine too.”
“But I love him.” Pete pulled the mongoose down from his shoulder to hold him in both arms.
“Sometimes, the most loving thing that you can do is let go. And if he stays close, then you know that living here ishischoice.”
Pete let out a long, dramatic sigh.
“Okay,” he said after a while. He opened a fresh can of kitten food, plopped it into Rikki’s bowl outside, and then trudged upstairs to join his cousins.
“Wash your hands!” Anne called after him.
“Oh-kay!” he shouted back, putting a grouchy emphasis on the second syllable. Anne just shook her head.
“You should probably stick around a while,” she told Rikki through the screen.
“Who, me?” Noah’s asked. Anne looked up and found him watching her through the screen door. He was on the property so often that it didn’t even startle her anymore.
“I was speaking to the mongoose,” she said calmly.
“Figures,” he volleyed cheerfully.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice had lost the bite that used to drive that question. Noah heard the change, and he smiled as he let himself into the kitchen.
“I gave Zoe a ride home from work.” He tilted his head and looked at her. “Are you okay?”
“Long day,” she said, looking back down at the food that covered the counter. She was about to start slicing and dicing mangos for salsa.
Noah stepped closer and put a gentle hand between her shoulders. Anne was still for a moment, feeling his hand on her back. Just standing next to him brought her wholly into her body in a way that rarely happened anymore.
Slowly, she turned toward him.
Noah was tall, but so was she. Her face rested easily between his neck and shoulder. She breathed in the warm smell of good soil and growing things.
His arms embraced her, surrounding her without holding her too tight.
More than anyplace else – more than the home she’d made in San Diego or the house she grew up in or even in her long conversations with Oakley – she felt a profound sense ofhomein his arms.
She felt plain and overlooked everywhere but with him.
With Noah, she felt seen. Valued. Loved.
Not loved for what she gave as a mother or for the place she held in her family. Loved for who shewas.Mind, body, and soul.
“How about Thursday?” he asked softly.
“Hm?” She felt dreamy, like his voice had brought her out of a trance.
“For our date,” he clarified, stepping back to see her face.
