Then, his whole mind blanks when she steps forward, slides her arms around him, and squeezes his waist. She’s almost as tall as he is, maybe a half inch shy of his six feet. She smells like antiseptic and the calf’s bottle, which isn’t very pleasant, along with a whiff of the alcohol she used to clean the calf’s neck before she poked her with the needle.

“Don’t be a stranger,” she tells Lance firmly, and then she lets him go, holding his eye a moment. “Not anymore.”

He doesn’t really know what to say, so he just smiles awkwardly and puts his hands in the pockets of the baggy jeans he wears.

Robbie follows Megan outside, and this time, Lance doesn’t feel quite so agonized by what they might or might not be saying. He goes into the kitchen and washes the bottle that Megan left in the sink. When he’s done, Robbie’s walking back in.

“So, I’ll run into town, then.” He’s still wearing his coat. The door is only cracked open behind him, but that’s enough to let in a little thread of cold air that seems to snake around him and straight to Lance, where it nips at the back of his neck and his still-cold feet.

Lance shivers and nods. “Okay.”

“You need anything?”

Lance’s mouth twists into a wry smile. “Well, I have a Ziploc bag and a manila folder, so no, I’m all set.” He wipes the dishwater off his hands and onto Johnny’s jeans, then winks as Robbie laughs. “Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, one more egg. And a tablespoon of butter. Maybe a single water bottle?”

Robbie grins, rolling his eyes. And still he hesitates another moment, though there’s nothing else to ask. It’s more like he just doesn’t want to go—or leave Lance.

Lance’s chest feels warm again.

Robbie clears his throat. “I’d ask if you wanted to ride along, but you should stay here. Stay warm.”

Lance would absolutely ride along. He was never that worried about how cold he got, frankly, though he took shameless pleasure in being fussed over. His body has always run warm, and though the cold had been horrible, he thinks he’s shaken it off. But he doesn’t really want to go into town, either, to see familiar faces, and think about what’s waiting for him in a couple of days—that is, a return to the courthouse and the next step in the process of explaining why he was driving a car that Niall had reported stolen.

He grits his teeth just at the thought.

Better to stay cocooned here for as long as he can and pretend like it’s not just a happy interlude, and rather that he’ll never have to leave.

“Yeah, okay,” he tells Robbie.

Robbie nods. “I’ll be back in an hour and a half. Maybe less. Meg says the roads have been dozed, so the snow shouldn’t slow me down much.”

“Sounds good. Be safe.”

There’s another long hesitation that makes Lance want to laugh aloud in pure delight. Then, with a quick parting smile, Robbie finally goes.