He insists on carrying my messenger bag, and after he’s set it on his shoulder, he clasps my hand again. We walk in silence, leaves dancing down the sidewalk, a cool October gale whipping my clothes. I huddle in close to Jamie and savor our wordless ease. I love how much he loves silence, how there’s a silence that’s ours, somehow, simply because we share it.

“How are things with you and Juliet?” he asks.

I frown up at him. “What?”

He nudges me gently. “Didn’t take a rocket scientist to intuit things were strained between you last night at the party, after Jean-Claude flew his asshole flag nice and high.”

“She was gone when I woke up. Apparently Jean-Claude ‘whisked her away’ for the day.”

The wind picks up, and Jamie hikes his jacket collar tighter around his neck. “I’m sorry it’s tense between you right now.”

“Nothing I can really do. She told me to back off and let her handle Jean-Claude herself.”

Jamie sighs. “Jean-Claude, I don’t even recognize him anymore. I don’t know if it’s the pressure of the job or something else going on that I don’t know, but he seems worse since—”

“He started dating my sister?”

Jamie’s quiet for a moment before he says, “Unfortunately, yes.”

“Yeah, I don’t think he’s good for her, but she doesn’t want to hear that. So I guess for now I need to keep my nose out of her business.”

Jamie wraps an arm around me. “That’s hard when you’re so close . . . and just a little accustomed to being very much in each other’s business.”

“Yeah, we are. It’s our twinny way.” Silence falls between us again, and I breathe Jamie in. His woodsy scent, the warmth of his body. “I don’t want to talk about them anymore, okay? I want it to be just us tonight.”

Jamie smiles down at me, then presses a kiss to my forehead. “You got it. Just us.”

—

Warm air greets us as we step into Jamie’s apartment. He shuts the door behind us, hangs up my bag, and takes my coat. Then he gives me a long, hard hug that I sag into like a rag doll. I need this hug like I need air.

When he gently rubs my shoulders, an inhuman noise leaves me. “Oh God,” I moan. “Right there.” Jamie digs into the tense muscles at the base of my neck. “It was a restock day. So much bending and unboxing. And sweating. I feel gross.”

“Want to take a shower?” he asks. “Get comfortable? I have some things to do in the meantime.”