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“Ow—seriously?” she hissed suddenly, stumbling on a cleft in the pavement. She bent down to inspect her boot, only to discover the entire heel hanging by a thread. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

I couldn’t resist a triumphant little grin. “So, the boots you insisted on wearing day in and day out,” I said in my loftiest tone, “turn out not to be fit for dancing, or apparently, for walking either?”

She glowered at me, then tilted her head back with a sigh. “I guess they’ve finally tapped out.”

“Mhmm.” Smug satisfaction wove through my words. “Well, looks like I was right. Again.”

Leah rolled her eyes, a smile twinging on her lips despite her exasperation. She stood on one foot, bracing herself against a lamppost. “All right, I surrender. Next time, I’ll take your fashion advice seriously.”

“Glad to hear it,” I teased, stepping in to steady her. “We can salvage that boot tomorrow, but for now…”

Before she could protest, I leaned down, sliding an arm under her knees and sweeping her up in my arms, princess-style. She let out a startled yelp, her arms flying around my neck.

“Maxine!” she gasped, eyes wide. “You can’t—I’m a grown woman—put me down!”

“Not a chance.” I tutted, hugging her securely against my chest. “Since your shoe is out of commission, allow me to be your transportation, madame.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she muttered, though I noticed she didn’t try very hard to free herself.

“I think you mean fabulous.”

I took slow, measured steps, ignoring the curious looks from a few late-night passersby. The city’s noise faded to a distant hum, leaving only the soft sound of Leah’s breath in my ear.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” I murmured as we strode along, Leah with her head resting on my shoulder. “I kinda miss living on a boat.”

Leah lifted her head briefly to arch a brow at me. “You do? What about your fancy apartment—you can’t fit a claw-footed bathtub on a houseboat.”

“Ourfancy apartment,” I corrected her, then shrugged, adjusting my arm at her back. “But, I don’t know. Myrtle was special. I was thinking maybe… maybe we could build a new one.”

Leah struggled upright again and I slowed to a halt when she twisted to meet my eye. “Are you saying you want to build a Myrtle 2.0?”

I grinned, wiggling a brow. “Are you saying you might be interested?”

Leah opened her mouth, closed it again. Then she smiled, pecking a kiss to my nose.

“I think that’s a great idea.”