It was a week before Peeta and I spoke again. He worked nonstop on getting the bakery up, and I busied myself with hunting. Greasy Sae must have noticed my lack of a house guest, as she returned to her previous schedule of coming over and preparing both my breakfast and my dinner. Though she commented on Peeta's lack of presence, she didn't probe. It wasn't in her nature and for that I was eternally thankful.

After talking with Dr. Aurelius, I realized I didn't have much right to be upset about the things he had said. Though they were hard to admit, Dr. Aurelius pointed out that they were true and that perhaps Haymitch and I needed to give Peeta some space. So I gave him space, and gave myself space as well. I spent from sun up to sun down in the woods to keep myself and my thoughts out of the house. The only times I broke that routine were for my scheduled conferences with the doctor.

Though I missed Peeta, I tried not to think about it. Before I could figure out what Peeta meant to me, I first needed to rediscover myself, or so the doctor claimed. I protested that I didn't want to get to know myself; I was dark and angry and unsatisfied, and that was just the surface. Aurelius countered that if I didn't want to know myself, then I certainly couldn't expect others to want to. I reasoned that I had almost always had a similar feeling about myself and that Peeta, for some inexplicable reason, had still liked me for over a decade. At that point, the poor doctor became exasperated and said that would be enough for that week.

He had a point. I knew he had a point, but I didn't want to focus on it too closely. Instead, I focused on storing up on game and tried my hand at making jam. As the week went on, I took to walking through town en route to the woods and back. On one particular evening, I stopped when I noticed the bakery's progress for the first time.

Considering how long it had taken us to chop and collect all the wood, the bakery's construction was coming along at an alarmingly quick rate. Standing across the street, the basics were built up enough for me to get a sense of the layout. From what I could recall in my memory, it wasn't exactly the same as before, though it did look like Peeta was planning on adding the house attached to the back of the bakery.

My heart sank at the thought. I knew he wanted to get the bakery back up and running, but I hadn't stopped to consider the fact that he might want to move back into it after construction as well. I had just assumed we would remain neighbors and that eventually, when both of us had respectively cooled off, he would be returning to our evening routine. This realization punched another hole in my gut and my bag of game slipped down my arm as my shoulder sagged.

"What do you think?" he asked, appearing by my side out of thin air.

"It's impressive," I told him truthfully.

"It'll do," he answered modestly.

"You know you're still welcome for dinner," I mentioned, trying to sound casual and being anything but, "anytime."

I could almost hear his sigh. "I know."

I thought about leaving it at that, but I was never one to back away from a fight even when I knew it was foolish. "I won't apologize for how I feel," I told him. "I can't help that I want to protect you, even if you don't think you need protecting. You've never thought you needed protecting, and look what happened." I trailed off for a beat, unable to name what we both knew I meant. "I couldn't protect you from that, but I wanted to try to protect you from this. And maybe I am wrong. Maybe this bakery will be great; I know you'll be great at running it. But you know I'm always going to worry about you, after all we've been through. Nothing is going to be able to change that."

His face was weary and I knew he had to be tired. The construction on the bakery was up and running by the time I made my way for the morning hunt, and the guys were still working every evening when I passed back by on my way home. "I miss you," I added as a last thought. Dr. Aurelius made multiple attempts during our last session to drive home the fact that it was okay to admit weakness and that feelings weren't always weaknesses. He told me I needed to start admitting my feelings as well, and not just to others but to myself. I had promised I would try, and this small admission to Peeta was my first miserable attempt.

"I am famished," he said, yawning as he stretched his arm across his chest. I heard his arm pop with a snap. "We've got about another thirty minutes left before we shut down for the night, but if the invitation is still open..."

"I'll have Greasy Sae keep a plate warm," I promised quickly, before he had the chance to change his mind. For the last two evenings I had been so desperate for company I had Haymitch over for dinner, but the train hadn't come in a while and Haymitch had been grouchy at best, so I craved the thought of Peeta's company instead.