Melissa paused in the act of cleaning out another drawer. “You don’t have to do stuff alone anymore, and neither do I. If you want a travel companion, you’ve got me.”

You’ve got me. It was something he hadn’t had in his personal life in a long, long time.

“Melissa…you have no idea what those words mean to me,” he said, and put his arms around her.

They stood within their embrace, not talking, not moving. Just absorbing the fact that this was real.

Then Sully’s phone rang and the moment ended. He picked it up from the bed, but when he saw the caller ID, he smiled.

“It’s Elliot.”

“I do believe you have charmed him right out of his hermit tendencies,” Melissa said.

Sully sat down on the side of the bed to answer.

“Hello.”

“Good morning, Sully. This is Elliot.”

“Good morning to you, too,” Sully said. “What’s going on?”

“If you’re not busy around ten or so this morning, would you mind stopping by the house? There’s something I want to give you.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Sully said. “I’ll see you then.”

“Excellent,” Elliot said, and hung up in Sully’s ear.

Sully was getting used to the old man’s eccentricities.

“So, I’ve been invited to his house at ten this morning. He has something he wants to give me.”

“I can’t wait to see what it might be,” Melissa said. “And on another front…are you ready for breakfast? I haven’t been hungry for food this early in the morning in years.”

Sully grinned. “It’s all that good sex.”

“Maybe…but we need to get out of this room before it happens again because I need sustenance first.”

“I’ll make pancakes,” Sully said as they walked out into the hall.

Melissa sighed. “I keep forgetting how multifaceted you are. Handsome, heroic, lover extraordinaire, and the man can cook. Thank you, Lord.”

“Thank Station 12. I learned to cook under their tutelage. Mother wouldn’t let me in her kitchen. She said I made a mess.”

“I don’t know about making one,” Melissa said. “But I know from when we were kids that you were a mess.”

He grinned. “Hey. I had a reputation to maintain.”

* * *

Melissa went to the Crown to shop for groceries just before Sully left to go see Elliot. He could still smell the scent of her shampoo as he was putting on his shoes, then thought of that shower they’d shared and how gorgeous she was soaking wet.

One glance at the time hastened Sully’s exit. He grabbed his keys from the dresser and hurried down to his car.

It was straight-up ten o’clock when he pulled into the driveway and got out. He was whistling beneath his breath as he walked up the steps and rang the doorbell. Before his finger was off the bell, the door swung inward.

“You’re here!” Elliot said. “And on time! A timely man is a successful man,” he added. “Come, come.”

Sully grinned as he followed the little man through a maze of hallways until they were in a room at the back of the house. One whole wall was all windows and filled with so much natural light that it almost hurt his eyes.