“I’m almost there, Mrs. Salas,” he said, and then he looked back up.

“Nora Clarke, I loved you from the first time I didn’t see you, but I don’t think that matters half as much as the fact that I love you now. I don’t think it matters as much as the way I know I’m going to love you forever.”

“Oh my,” said Mrs. Salas.

“I know it’s hard for you to trust new people, Nora, and I know you’re afraid of everything that’s been changing, and I know there might be hard days ahead. But I came here with this tree and these tomatoes because I want you to remember I’m not as new as you think I am. I want you to remember I’ve been waiting to come back to this place—to you—for sixteen years. It just took me awhile to figure it out.”

She had her hands over her heart again, and her eyes on his when she finally was able to speak. “Will,” she said. “Now can I come down?”

He nodded, and her neighbors whooped, and she ran.

Will caught her up in a hug so tight it lifted her feet from the ground, a hug so forceful that he had to spin to take all of her momentum. She’d set free her army of I love yous before she’d even reached his waiting arms, but once they were wrapped around each other she whispered them against his neck, into his ear, along his cheek. She said it against his lips, I love you, I love you, before he kissed her, before he took her words inside him and gave a soft groan of relief that she could feel rumble between them where their chests pressed together. Behind her, she could hear the continued commentary of her neighbors, a goofy smattering of applause that made her smile against his lips until they had to break their kiss.

“Will,” she said, now that she had use of her lips again, “I’m so sorry about this morning. I was—”

“Baby,” he said, smiling down at her, smoothing his thumbs over her wet cheeks, “it’s okay. I shouldn’t have brought up the third-floor thing, or the staircase landings. And I don’t know why I said unit. Jesus. You hate that word.”

She laughed softly and shook her head. “No, you were trying to help. I was on my way to call you. I completely overreacted; I know I did.”

“You didn’t. It’s scary, what’s going on with Jonah, and you didn’t need me doctoring my way through that meeting this morning. But I—look, fixing things for you, I thought that was the best way I could be with you. The safest way, for the both of us.”