Page 183 of Safe With You

I looked over at him.

He kept walking.

“Then where are you going?”

“With you.”

“I know how to get to my car.”

“I would hope so.”

“Then why are you walking me?”

He glanced down at me.

“Why are you asking so many questions?”

“Because you’re going the wrong way.”

“For my truck.”

“But the right way for your car.”

I opened my mouth and closed it again.

Ellis smiled.

“See? Adapt.”

“That’s still not what that means.”

“It does today.”

I laughed and bumped my shoulder against his arm, but he barely moved.

The sidewalk was mostly empty that time of night, with most of the businesses around us either closed or getting ready to. We passed a restaurant with chairs already turned upside down on the tables and a boutique with its lights off.

For a while, neither of us said anything.

I should probably be thinking about tomorrow.

Instead, I was thinking about the fact that I’d been waiting for him to text me that night.

The realization was harder to dismiss now that he was walking beside me. I’d missed him, though not in some dramatic, aching way. It had only been a day, but I’d noticed his absence, and when he hadn’t reached for me, I’d reached for him.

The thought made me a little nervous, just not enough to make me wish I hadn’t done it.

We reached the corner as the light changed.

I stepped forward, but Ellis’s hand closed around mine before I got more than a few inches.

“Hold on.”

A car turned through the intersection in front of us, close enough that I took a step back.

“People really don’t believe in stopping anymore,” he muttered.

I watched the car disappear down the street. When the light changed again, Ellis started across, and I fell into step beside him.