I remain glued in place as Duke erupts from the stairwell, throwing himself down into the hallway not ten feet away from me. Ryan appears next and time stands still. He and I look at each other for a long time.

I snap out of my stupor when I hear Maggie’s screeching voice. “Kara! What’s going on? Should I call the cops?”

I move the phone back to my ear. “Ryan is here.”

She pauses. “Wow. Yeah, okay, call me later!” She hangs up before I can respond. Still in the doorway, I place my phone onto the table above my bike as Ryan walks forward at a leisurely pace.

“Welcome back, Sullivan.”

Countless responses rush through my mind. And somehow, from all the things I can possibly say, I clear my throat and ask, “Why didn’t you use the elevator?”

He continues moving towards me. I inhale and exhale an uneven breath.

“Duke and I dodged the doorman and the stairwell was closer than the elevator. I carried him most of the way, but he did the last two floors by himself.”

I nod, still in shock and unable to get over it. “What are you doing here?” I eventually manage.

He reaches into the travel bag that’s slung over his shoulder and pulls out the draft copy of my novel. “I got an overnight FedEx from Cristina yesterday.”

Crap.

“I called you,” I blurt out. “I called you when I got home and a woman answered.”

“What? When?”

“Two days ago. It was your house line.”

He thinks for a second until something seems to come together in his mind. “If you called the house then that was my sister who picked up. She’s staying with me while her condo gets renovated.”

“Oh.” Yeah, that’s my big comeback. “I thought it was...”

“No,” Ryan says, knowing what I was thinking. “Madison and I broke up as soon as we left the wedding that night, partly at the wedding. We haven’t spoken since.” He pauses. “Except for one time when she called me to curse me out for a few minutes. Which was understandable.”

“Completely,” I agree, my hand still clutching the doorknob.

He keeps looking at me and I can see disappointment starting to spread across his face. “You thought I would have gone to Italy if I was still in a relationship?”

“I didn’t know. After what happened...”

“Is that why you didn’t send me the journal?”

I give a quick nod and Ryan’s eyes fall to the ground. He stays that way for a few seconds until he looks at me again, vulnerable and scared—more vulnerable and scared than I’ve ever seen him.