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No. It couldn’t be.

I threw open the door, thinking the noise had to be in my mind.

Then I saw a flash of purple stumble toward me.

Jade landed right in the middle of my chest.

“What the . . .” My breath hitched at the weight of her in my arms. I had to shake myself out of it and focus. “Hey, you okay?” I asked it without thinking.

I didn’t get an answer.

Instead, Jade put her full weight on me, pushing her face into the crease of my neck.

I had to be dreaming. There was no way Jade still had this habit.

Or if she did, there was no way she would still come to me, of all people.

Yet here she was. The weight of her was so familiar, it felt like my own. The smell of her, a mix of so many scents that I couldn’t pick out just one, even more so.

For just a second, I was whole. I had her and I was okay again.

Jade let out a contented sigh, holding me tighter.

She’d come to me. Me. Even after everything.

Emotion took over, and I held her tighter. I never thought I’d have this again. I thought I left all of this here and it had faded into dust.

A tear slipped out as I held her.

I shouldn’t be doing this. She was asleep and she would never hug me like this.

The night before last when I was drunk flashed in my mind. The memories were blurry at best. I had a rough idea of what I’d told her, but I didn’t remember the details.

But now I had a flash of leaning my weight on her. She’d accepted it and listened while I talked.

I didn’t get a chance to dwell on it because one of her arms reached out, and I knew she was still hunting for something.

Maybe her destination hadn’t changed.

“Come on,” I said, clearing my throat. “Let’s lie down.”

I led her to my bedroom, gently settling her onto my bed. She pressed her face into my pillows, clearly trying to get comfortable. I was tempted to make my way to the couch, but she groaned and reached out toward me.

I knew what she wanted.

She’d get anything she wanted.

“Okay, okay.” I lay in the bed next to her on the left side. When we were younger and would do this, she would always take the right.

Even when I had no hope of ever seeing her again, I always slept on the left. I left space for her, just in case she would magically appear.

It was a foolish and hopeless endeavor. Yet here I was, falling back into old habits as if I’d never left town.

Jade found me within seconds. She rested her head on my shoulder, and I pulled a blanket over us. She was so close and I felt that emotion again. The one that made me want to sob into her hair and beg her to forgive me.

If she were awake, she’d smack my shoulder and tell me that I was being dramatic. I could never be dramatic enough in my feelings for her.

But she wasn’t awake. This was her mind reaching out for me as a familiarity. This didn’t mean that she had forgiven me. As much as I was grateful that she was here, I wasn’t sure we’d ever be the way we had been before.