Her eyes slipped to where he had motioned, mentally checking the bronze number fourteen in her mind. She knew there would be a similar number, a nineteen, waiting for her just down the hallway. A door only a few mere steps from his own. She found she was comforted knowing he was but a few steps away should she need something. Quite a shame they had to be apart, but that was the way of things.
"My tea?" That was curious. Perhaps this sentinent place put those bags of tea there to remind him of her. Was that a cruelty? Did the place even know or understand matters of the heart such as that?
Or had it been a hint at things to come? A subtle nudge that she was somehow on the way back to him. They would never know.
When they reached nineteen, Peggy stopped. She didn't look at Steve, she focused only on the door and when she found the courage Peggy released hold of his arm, pulled the keys from her pocket and unlocked the door. She pushed it open and to her surprise, and delight, the space beyond the door accurately resembled her own place. She took a breath and crossed the threshold, eyes darting here and there. How had it known?
Peggy had a feeling that if she opened her cupboard in the kitchen she would find the sachets of tea, some crisps and a few other things she had left half finished and properly sealed. Her mother's old tea set would sit in the cupboard over the sink, within reach to use should she choose. There was nothing modern about her place, not as things were in this age. But she knew it would function.