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Sloane looked tired but adorable, scrunched up in her corner of the booth. We’d put her through the paces last night, and she’d done the same to us. We’d spent the whole morning talking about what happened, and deciding that no matter what we all wanted the same thing:
Somehow, we all wanted it to happen again.
“Seriously,” I told her. “Move in with us for a while. Come January we can even help you look for another place, but from now through the holidays at least you’ll have company.”
“Good company,” Valerio winked.
I saw it in her face first — the way it lit up from within. Her eyes were still tired, but now they had a sparkle to them that wasn’t there when she’d first come in.
“It’s really no trouble?” she asked with a hopeful smile.
“Not unless you snore loud enough to wake up the whole house,” I grinned.
“Or leave the toilet seat down,” Kade added, setting his coffee down. He spread his hands dramatically. “Total deal-breaker.”
Sloane laughed, and with the laughter came tears. They were tears of joy, though. Tears of happiness and relief.
“You guys are amazing,” she said, with heartfelt thanks. Reaching out, she touched each of our arms in turn. “You know that, right?”
“Oh we know,” Valerio said, beating his chest proudly. “But you can keep telling us all you want.”
Twenty-Four
SLOANE
I fell asleep without realizing it. One minute I was on the guys’ oversized couch, resting my eyes, and the next I was awakened to near total darkness.
What the…
I also found myself totally alone. The house was in shadows except for the kitchen light, and the glow of the coal stove beside me. A soothing warmth emanated from it — probably the culprit in why I’d been sleeping for so long.
“Hello?”
I called out, wondering where everyone was. It couldn’t bethatlate. Sitting up, I reached for my phone…
CRASH!
A sound off in the distance startled me into action. I grabbed my phone and slipped through the house, walking silently in my socks. There was no one in the bedrooms, no one in the unfinished areas either. By the time I reached the kitchen I could hear voices, but they were muffled and distant. Besides, the kitchen was empty.
The side door.
I unlocked it and stepped into the cold. The voices were louder now. There was a light coming from the detached garage, which was open from the front.
“Ah, shit. I think you broke it.”
“And how do you know?” another voice said defensively. “You don’t even know what the hell it is?”
“Yeah, but it’s in three pieces now.”
Silence. Then:
“Maybe it wassupposedto be in three pieces.”
I wandered over to the entrance, where the guys were working hard. They had a large box truck backed up to the rolling door of the garage, and just inside…
“My stuff!”
All three of them whirled at the sound of my voice. The garage was filled with all my equipment from the apartment, including the giant kiln that had taken four people to carry up three flights of stairs. I saw my lathe, my wheel, my vacuum chamber. All of my sculptures still wrapped in canvas, stacked neatly near the back end of the garage.
