CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
RHETT
Homecoming
Stoneharbor greets Nora with rain.
Of course it does.
Her flight lands at three. I wait near baggage claim because she asked me to be there. No surprise, no sign, no flowers. Tessa arranged a private exit only after Nora approved.
She appears pushing two equipment carts and wearing the red coat from Oslo.
I walk toward her.
"Welcome home," I say.
She looks around the terminal, then at me. "I am not sure where home is yet."
"Welcome back, then."
Her smile is tired and real.
We load cases into a van. Maren meets us at the studio with keys to a furnished apartment two blocks away. Nora chose it online. Bright windows. One bedroom. No emotional history.
I carry boxes upstairs and leave when the last one is inside.
She looks surprised. "You don't want to stay?"
"I want to. You have been traveling eighteen hours. You also said you needed one night alone in the new place."
"I did."
"Tomorrow, dinner?"
"Yes."
I kiss her at the door.
Then I go home to the penthouse.
The apartment feels different now that Nora occupies another address in the same city. Distance is no longer oceanic. It is fourteen minutes by car and one boundary I intend to respect.
At midnight, she calls.
"The radiator is making a sound," she says.
"Dangerous?"
"Judgmental."
"Do you want me to come?"
A pause.
"No. Stay on the phone while I investigate."
She sends a recording. The radiator knocks twice.
"Air in the pipe," I say. "Tell the landlord."
"You know that?"
"Poor childhood. Extensive radiator experience."
We talk until she falls asleep.
I remain in my own bed.
Ordinary time begins.