Avery did return the shirt two days later — but for once, luck was on my side.
I was already heading out.
To the airport.
Val had called not even ten minutes earlier, her voice bright through the speaker.
> "I just landed," she'd said, "come pick me up, Sir Kai Tanaka. Every princess deserves her knight."
Her words were playful, dramatic. Entirely her.
So I grabbed the keys to the SUV, tossed on a jacket, and was halfway to locking the door when I saw her.
Avery.
She'd just stepped out of her car, one hand pushing her blonde hair away from her face, the other clutching a small handbag like it held the answers to questions she hadn't asked yet.
"Uhm… hi?" she said, tilting her head a little, like she was unsure how to even start.
I blinked, surprised, then managed, "You're… here."
"To return your shirt," she said simply.
"Oh."
She looked at me for a second longer, her gaze darting from my keys to the shoes by the door. "You're going somewhere?"
"Yep."
Just that.
