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“What’s he gonna tell you? ‘I cleaned off your car because your boyfriend doesn’t do it’? He’s not gonna say nothing about that, believe me.”

I let a small breath out through my nose. No, Mike didn’t usually clean off my car. But he lived halfway across town and I had to be on the road early to make it to work. I didn’t expect him to wake up at four in the morning to get snow off my car.

But someone did. Chris?

And even as I tried to convince myself it wasn’t, I knew it was true.

I’d mentioned having to dig out my car to him before. He knew where I lived, he knew Mike wasn’t going to do it.

So he did it?

Something tugged in my chest. I had to put a hand over it.

It was him.

And he didn’t even tell me. We’d already texted today about Woofarine, and he didn’t mention one word. I hadn’t even seen him in a month and he came over here to do this? For me?

Why?

I sat back on my heels.

He was out there, in ten-degree weather—a few feet from where I was on the other side of the wall, sleeping—clearing off my car at some ungodly hour. Taking the extra fifteen minutes to shovel the walkway and the front step.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it the whole morning.

Every time my phone pinged, I expected a message from him going, “Hey, forgot to tell you I cleaned off your car.”

But the text never came.

Mike took the boxes I gave him and went home. He had work later.

I vacuumed up the dust from all the moved books. Took a shower. And I felt bothered the whole time. About the snow thing and something else.

I still hadn’t talked to Mike yet about what Lexi said yesterday. Him not working for Tony wasn’t going to change the fact I’d be moving in with him in two weeks. The move was already in motion and I had no other options. Mike’s job wasn’t a deal-breaker. I’m sure he had a plan. He had to have a plan. Maybe he wanted a different kind of career and it was something I could help him with? We could help each other?

But what if he didn’t have a plan? What then?

I shook it off.

This was just nerves. This was normal before a big change like the one I was making. I’m sure everyone moving in with their partner has some kind of last-minute doubts.

I circled back to the other thing bothering me. Chris cleaning off my car at four o’clock in the morning and not telling me.

It made me wonder what else he wasn’t taking credit for.

32

CHRIS

I was behind the counter filling scripts with my pharmacy tech, Waylon.

“Hey, Heather came in again asking for you,” he said.

“Hmm,” I said dismissively.

He glanced at me. “She’s hot, man. What’s your problem?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t feel like dating right now,” I mumbled.