Chapter 24: Ask Me Again at Breakfast

I woke to the smell of bread and the sound of someone being very quiet in my kitchen.

The bed beside me was empty and still warm.

I lay there and listened to a man who had crossed a rail yard under fire.

Now he was trying to open a cupboard without a squeak.

He failed. The cupboard squeaked.

"Sorry," Luka said, to the cupboard.

I smiled into the pillow.

Then I got up and went to the closet, and I took out the cardigan.

It was the pale yellow one, with the pearl buttons and the pulled thread at the cuff.

I had worn it to twenty months of Sunday dinners.

I put it on over my nightshirt.

I did the buttons up wrong on purpose, one off.

I braided my hair loosely, and I left a piece out.

In the mirror on the closet door, a gentle florist looked back at me.

She had soft grey eyes, and she had no idea what was under the bed.

I knew exactly what was under the bed. I had checked it twice before I slept.

I walked into the kitchen with my feet turned in a little.

"Good morning," I said, in the small voice.

Luka turned around with the kettle in his hand.

He looked at the cardigan. He looked at the crooked buttons. He looked at my face.

I watched him understand it, and I watched it hit him somewhere under the ribs.

"No," he said.

"Hm?" I tilted my head. "Is something the matter, Luka?"

"You're doing it on purpose."

"I don't know what you mean." I blinked, slowly. "I'm only a florist."

He put the kettle down very carefully, because his hands were not steady.

Then he laughed.

It came up out of his chest.

He had to lean on the counter.

"You terrifying woman," he said. "Do it again."

"I'm only a florist."

"Again."

"Luka, are you feeling all right? You look flushed."

He put his forehead down on his arm and shook.

"Twenty months," he said into his sleeve. "I thought it was armor. I never once thought you might be enjoying it."

"I enjoyed some of it."

"Which part?"

"The part where Viktor poured my milk, and I thought about the three ways I could end his dinner."

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