Page 144 of From Air

“If you say so.” Will heads toward the door, carrying my purse and heels.

I stop at the bottom of the porch steps, feeling numb but not numb enough to forget everything.

“You okay?” Will asks after opening the door.

“He carried my shoes.” I slowly blink and gaze at my shoes in Will’s hand.

“Who carried your shoes?”

“Fitz,” I whisper, rubbing the heel of my hand over my chest. There it goes again, that jagged knife called love. “After the anniversary party,” I murmur. “We made love on a boat. And he held my hand at sunrise, walking me down the boardwalk with my heels in his other hand.” It hurts to smile, but I can’t help it. “I never told him I used to dream of that.” I chuckle, shaking my head. “It was a silly dream. I don’t know why my mind created it. I just knew that it wasn’t the shoes. It was him.” I ease my gaze to Will’s face, barely visible in the dark. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

I take one step, then another. “Thank you for showing me that it was just a dream. Anyone can carry my shoes.” I step into the house.

Will turns on a light. “You can sleep in the shed or Maren’s bed to be closer to the bathroom.”

I continue up the stairs and take a left into Fitz’s bedroom, gently closing the door behind me. Unzipping my dress, I then step out of it and crawl into bed, hugging his pillow and drifting off to sleep.

The following day, I slide into my dress, use the bathroom, and find Will in the kitchen with a cup of coffee waiting for me.

“Good morning.” He leans against the counter and grins behind his mug.

“Morning.” I inhale the dreamy steam before taking a sip.

“I didn’t hear you get up in the night. Did you get sick?”

“No. I wasn’t that intoxicated.” I glance around. “But I need to get back to my hotel. A shower and clean clothes are calling my name. Where’d I set my purse and shoes?”

He nods to the sofa. “I’m not sure where you put your shoes.”

“You had them, didn’t you?”

He shakes his head. “I thought I handed them to you when you walked up the stairs.”

I set my coffee on the counter and retrace my steps, even getting on my hands and knees to look under Fitz’s bed. “Where could they be?” I scratch my head as Will watches me from the doorway.

“That’s weird. I’ll check again in my Bronco. But for now, I’ll grab you a pair of Maren’s flip-flops and let you know when I find them. I can always ship them to you.”

I continue to shake my head. “They didn’t just vanish.”

Will meets me at the top of the stairs and hands me Maren’s shoes. “It was probably a mouse.”

“Shut up.” I laugh, descending the stairs.

He transfers my coffee into a canteen. “Coffee to go.”

“You’re the best.”

“Tell me about it.” He grins, grabbing his keys. “It’s like you slept with the wrong housemate.”

I open the door and giggle. “I think that’s been well established.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

CALVIN

Will gives me a suspicious look when I pull into the driveway. He sets aside his can of deck stain and wipes his hands on a rag hanging from his back pocket. “Didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

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