“You came home,” he murmured.
I lay there with his body warm against my side and the sounds of the city outside the window.
I didn’t answer him.
I didn’t have to.
He was already asleep.
Chapter fifteen
Noah
Jackson was up before me, and when I came out of the bedroom, he was already in the kitchen with coffee made.
“You didn’t have to come back last night,” I said.
“I know.”
“Bobby probably had everything covered.”
“He did.”
I got myself a mug and filled it with hot water from the kettle he’d put on for me. “So why did you?”
He looked at me over the rim of his coffee. “I missed you.”
I wrapped both hands around my mug and looked back at him. Three words. Simple and without decoration, like they were just facts he was reporting.I missed you. The same way he might say it’s cold out or that breakfast is ready. It was so like him to say something so sweet like it wasn’t any big deal at all.
“I missed you, too,” I said, matching him.
He nodded once, satisfied, and that was that.
We took our drinks to the small table by the window while the city woke up outside. He told me about his day at the camp. He said the group had done great in the morning with hand-to-hand, but they’d had a hard afternoon with the knife defense because of a real-life experience their department had gone through, but they’d made it through.
“Bobby’s covering breakfast, but I don’t have long before I have to head out there this morning,” he said. “They have range work until noon, and then I have an expert coming in this afternoon for some specialized training.”
“Okay,” I said.
He looked at me. “You could come. If you don’t have anything going on.”
“Are you sure?”
“Wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t.”
“Okay, I have plans with Mika on Friday. He wants to show me his rooftop garden, but today was just going to be television and the puzzle we bought at the bookstore.” I glanced at the unopened jigsaw on the coffee table. It was a botanical illustration, because of course I picked that one. It had one thousand pieces and looked like it would be lovely when it was completed. “Actually, that sounds kind of sad and boring when I say it out loud.”
“Bring the puzzle,” he said. “You can work on it at the farmhouse table while I’m out with the group. Bobby’ll be around.”
I thought about it for approximately three seconds. “Okay. Let me get dressed.”
The farmhouse kitchen was warm when we got there, smelling like coffee and the remnants of whatever Bobby had made for breakfast. The long table was clear except for a coffee mug and a set of keys at the far end, and I spread the puzzle out across one half while Jackson got things organized for the morning.
Bobby gave me a nod on his way through. “There’s food left over from breakfast if you want some. It’s in the fridge.”
“Thanks, but I’m good,” I said.
He poured himself a coffee and turned to Jackson. “Everyone is all set up for this morning, and they’re just killing time till we start. They seem pretty excited about range practice. Apparently,Garza and Mitchell have a friendly rivalry going about who’s the better shot.”
