I squinted at my phone. No, that couldn’t be right. It was almost eleven A.M. The pillow was empty beside me. I climbed out of bed and went straight to the guest room. In there, the bed was made. Walking out of the room, I spotted Vincent’s coat in my entrance and heard voices coming from the kitchen. So Lei had woken up with Justin? I wasn’t usually such a deep sleeper, but I’d been staying up late these last weeks, working long days and evenings, and last night, falling asleep cuddled against Lei—well, I’d slept as soundly as ever.
Near the kitchen, I couldn’t help pausing by the door. Vincent was telling Lei a story. “So, anyway,” he was saying with a smile in his voice, “my father and I are arguing all day about the best way to cook a lobster, kill it first or boil it alive, and we ha
