Page 50 of Crowe
“Yeah. Not being at the apartment in town, but being where he is. That part.”
He nodded slowly. Then he reached out and picked up the second-to-last puzzle piece and handed it to me.
“So let it be true,” he said.
I took the piece. Looked at it. Set it in place.
One piece left in the center of the peony.
“You’re going to make me say it,” I said.
“I really am.”
I looked at my brother across the table.
“I’m glad he’s here,” I said. “I’m glad I went to get him, and I want him to stay.”
Wyatt picked up the last piece and set it in front of me.
“There it is,” he said quietly. “That’s the one.”
I picked up the piece and studied it for a minute. I looked at Wyatt and nodded, and then I put the last piece in.
The puzzle was complete.
Chapter sixteen
Noah
Mika and I spent Friday together. We had a laid-back fun day, but I was used to spending my days with Jackson, and I was ready for him to come home. He was finishing up out at the camp with the crew from East Texas, so I didn’t expect to hear from him, which was why I was surprised when I got a text from him mid-afternoon while I was helping Mika make a batch of lemon bars.
Jackson:I have a surprise for you tonight. Be ready to go out when I get there.
Me:Where are we going?
Jackson:If I told you that it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?
I’d asked Mika if he had any idea what was going on, but he just shrugged and asked me to hand him his lemon zester. Something about the way he looked made me think he knew more than he was saying, but if Jackson wanted it to be a surprise, I didn’t want to ruin it for him, so I didn’t push.
A few hours later, when Jackson knocked on my door in a dark henley with his sleeves pushed up and simply said, “Come on,” I didn’t argue, I just let him lead me out the door. But I hadn’t expected him to bypass the elevator and go towards a door at the end of the hall. He pulled a card out of his pocket and flashed it on the security pad.
“Had to get an access card for this,” he said with a grin, and then pushed the door open to reveal a staircase that only went up, and then I understood with a sudden warm rush, I knew exactly where we were going. I’d gone up this staircase once with Mika when I was here the first time.
Jackson was watching me for a reaction, but I kept my face entirely neutral and gave him nothing. I was very proud of myself. I didn’t want to ruin his surprise.
“Where are we going?” I asked innocently.
“Up,” he said.
“Up where?”
“You’ll see.”
I followed him up the stairs.
I’d been up on the roof with Mika earlier today, but that time we’d accessed it from a doorway in his laundry room. He’d invited me to go up with him to water his plants, and I’d spent a pleasant hour watching him fuss over his tomato plants and the herbs he’d tucked into every available pot, the whole rooftop smelling like basil and rosemary in the morning sun, so I knew this space, but it hadn’t looked like this. Something magical had happened between when Mika and I were up there this morning and when Jackson and I stepped out.
A canopy sat in the center, lights strung around the top and down the sides, and under it a table set for two with a white cloth and two candles burning low in glass holders waited for us. Mika’s container garden had been worked into the setup rather than around it. The rosemary and the lavender flanked the canopy on either side, and the tomato plants were staked and tidy along the far wall. The whole rooftop felt like a garden. The city spread out below us in every direction, all lit up, as a sunset was coloring the sky vibrant yellows, oranges, and purples to the west.
