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She didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there reminiscing when Matthew’s voice pulled her from her memories.

“Katie! Are you in there?”

Scrambling to her feet, Katherine hurried over and stuck her head out the open bedroom window. “Hey! What are you doing down there?”

“What are you doing up there? Were you sleeping?”

“No,” she said. “Why didn’t you knock on the door or ring the bell?”

“I’ve been doing both,” Matthew answered, his expression filled with concern. “Your hand-turn doorbell is just as useless as mine.”

“But it’s part of the charm of living in a Victorian house.”

“So is having a ghost or creaky floorboards, but you won’t see me bragging about those either.”

When Katherine laughed, relief washed over Matthew’s expression. “Everything okay?”

“Of course. I was just going through some old stuff and got distracted,” she said. “Hang on. I’m coming down.”

Katherine gave her appearance a quick inspection in the mirror before running downstairs to open the back door. Exceptfor a little puffiness around the eyes, she thought she looked about the same as when they saw each other at The Copperwall.

“You had me worried,” Matthew confessed, pulling her close the moment she opened the door. “And you didn’t answer my question. Is everything okay?”

Katherine nodded, but her smile wasn’t the bright, happy smile she could tell he was hoping to see.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“It doesn’t look like nothing,” he persisted. “If you tell me what’s bothering you, we can talk about it.”

Katherine looked into Matthew’s eyes with love and appreciation as she touched his face. Although the misunderstanding they had that morning cast a shadow on the start of their day, it had been her overreaction that made everything much worse. And though she still wasn’t proud of her behavior, she was grateful for how Matthew had handled it. True to form, he was patient and understanding, just like he was doing once again.

“I promise, it’s nothing. At least nothing you have to worry about,” she said, but since he still looked skeptical, she knew that explaining what she’d been up to might help. “I was going through Addison’s things and lost track of time. That’s all.”

“And you’re sure you’re alright?”

“Yes,” Katherine said, blinking back fresh tears.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I wish I could’ve been here with you.”

“It’s okay,” her voice wavered. “I haven’t been able to look through her things in years, so it wasn’t easy. But it was also good to remember some of the happy times, too.”

“Does it hurt a little less now?”

“Losing her willneverhurt less—”

As Katherine’s words faded into more tears, Matthew held on even tighter, patiently waiting for her sadness to subside.

“Better?” he finally asked, lifting her chin to wipe away the last of her tears and kiss her lips. “How about we go grab some dinner?”

“Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about dinner.”

“That’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. It’s your first time coming over, and I was going to make spaghetti and meatballs for you guys. I thought Libby would like it,” Katherine explained, realizing Libby wasn’t with Matthew. “Hey, where is Libby anyway?”

“She’s with my folks. They actually paid me a surprise visit at the police station today.”