As Tess wraps her fingers around it, her shoulders soften. “Thank you.”
I sit on the rug near her,not next to her, butnot far. I put my back to the front of the wood stove platform,stretch my legs out,and take my own mug. We sit, the two of us on a rug in front of a fire while the stormbattersthe cabins on the ridge.
Tess is silent for a long time.
“Sullivan.”
“Mm?”
“Is this where you sleep?”
She’slooking past me to the only door in the cabinthat’sclosed.
“Yeah.”
“Just one room?”
“Loft above. Mattress on the floor.”I look at the loft ladder.“I sleep down here, mostly. The first month I was up here. The loft is…”I shrug.“I sleep with the door in my line of sight.It’sa thing.”
She doesn’t say anything about that. She just nods slowly.
“You can sleep in the loft,”I say.“I’ll take the floor down here.”
“No.”
“Tess—”
“No, Sullivan.”Shedoesn’tlook up from her tea.“I’mnot sleepingalone in your loftwhileyou spend a night on this floor on principle. We have a fireplace and arug,and I am asking you to sit with me untilI’mwarm.Thenwe will figure out the sleeping arrangements like adults.”
“Like adults.”
“Like adults.”
“All right.”
“All right.”
I sit.
The stormrages outside. The fire pops. The mug of tea in her hand goes from full to halfto emptywhenshe sets it carefully on the rug beside her.Atsome point,she’stipped an inch at a time, and her shoulder is against my arm.I don’t move a muscle to encourage it, but I don’t move away to discourage it either.
She’s the warmest thing I’ve touched in five years. I’m working very hard to be grateful only for the warmth. Only for her alive and breathing. I’m mostly succeeding. I intend to keep trying.
“Sullivan.”
“Mm.”
“Tell me about your Henry.”
I think for a long time before I start.
“He sat across a table from me at the Spur and SpoondinerinHavenstone, the second day after my discharge.Hands flat on the table. He asked me two questions.”
“What were the questions?”
“What do you needtoday?What do you need this week?”
Tess makesa smallsound against my shoulder, likea hum of approval.“Not long-term.Not what do you need to be okay.”
