‘Yeah?’ She heard the smile in his voice this time. ‘So what do you really want? A storybook life in Vampireville, with your life on the line every day and a half?’

‘I’m considering it.’

‘Good,’ Shane said. ‘That’s good. So … are you saying you’re pulling up stakes? Coming back?’

God, she was tempted. So tempted. ‘I – look, you know how I am, don’t you? I don’t like quitting. I don’t like running away. And I’m not sure it’s a good time to leave Liz here alone.’

‘I thought you didn’t like her.’

‘Well … I don’t, but it’s still pretty cruel of me to run off and leave her with a giant rent payment when she’s got a stalker after her.’

‘Stalker?’ His voice sharpened. ‘Tell me.’

‘No. Because you’ll just come charging to the rescue.’

‘Claire—’

‘No. It’s fine. We can handle it.’ She managed to sound firm, and after a long silence, he sighed, and she took that as surrender. ‘Tell me about your day,’ she said. ‘Not the getting beat up part. What you did. Normal stuff. I want to know.’

‘I’ve got a job,’ he said. ‘I know, what are the odds, right? It’s okay. Hard work, but I’m not afraid of that. Long hours, low pay, but nobody’s coming after me with a knife or a gun or fangs so far, so it’s a step way up. Also, I don’t have to clean out sewer blockages. Remember that job? That was fun.’

‘You lasted thirty minutes.’

‘Which was twenty-nine minutes more than it deserved. So, what’s your favourite thing about Cambridge?’

‘The people,’ Claire said. ‘They’re quirky. I like them. MIT’s full of awesome nerdy people and I feel at home with them. It’s just … everything else. I feel like I’m some kind of fugitive here, like I’m hiding from something. Maybe myself.’

‘See, I thought you were going to say your favourite thing was the beans. Don’t they make baked beans in Boston? Who doesn’t like those?’

‘And pizza. They make good pizza.’

‘Now we’re talking. You know how I love a good pizza.’

‘You should come up here.’

He hesitated for a long, long moment, and said, ‘Do you mean that?’

‘I don’t know.’ She curled tighter into a ball; suddenly, the room felt cold, and she pulled the covers around her. ‘If you did, I don’t know what that would mean. I couldn’t let you stay in the apartment; Liz would freak out. Again.’

‘This is the same Liz currently banging her professor downstairs?’

‘Okay, fair point. But I’d be at the lab all day, and you’d be—’

‘Out of place,’ he finished for her. ‘Excess. Yeah, I get it. You don’t need me hanging around and making things awkward, with my non-MIT-ness.’

‘No, no, I didn’t mean—’

‘Claire, it’s all right. You wanted space, I’m giving it to you. When you’re ready for me to come there, I’ll be on your doorstep faster than you can imagine. But not until you’re ready. I promised you that, and I’m keeping the promise.’