Finally, finally, the meeting was over, and Sebastian stood up so fast his seat scooted back a few inches. “I’m gonna run and check your heating real quick before I grab Matty from aftercare.”

“Sure,” she said faintly, looking as dazed as Seb felt. “I’ll come with.”

Seb said a few goodbyes and then they strode together toward her office. They were walking fast and far apart from one another. It felt weird. She held her coat in front of her like a Roman Catholic nun with her hands in her sleeves. That was weird, too. Seb felt very much like he was playing a game and no one had bothered to explain the rules, or even to tell him that the starting gun had gone off.

They turned in to her office, and Seb immediately got to his knees in front of her heating unit. Luckily, the ornate iron gate lifted neatly off. He started inspecting it, trying very hard to ignore her heated, glowing presence behind him.

“You, uh, got a haircut,” she said quietly.

“Oh. Yeah. Yesterday. It was time.”

“It makes your hair look darker.”

“Yeah. Both Matty and I have hair that can’t make up its mind. Dark when it’s short and blonder when it’s long or in the sun.” He attempted to twist a few knobs on the piping and realized he needed a better angle.

“It looks nice.”

“Thanks,” he grunted, lying on his back and trying like hell to twist the rust off a handle that wouldn’t budge.

“And you’re wearing a new shirt.”

She sounded nervous as hell. He glanced up at her and realized that she was standing just about as far away as the room allowed. She’d also put her coat back on and zipped it clear to her throat. “Nah. It’s an oldie. I just bring it out when the weather gets cold.”

“Well.” She cleared her throat. “Regardless, you look handsome.”

“Thanks,” he repeated, his brow furrowing. Some puzzle pieces started to click down into place, and Seb was immediately terrified that he was going to break this foggy, warm haze that had fallen over her. He moved slowly as he messed around with the pipes, unwilling to startle her.

“I thought for sure that you must have a date tonight, because you look so nice.”

Was she fishing?

“Nope.” He finally got the knob to twist and he heard the telltale hiss of hot water, unblocked and starting to fill the pipes of the heating register. He dusted off his hands and rolled up to his knees. “No date.”

Free as a bird, something inside him wanted to add. But Seb clamped down on that. He wasn’t free as a bird. He had a kid and a dog, and she was in her twenties with a boyfriend—as far as he knew. Even if she was biting her lip and looking at him like she wanted to go behind the jungle gym and kiss at recess, that still didn’t make Seb free as a bird.