Page 116 of Wells

"Look at you. Annoyingly serene. I hate it here."

"I missed you too."

He grabs my suitcase and wheels it toward the garage.

"I'm serious. You look disgustingly healthy. What did they do to you over there? Brainwash you with mantras and quinoa?"

"Rice. A lot of rice."

"I'm already trying to find a spot in my schedule to go back. It's fabulous, right?"

"I can't put it into words. Thank you for pushing me."

"I wonder what it would be like to be over there for six months. I'm envious and so happy for you that you were able to do that."

We hit the elevator, and he presses the button for level three. The doors close, and he glances at me again.

"I kept all your letters. Thank you for writing me."

That catches me off guard. I sent one every few weeks, handwritten because the ashram didn't allow phones most of the time. I didn't expect him to keep them.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I loved reading you come back to yourself."

His voice softens, and I can sense what he's not saying. He watched me leave broken, and now he's seeing me put together again.

"The handwriting changed," he continues. "First few pages were shaky as hell. By the last ones, it looked like calligraphy."

I smile and blink against the sting in my eyes.

"I had a lot of time to sit still."

The elevator opens, and we walk to his car. He pops the trunk and lifts my suitcase inside.

"You're crashing with me until you furnish the new place, right?"

I shake my head.

"No, I'm staying at Bienville House until I get my place set up. I want to ease back into society quietly. Thank you, though. I know the Murphy bed in your office is always a backup if I need it."

He stops and looks at me.

He slides into the driver's seat, and I climb in beside him. The air conditioning blasts cold, and I lean into it.

"Remind me where your new place is again."

"Irish Channel. A little shotgun, a couple blocks off the river."

"Uptown now? Mid-City Cera is officially retired."

"Mid-City Cera let her whole lease go. This one's a fraction of the rent I was paying on Broad, and it's a ten-minute bike ride from the studio where I start teaching next week."

He pulls out of the garage and merges into traffic.

"I love all of that for you. Just yoga and Pilates?"

"And data visualization on the side. Contract work, remote, just to give me some cushion."