“You look so pretty, wow. Doesn’t she, Martin?” Elodie enthused, looking straight at Kael. He looked at me, then at her, and nodded.

“She does.”

Without giving me time to process Kael’s compliment, Elodie circled around me with approval, touching the soft curls in my hair.

“I mean it. So beautiful.” She squeezed my body and tapped her index finger against my necklace.

“So cute,” she exclaimed. Her blue eyes lit up. “Oh! And the shower is finally fixed! It was so nice to have such hot water!”

“What do you mean?” I made my way down the hallway toward the bathroom.

“The temperature! You had it fixed, right?” she asked. I passed her, shaking my head. Sure enough, when I went into the bathroom and turned the shower on, it was immediately warm. I turned it to cold. Immediately cold. The pressure was even stronger, like a normal shower. Such luxury. I hoped it wasn’t temporary. I was instantly looking forward to taking a long, hot shower when I got home from work tonight.

“I’m glad it is, but have no idea how . . .” I started to say. My eyes landed on Kael’s and he licked his lips, turning his cheek slightly away from me.

“You!” It dawned on me. “Did you fix it?” Somehow, I knew he did, even though I couldn’t imagine why he would bother.

Kael nodded sheepishly. “It wasn’t a big thing. It was just a loose pipe, a broken bolt. It took less than five minutes.”

Elodie walked toward him, her hair dripping as she moved. “You are so nice. Oh, thank you, thank you,” she told him, hugging one of his arms. He looked down at her dangling on his arm like she was an alien. He didn’t nudge her off, but he definitely didn’t seem to welcome her overtly physical affection. Yet another piece of evidence to add to my list of all the ways he’s emotionally unavailable. I found myself wondering what it would be like to receive affection from him and what it would take for him to welcome it from me. He was so confusing to me. So polite, yet so cold. So easy to talk to, yet so quiet himself.

First the full tank of gas, now fixing my shower. Of course, it was nice of him, but it also made me feel helpless. I hated owing people anything.

I couldn’t bring myself to thank him in front of Elodie. I knew that seemed rude, but I would clear it up with him later, when we were alone.

If we were alone—my brain edited the thought as it surfaced.

“Okay.” I chewed on the inside of my cheek. I didn’t know what else to say, so I ended up awkwardly stepping away from the two of them, using my very real reason to leave, work.