“You know I can't stand that shit.”
“So sorry not everything can be fucking lo-fi.”
“What's with the attitude?”
“Is disagreeing with you considered attitude now?”
A knock at the door prevents him from answering.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he grouches. “I said they could just leave it on the porch. How hard is it to read the delivery instructions?”
I let him get up, silently apologizing to the delivery person for any attitude they may receive for the sin of knocking.
“Leave it by the door,” David says loudly in the entry, over annunciating the syllables. “Thank you.”
“Toni?” A muffled, yet all too familiar, voice reaches me.
My heart leaps into my throat.
David opens the door in a huff, “I said—Oh, you don’t look like a Vicki.”
“Not on most days,” Cillian replies. “Is Toni here?”
I scramble to my feet, my brain, heart, and body buzzing with terror and excitement...and dread.
“And who are you?” David asks.
“I could ask?—”
“Cillian,” I say his name on a breath.
His smile is immediate, warm, and welcoming like the sun breaking through the clouds. I want to hurl myself toward it.
“Excuse me,” a woman’s voice from behind Cillian draws all of our attention. “Sorry, order for David?”
“Yeah, that’s me,” David reaches past Cillian to accept the bag, immediately turning to bring it inside. Embarrassment heats my cheeks.
“Thank you,” I say to the delivery person before she heads down the stairs.
“We have food to get to so—” David begins.
“Give us a minute,” I cut him off.
David looks Cillian up and down, while I can’t bring myself to look at him at all, no matter how much I want to. “Sure.”
I step out onto the porch, letting the door quietly close behind me.
“So that’s David,” Cillian says, unimpressed.
“I . . . It’s…” I shake my head, trying to find the words.
“You don’t have to explain.”
I finally look up at him.
God, I missed him. Seeing him made me realize just how much. This was not the bittersweet nostalgia I’d felt whenDavid arrived—a nostalgia that was quickly souring the longer we were in each other’s presence. Instead, this felt elemental, a longing for something vital.
“Cillian—”
