I think my heart has slowed down. I have trouble drawing up a proper breath. Jerry Seinfeld makes a joke on the TV. The cat is purring. Hughes is looking at me, standing perfectly still in the doorway, holding a dark jar in his hand.

"Uh, what's going on..." Maryann asks, looking confused, standing in the middle of the room.

"Sabine." Hughes says my name.

"Hi." I say.

He walks over to me. I think he's going to hug me. He does. He does it while I'm still sitting, so I have to really reach out for him to be able to properly return the hug.

Hughes pulls away. I feel stunned. He's still holding the jar in his hand. He looks sheepish, like a teenager. "Well, this is a surprise." He says.

"Uh," I sound so dumb.

"Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on, or are we going to be here all night long?" Maryann asks.

"We – "

"Sabine – "

We speak at the same time. Hughes looks at me, gesturing for me to go on. But I gesture back. He goes on. "Sabine and I were friends in school."

We were a little more than that, I think.

Hughes looks at me again, dark eyes alight. "Sure, we were the best of friends."

Fuck, did I say that out loud?

"Right." I nod.

"Okayy." Maryann says, slowly backing out of the room. She gives me a meaningful look. "I'll get the tea on the stove. You two best friends can catch up in the meantime."

I'm looking at Hughes. I feel so weird. I feel weird all over. I want to jump his bones and smush his hair and, at the same time, I want to make him disappear, go somewhere far away from me. As he always has been.

Hughes turns towards me now, entirely. He folds his arms.

"Are you gonna tell me how you ended up here, Sabine?"