Chloe frowned at the knock on her door, brushing her hair out of her face. For a split second, she hoped that maybe the person would simply go away, but the second knock told her that that wasn't going to happen. Scowling, she set down her beer and stalked over to the door.
She stopped when she saw who was standing outside in the snow, a light black jacket covering him.
"Jack?"
"Merry Christmas, Chloe," he said softly, his mouth ghosting upward into a half-smile.
But that only made her frown deepen. "I haven't seen you in months, and you show up on my doorstep to wish me a merry Christmas?"
"That wasn't quite the greeting I was hoping for."
"It's almost February, Jack!" she exclaimed, wrapping her sweater around her tightly. "Where the hell have you been?"
His gaze shifted to the side for a heartbeat. "Is Morris here?"
Her right hand automatically rested on her growing stomach. "He disappeared right after you did."
He deserved that, and he knew it. After everything that had happened, the only thing he could think about was getting away from the life he had known. Once things had settled down, though, once he had regained a standing in his daughters life – that was when he started to think.
And his thoughts kept coming back to the one person who had never let him down.
"Can I come in?" It wasn't exactly an apology, but he knew she would hear it in his voice. She always knew where his head was at, even if he didn't. But she didn't answer him right away, and he wondered if he was too late to save the one thing that had been saving him all along.
Chloe sighed. "I guess it would be wrong to just leave you out here in the cold," she muttered. "Since you've saved the world a few times."
His mouth twitched again, and he held up the box in his hands. "I brought sugar cookies."
The frown didn't completely leave her face, but her eyes softened, and she gestured with her head. "Well, we can't let cookies go to waste."
As she turned and led him into the house, she reached one hand behind her. Without hesitation, Jack entwined their fingers and followed her, knowing that wherever they went, she'd always have his back.
