Page 104 of Glitched Play

A laugh catches in my chest. That must be the last thing she was thinking before she drifted off.

Quietly, I turn down the volume.

Her body twitches and she pulls her arms in tighter.

Is she cold? I have a climate-controlled system and it’s a perfect seventy degrees in every room. All the time.

I reach for the blanket bunched near the floor that she must have kicked off at some point. Maci stirs when I drape it over her, but she doesn’t wake. She only sighs and settles deeper into the cushion, one foot slipping farther into my lap.

I tuck the blanket around it.

I stare at her.

My hand returns to her ankle before I decide whether it should. This time my thumb moves over the soft skin once, then again, and the tenderness of the gesture feels foreign enough that I stop.

Her breathing stays even.

Her soft smile stays.

I lift her leg slightly, careful not to wake her, and press a soft kiss just above her ankle.

The contact lasts less than a second.

Still, my chest tightens.

Not with panic.

Recognition.

I used to believe loving Rune meant there would never be room for anyone else. She occupied a protected place in my life, separate from family, business, and every expectation I didn’t know how to meet.

I was wrong.

Loving Rune taught me how to let one person into my mind.

Maci is teaching me what happens when someone gets into everything else.

My home.

My family.

My routines.

The quiet parts of me I assumed no one would ever understand.

I should stand.

I should go to bed.

Instead, I lean back into the couch and let her feet remain in my lap. The business coach on television continues shouting advice that any business owner should know, but for once the noise doesn’t bother me enough to turn it off completely.

Maci is here.

That changes the calculation.

I rest my head against the cushion and close my eyes.

Her breathing becomes the only rhythm I track.