I swallow. Unsure of what is happening still. The words coming out of his mouth don’t seem to match up with the way this is feeling.
He starts to pour the food back into the containers. “I have some work to do tonight. I forgot, but Arlo was going to email me some tracks from today that I need to work on before a client early tomorrow.” He doesn’t meet my eyes. Just offers me the bag of food.
“Okay,” I agree weakly, accepting the bag.
He walks to the door ahead of me and opens it while I stop to slip on my sandals. When I reach him, he’s got his hands stuffed in his pockets and he looks … I don’t even know. I reach for him, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. He still smells like me and I almost wince from the memory so recent. So different from this stilted awkwardness.
“We’re okay?” I check because I can’t help myself.
He reaches for my face, but at the last second, tucks a wild strand of my hair behind my ear and lets his hand fall to his side. “We’re okay,” he insists. “Text me when you get home,” he teases and it’s so familiar I nearly sob. “So I know you made it safe.”
I don’t respond. I can’t, or he’ll know I’m on the verge of crying. Instead, I walk out his door and down the stairs, wondering what the fuck just happened.
* * *
（SIX YEARS AGO）
Before I even open my eyes, I know I’m not in my own bed. My cold, empty bed in my barely furnished apartment that still smells like fresh paint and lemony furniture polish from my weekly cleaning service. No. This is different. This is better.
Because this is Huck’s bed in Huck’s apartment. It’s neat as a pin and warmly decorated because his big sister lives close enough to care. It smells like clean laundry and brewing coffee and maybe also like the things we did last night.
I should be freaking out. I’m aware enough to know that, though I haven’t bothered to open my eyes. I’m no longer engaged to be married. My tour was canceled. And I had sex with my best friend. Drake’s partner. Huck.
Twice.
Without conscious thought, my body stretches languidly all the way down to my toes, and I feel tender in places I haven’t felt tender in a while. The good kind of tender. A tiny smile curls in the corner of my lips before a soft groan next to me startles sense into me.
Right. Freaking out. My heart skips in my chest with a delayed pang. Of course this was a terrible fucking idea. What was I thinking leading him back here? I was engaged to be married less than twenty-four hours ago. He was in New Orleans less than twenty-four hours ago.
My thoughts snag. He was in New Orleans with Drake yesterday. I don’t know what time it was when he found me at Georgie’s last night, but he had to have hopped a flight.
Huck left Drake and flew to me.
Eyes still closed, I swallow hard against the wave of emotion squeezing my chest.
“Whoa, hey. Lorelai? Oh god. Hold on. Let me…”
I open my eyes and see Huck hopping on one foot, trying to shove his leg into a pair of discarded jeans. “No, don’t look!” he says, alarmed, and I close my eyes again, confused. “Don’t freak out. It’s okay. Fuck, I knew this was a bad idea. I’ll get some clothes on and run out and you can just, um. Fuck.” I hear the sound of his zipper and some more muffled cussing, presumably as he pulls on a shirt. I sneak a look, and his expression is pained.
“I’m gonna go.”
“Huck.” I start to get up, the sheet pooling around my bare waist, and this time he crushes his eyes closed, slapping a hand over them for good measure. I bite back an exasperated laugh. “Okay, you don’t have to cover your eyes. You literally had your tongue inside—”
He holds one hand out, halting me from saying anything else, his other still covering his eyes.
“Don’t. Don’t say anything else. That was last night. In the dark. After a few beers and sexy dancing and my hips—fuck. I rolled my hips at you, didn’t I?”
“Well, sure, but I didn’t mind.”
He drops his other hand, but he’s still looking at the ceiling. “Of course you didn’t mind. They’re irresistible. It’s my sexy superpower. Which is why I swore to never use them on you. It’s, like, a rule.”
“A rule?” This time I don’t stop the smile, even if he can’t see it.
“A code,” he insists. “That says you don’t use any sexy superpowers on your bandmate’s fiancée.”
“Ex-fiancée.”
He huffs. “That fucker. He’s so stupid.”
“Look at me, Huck.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t. I need to go. You can stick around as long as you want. Move in if you want. Just let me know and I’ll find another place to go.”
I finish pulling on a random shirt I’ve dug out of the covers and realize it’s his from the night before. “Huck,” I repeat, scrambling across the bed and parking myself in front of him. I tug gently on his chin, so he’s forced to look at me. “I’ll go. This is your place. I need to figure some things out anyway.”
“I’m not trying to kick you out,” he says in a quiet tone. “This isn’t like that.”
“I know. I don’t think that. I think you’re the guy who dropped everything, hopped on a flight, and tracked me down to get drunk at a dive bar. You’re also the guy who gave me the first orgasms”—I emphasize the s and his eyes flare with heat—“I’ve had in a really, really long time. Well, ones I didn’t give myself, anyway. So thank you.”
“Be that as it may,” he says in a slow drawl, “I don’t think we should have done that. It crossed a line that can’t be put back up.”
I lift a shoulder, too exhausted and feeling the weight of all the things I’ve been through in the last few days. “Consider it a goodbye gift, then. From me to you and you to me.”
His hands curl around the tops of my arms and his thumbs trace back and forth. “You’re really leaving?”
“I have to. I’m not welcome in this town right now, and sticking around isn’t doing anyone any favors. I don’t have the first clue what I’m gonna do, but that’s okay. I’ll miss you, though.”
He grimaces and I press my lips together. The look on his face is so self-deprecating and familiar.
“I still think it was a mistake. For the record. Sex always complicates things, and—”
I press my finger to his lips, cutting him off. “No one ever has to know outside of me and you, and anyway, we may never see each other again. So no harm, no foul. I’m glad I got to experience your superpower at least one time.”
I drop my finger and he exhales long and slow.
“Fine. There’s coffee downstairs. I’m gonna run out and grab something for breakfast. Want a doughnut?”
“Sure,” I say lightly, but we both know I won’t be here when he gets back. This is another gift he’s giving me. A chance to escape. I fucking hate goodbyes.
“Great.” He leans forward impulsively and presses a warm kiss to my forehead for a single beat and then turns around, grabbing his keys and wallet and shoving them in his pockets. “The place on the corner is closed, so I’ll be a bit. Take your time.”