“She likes to sit on the counter while I cook,” I explain.
“Oh.” She smiles and sets the kitten on the counter.
Sasha comes over to me and sniffs my arm before sticking her nose up in the air like she’s disgusted by what she finds.
“What?” I ask her. “Do I smell bad?”
“I think she’s mad at you for leaving,” Nova surmises.
“Does that mean I should stick my nose up at you then?” I joke.
Nova frowns. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey,” I say softly, shaking my head. “It’s over now. We need to move forward, not look backward.”
She nods. “That sounds good.”
“But,” I add sternly, “when you feel down, or angry about things, talk to me. Got it?”
She laughs. “I got it.”
“Good.”
I make us both an egg sandwich and then we sit side by side eating, watching each other out of the corner of our eyes, which in turn makes us both keep laughing.
Nova leans over and presses a kiss to the corner of my mouth.
“What was that for?”
She grins. “Because I can.”
I grab her face between my hands and press a longer, more passionate kiss, to her soft lips. “Fuck yes you can.”
Nova laughs but her face quickly grows serious, her eyes clouding over.
“What is it?” I ask, slightly scared of the answer.
She ducks her head. “Owen kissed me.”
My fists clench at my sides and my jaw snaps shut. I breathe deeply, trying to calm myself. I don’t know why I’m so angry, I’m not surprised, not in the least. It’s been obvious to me all along he still has feelings for her, so, of course, if she suddenly flees into his arms he’s going to take advantage of it.
“Jace?” Nova worries, touching her fingers to my stiff forearm. “Are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah,” I stutter. “Just trying to convince myself to not get back on a plane and beat the shit out of him.”
Nova shakes her head. “Please, don’t be angry about it. It meant nothing to me. I … I feel bad for him,” she admits. “I wish he would let go and find his own love. I did.”
She looks at me and all the anger melts away. Her look says it all, she loves me and the rest, it doesn’t matter.
I wake up to Nova curled into my body and I can’t help but smile.
Even before she left, she wouldn’t touch me like this. She avoided me like my touch burned her.
But now she holds on like she’s never letting go.
I brush my fingers through her soft hair and she stirs against me, blinking her eyes open. Her freckles dance across her nose and I can’t help but kiss them.
“Hi,” she says sleepily.