“Oh.” She shrugged. “I came to find you, but you weren’t there. I thought you’d left.”

“You thought I’d left? As in vacated the premises?” He lifted his eyebrows. “May I ask why?”

“We had a fight. You weren’t there. It was a perfectly reasonable assumption.”

“Out of respect for your condition I won’t comment on that,” he said, tugging her closer. “But for future reference, I’m not going to just disappear on you.”

“I was only concerned because of our partnership,” she said, but she didn’t move away.

“Uh-huh.”

“I mean it. And it was reasonable. You were angry.”

“All right,” he said. “But, so you know, for our partnership, people can have fights and still like each other. I was angry. No one likes to have their heartfelt declarations of feeling rejected. But I’m a grown man and I can control my own damn feelings. That doesn’t mean I agree with what you said, by the way, but something someone said to me made me see it comes down to trust. You need to trust me, and you don’t yet. Which is perfectly reasonable. So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m not going to get angry at you over things you can’t control, or make you relive past hurts, or make you less than you want to be. Instead I’m going to be your friend. I’m going to support you. I’m going to flirt with you, and I’m going to do my damnedest not to hurt you. And when you trust me, if you decide you’ve changed your mind about the whole courting thing, you can let me know.” He pulled the blanket up around her. “And if you’re wondering, right now falls under friendship, support, flirtation, and one category I didn’t mention, which is that you just scared about ten years off my life.”

She didn’t say anything. After a long pause, she nodded. And they stayed like that, silent but entwined, for the rest of the drive.

Night had descended by the time they arrived at her front door. Golden light spilled out her windows onto the white ground below, a cozy picture of winter that did nothing to replace the image of blood-streaked snow Alva had painted earlier. The driver opened the door and Sam climbed out, lifting Alva into his arms. She didn’t complain, apparently having given up.

“I’ll call for the doctor, sir,” her driver said, and Sam nodded his thanks before climbing the front stairs.

“I suppose it’s fruitless to argue,” Alva murmured.

“Absolutely pointless,” Sam agreed as Liza opened the front door.