I sipped my coffee until it was gone, ignoring the unending stream of overplayed pop songs on the radio and anxiously bouncing my knee against the center console of my car. I was eager to get going; I couldn’t wait on him forever. The old Nikki wouldn’t have waited on him at all. The old Nikki wouldn’t have even considered letting him in on her plans.

The old Nikki didn’t watch him bounce off the hood of a Monte Carlo.

Albany. Why did the Monte Carlo make me think of Albany?

Just as I was deciding I’d been patient enough, and was about to go lean on his apartment buzzer until he got his limpy ass up off the couch, the front door opened and he came out. Limping, yes, but only slightly. And completely without his cane. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that advertised his gym. I had been so worried about his legs, I hadn’t noticed how muscular his arms had gotten during physical therapy. The T-shirt sleeves strained against his biceps.

He was almost all the way to his car before he noticed me. He faltered a step, and then went back to his stride, maybe even looking a little more purposeful than before. I got out of my car and held up the full coffee.

“It’s a little cold. I’ve been waiting for a while,” I said. “But I didn’t drink it. So there’s a plus.”

He looked at the coffee, and then I saw the corners of his mouth twitch up a little. “It’s about time you did the buying,” he said.

“You remember.”

He nodded, took the coffee, tipped it up, made a face. “A little cold? It’s like ice.”

I shrugged. “It’s warm outside anyway. Beggars can’t be choosers, you know.”

“I wasn’t begging.”

“Then stop being so choosy.”

I let the car door shut and leaned against it. He was right, though. In all our time together, Chris had never asked anything of me other than to be honest, and to let him protect me. So far I’d done a shit job of both. Which was why I was here in the first place. I wasn’t quite sure what had shifted between us, but I knew I had to do a better job of letting him in. Not so he could save me; so I could save myself.

He turned so he was leaning against the car next to me, his elbow lightly brushing my arm as he lifted his cup for a sip. “This is the second time you’ve just shown up. You trying to make some kind of statement, or are you just checking up on me?”