Chapter 20: Addie's POV

Addie's POV

Heath didn't answer.

He came around the desk, and for a second I thought he hadn't heard me.

Then he took my face in both hands, and his thumbs shook.

"Say it again."

"Stay married to me."

"Not a year."

"Not a year. Not a quiet anything." My eyes were stinging. "The terms were for two people who didn't know each other. I know you now."

"Then strike them." He rested his forehead on mine. "One."

"One is gone."

"Two."

"Broken in a hallway and a bed."

"Three."

"Nobody has to be watching."

"Four."

"You can ask me anything about that summer for the rest of your life."

"Five."

"I keep my job," I said, "and you pay for the flowers."

He laughed, and it broke in the middle.

"Done," he said. "Every one."

He locked the office door.

I had a substitute in room twelve until noon, and I had arranged her on the train.

I thought he'd cross the room to the couch, but he turned me around instead and walked me backward to the window.

The whole lake lay behind the glass, grey and cold under a flat sky, thirty floors down.

"I can't wait for the car," he said against my ear. "I can't wait for the elevator."

"Then don't."

He pushed my skirt up around my waist, and I braced my palms on the glass.

His hands went to my hips.