"Good point," Jack said and tried to laugh with it, but it reached nothing but a slight hitch in breath. "I'll have to go get something. Nothing in, like I said, wasn't expecting guests."

He thought that was it. Hoped, maybe. He could brush it off then, stand up walk off and pretend it never happened. But then maybe he'd been away from her too long to remember.

And so her hand on her face was almost a shock and the way his body stiffened was very nearly a withdrawal. It wasn't though, and there was a subtlety in that. He didn't move away, even if his body tried to make him.

"Don't," he said. "Just don't. They might be in a box but at least they're here. That's the best I can do."