I kissed his forehead.
“I love you,” I whispered.
I expected no answer.
His breathing remained deep and even.
Then, without hesitation, he murmured, “Love you, Cal.”
Everything inside me stopped.
The words had come too naturally to be chosen.
No pause.
No search.
The private name.
The old answer.
I looked down at him.
He was fully asleep, his face peaceful against my chest.
Perhaps it was memory.
Perhaps habit remained somewhere beneath conscious thought.
Perhaps the words meant nothing more than a dreaming brain wandering along an old path.
They meant everything to me.
I wrapped both arms around him.
“Love you too,” I whispered.
Noah did not wake.
He only moved closer.
Chapter 20
REID
Noah came into the kitchen wearing one of my flannel shirts, one sock, and the expression of a man who had been personally betrayed by morning.
His hair had flattened on the left and risen on the right. The healing line near his temple showed through the uneven growth. He walked without the chair now inside the apartment, though he kept one hand close to the counter until the stiffness left his hip.
I set a mug beside his place at the table.
He sat, wrapped both hands around the coffee, and closed his eye.
“Should I come back later?” I asked.
“You’re too loud.”
“I haven’t spoken until now.”
