I scurried through my apartment and opened the door to find Tuck standing there with his hair mussed and a shadow of scruff on his jaw. His chest rose and fell as though he’d run there from across town.

“Can I come in?” he asked, eyeing me as I stood and stared at him.

“Oh—” I stepped back, allowing him entrance “—yes, of course. Thank you for coming over. I…um…hope I wasn’t interrupting anything…”

“Nope,” he said. “I was in bed.” He strode through the apartment and pulled aside the shade on the sliding glass door. I jumped behind him, my fingers on his back as I peeked out, half expecting to see some hideous clown or equally diabolical beast.

A pigeon sat on the glass table. At the sight of us, she let out a soft coo and flapped her wings before flying a short distance upward where she disappeared under an eve.

I stepped from behind Tuck’s impressively large back and followed him as he opened the glass doors. “Stay inside for a minute. I’m just going to check things out,” he said. There weren’t many places to hide, except maybe behind the ivy, but I appreciated his diligence.

I watched as he checked each corner and ran his hand over the plants, then stood on one of the chairs and peered up into the place where the pigeon had flown. He stepped down and came back inside. “You have a nest on your balcony,” he said.

I sucked in a gasp. “Baby birds? Can I see?”

“It’s your space. I’d stand back if I were you. Mothers can get aggressive if they think their young are being threatened.” As if I didn’t know that. Had he forgotten I was a country girl?

I stepped into the cool night air, climbing carefully up on the chair and then stretching my neck to look into the nest. The mama bird was in there, busily feeding three little open, upturned mouths. I grinned with delight, turning my face toward Tuck, who was watching me with a small, confused smile on his lips. There it is. That look. The one he’d given me…once.

Time seemed to still for a moment, the delight I’d felt at seeing the babies eclipsed by the greater pleasure of seeing Tuck look at me the same way I’d once craved so desperately.