Page 76

“Morning.”

“Morning.”

He crosses to the coffee maker, pours his own cup, and sits at the kitchen table.

“Are you going somewhere?” he asks.

“No.”

“Then sit down. You look like you’re planning your escape.” Nikko wraps both hands around his mug, watching the steam rise. Then his eyes settle on me with a look I know very well.

“So. I’m just gonna say it. You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you.”

“Fox, I’ve barely seen you since you arrived.”

“I’ve been helping Finn.”

“We’ve all been helping Finn.”

I take a sip of my coffee and brace myself.

“Ask what you want to ask.”

He sets his mug down. “How was the drive?”

Not the question I was expecting.

“It was good.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It was…quiet. The kind of quiet I needed.”

Nikko is watching me.

I look down at my mug because it’s easier than looking at him.

“It was one of those trips where by the end of it, I wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Like, one morning I woke up, made coffee at the kitchen counter, and thought about the fact that I hadn’t been anywhere in three days, yet I wasn’t restless. That doesn’t happen to me.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“I read a lot. I ate real food. I cooked, actually. I made bread.”

“You…made bread?”

“Yeah. Trust me, that surprised me too. It took me two tries, but the second loaf was good. I felt settled. I wasn’t ready to leave when it was time.”

“Fox, are you saying you’re moving to Wyoming?”

I laugh. “I would consider it.” Except I’m not talking about Wyoming.

Nikko’s face is soft, like he gets me.

“Well,” he says. “I’m glad you had that.”

“Yeah.”