When Winter Blooms

pposed to f

ed, a great bed, honestly, the most expens

sday night except that Lily had wanted one more game, and somewhere between building a blanke

ning. One minute I was shuffli

back

e of warmth, and the faint sound of the city out

e I hadn't been moving.

on the flo

en just sat with it for a moment, slow and

ind my back, and I was against someone's chest and we were moving down the hallway

ned m

ng moved above me

tly, and found his jaw abou

completely normal, like he carried people down hallways ev

something immedia

aid oh, sorry, I can walk, put

as at, I could see the tiredness around his eyes, the slight looseness of him that only came out this

when he didn't kno

de a sound, or something

eyes

't stop

.." I s

re in a library. Like this was a reasonable thing to s

wake,"

kno

pt wa

half asleep. Maybe I'd simply run out of the kind of se

we went the rest of the way down the hall in silence with me in his arms and

oothly, without any apparent difficulty, which was irritating, and

de of the bed and laid it over me with a kind of careful efficiency that su

eel like jus

epped

around the middle distance, not at me, not away, just at the

't read him well enough yet

still on the

ething, and that was the

get

n't hav

sleep

me Miss Reyes since I got here, formal,

th him standing at the foot of my bed, it was just Maya

t say a

s being gathered, the rustle of the blanket fort Lily and I had

ace like he was trying

and pressed one hand flat against my stern

did

ut living in someone else's space, you

usually give up on sleep and which lights they leave on when they're working late. You learn

here for

every morning. Not by an alarm, just him, like his body had

ow for a few minutes before he did

e lower than anyone I'd ever met, lik

ork, even when he was running late, I'd heard his foo

ingle m

because we were both very careful about prete

bout at midnight with the blanket he'd

th paying

answer was what exactly we thou

en I came out in the morning, Co

correct one, I knew where

f us said

f the kitchen island and I could feel him not looking at me the same way

en put away,"

, Than

are on th

ey were neat

ou," I s

le

n the floor," he said,

n't me

w." A

d guest room if Lily wants late

looked at

emember

levator and I watched him from the corner of my eye and he did not look at me onc

he kitchen f

sunflower magnet and the laminated rules card pinned b

long sip

to wake

way my name had sounded

bout it the