Page 138 of The Story Between Us

“It’s made my day to see you,” he said. “It really has.”

“Mine too,” Livvie said. And meant it.

Katherine touched her arm—a gentle squeeze, an invitation—and then they were saying goodbye, exchanging numbers, making promises about dinner next week. Vinnie waved his elephant at her with the solemn intensity of toddlers everywhere. Her father kissed her forehead one more time.

And then she stood alone on the path, watching them go. Her father pushing the stroller. Katherine’s hand tucked through his arm. Vinnie’s elephant bobbing over his shoulder like a fuzzy goodbye.

A family. Her family, in a way.

The sky had lightened, the breeze fresh as she walked home.

The apartment building appeared at the end of the block. Gray stone, fire escapes, the kind of NYC walk-up that looked charming in movies and exhausting in real life.

She reached for the buzzer, punched in her code, pushed through the heavy door⁠—

And someone caught it behind her.

“Thanks, I⁠—”

She turned.

And the world stopped.

Nate stood on her doorstep.

He looked like he’d traveled hard—rumpled flannel, shadows under his eyes. His hair stuck up, whiskers on his jaw, and he held a bag over one shoulder and something in his hand that she couldn’t quite see.

“Nate? What—how did you—why are you⁠—”

“Aunt Lila gave me your address.”

Aunt Lila. Of course.

“You’re here,” Livvie said. It was a stupid thing to say, but her brain wasn’t working properly. “You’re in New York.”

“I’m in New York.” He shifted his weight. Ran a hand through his already-disastrous hair. “I need help.”

Not I’m sorry. Not I love you. Not I was wrong.

Just…I need help.

Of course he did. She should be angry. Should be guarded. Should demand an apology before she let him within ten feet of her heart again.

But she looked at him—really looked—and she saw a man at the end of his rope. A man who’d gotten on a plane and flown across the country.

And then she looked at the notebook in his grip.

Emma’s notebook.

You can’t fix grief. All you can do is love them through it.

She couldn’t fix him. She wasn’t going to try.

But she could open the door.

“Okay,” she said. “Come on in.”

Nate stood in her apartment like he didn’t quite know how he’d gotten there.