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A bitter laugh escaped me. “Of course he has.” Bitterness clawed at my throat. I was frustrated at myself and him again. “I should have seen that one coming. Kind of brought it on myself when I disappeared on him. He's big on reputation. He would do anything to save face in public. So yes, that tracks.”

Ava sighed. “Tell me the truth now. Are you okay? Do I need to come get you wherever you are?”

The question was simple. But it carried so much weight. Because a few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have known how to answer. But now? I looked around the kitchen. At the home I somehow found. At the life I accidentally walked into.

“No.”

It was the truth. And Ava could tell. She'd always been perceptive, knowing things even before I could speak the words.

“Really?” she asked, regardless.

I smiled.

“Really.”

“Wren.”

“What?”

“You sound different.”

My fingers tightened around the phone. “Different how?”

“Peaceful. Happy. Like everything is starting to make sense again.”

A smile pulled at my lips now. She wasn’t wrong. Even I had noticed how softer, different I sounded now that I was no longer on the defensive. I still had a long way to go, but this was a good start.

My eyes moved around the kitchen. Until weeks ago, this place was a stranger's kitchen. Now, it felt like mine. Little pieces of me were everywhere. A pink blanket I had selected at the store when I last went with Knox was on the couch. Nay’s old books, which were now mine, were stacked on the table. There was a chessboard game beside it. A vanilla-scented candle Knox had gotten me when I mentioned in passing that I love scented candles, not knowing he was paying attention.

We were happy.

We?

The thought made my chest tighten because that meant something. We. Knox and me. It was terrifying how easily I had started thinking that way. How easily I had accepted his presence. His arms around me. His voice in the morning. The quiet moments when we didn’t even have to talk. The kisses that started as something uncertain and turned into something I looked forward to.

The way his touch no longer made me tense. The way I trusted him.

So yes, I sounded different.

“Things changed,” I said, my voice thickening with emotion.

Ava was quiet. Then she said, “I want to see you.”

The words came so quickly I almost laughed.

“You do?” I asked, uncertain.

“Yes.”

A small smile tugged at my lips.

“I miss you,” she added.

I swallowed. “I miss you too.”

We made plans quickly. We were going to meet at a coffee shop across town for a few hours. She was off work today, so it made sense. It was nothing complicated, yet I buzzed with excitement when I dropped the call.

Knox had told me where he was going that morning. Some kind of business issue with packages. I knew he wouldn't be back before me, but just in case he was, I grabbed a pen and wrote him a note telling him where I was off to. I left the note in the kitchen after downing my coffee, then headed to my room to get changed. I guess I could call it Knox’s and my bedroom now, since we slept there together.