Page 105 of Your Place or Mine

“But not off,” I added quickly. “Nothing that made me think he was about to vanish.”

Drew sat down on my armchair like his knees suddenly didn’t want to hold him up. “I don’t know why, but I’ve got a bad feeling. He’s been quieter than usual lately, and I just assumed it was… everything going on.”

Me, he meant.

The bar. The building. The kissing.

I nodded slowly, trying to ignore the guilt flooding my chest. “Did you check the trail behind the bar?”

“Yeah. Nothing.”

“What about the garden?”

“Not a sign.”

I paced to the window, chewing my thumbnail.

“You’re right,” I said quietly. “He wouldn’t just leave.”

“Nope.”

Drew’s voice was sharper now. Final.

That’s what made it real.

That was the moment my skin prickled.

Because this wasn’t just strange.

It was wrong.

“He’s not just dependable,” Drew said, reading my expression. “He’s obsessive. Routine-oriented. Hates leaving loose ends.”

I turned from the window. “Then something’s off.”

“Yeah,” Drew said. “Exactly.”

I sat down slowly, knees hitting the edge of the coffee table.

We didn’t speak for a second.

The silence grew heavier than it should have.

“What if—” I started.

But I didn’t finish.

Because the last thing I wanted to do was speak something into existence.

What if something happened?

What if he got hurt?

What if I kissed him and he freaked out and took off?

Drew leaned forward, forearms braced on his knees. “He’s not the guy who ghosts. He’s the guy who shows up when nobody else will.”

I knew that.

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