Page 135 of Your Place or Mine

I’d fallen for a man still haunted by his past.

And I didn’t know if he’d ever let me be part of his future.

I must’ve circled Main Street twice before I spotted her.

Melanie.

Finally, she leaned against a lamppost across from the Rusty Stag, laughing at something Drew said, her hair bouncing with every shake of her head like she didn’t have a single care in the world.

Meanwhile, I was two seconds from yanking the petals off a flower cart in a full-blown anxiety spiral.

My flip-flops slapped angrily against the pavement as I stormed across the street, heart pounding, heat rising in my cheeks, and not just from the sun.

She saw me halfway through her sentence. Her brows lifted innocently, likeOh, fancy seeing you here,and I might’ve tackled her if Drew hadn’t been standing two feet away, looking equally amused and confused.

“Well, there she is,” Melanie said with a little grin, as if I hadn’t just searched half the town, convinced she was breaking the unspoken code of “Don’t intervene with the man I’ve maybe-sort-of slept with and am now being emotionally wrecked by.”

I stopped in front of them and folded my arms. “Want to tell me why your car’s parked in front of my building and you’ve been MIA for the last thirty minutes?”

Drew raised both hands in surrender. “I’m just here for the vibes.”

Melanie looked entirely too pleased with herself. “I needed a walk. You know, fresh air, time to think.”

My brows lifted. “All the way up here in Reckless River? Seattle couldn’t provide that?”

“Not like this. I needed a walk.”

“You hate walking.”

She shrugged. “I’ve evolved.”

I shot her a look. She knew I wasn’t buying it. Not even a little.

My eyes flicked to Drew, who was very obviously trying not to smirk. “Did you two plan a casual stakeout or…?”

Melanie held up a hand. “Before you go full FBI, I did not go marching into the bar to demand explanations or threaten bodily harm. Though thethoughtmay have crossed my mind.”

Drew coughed into his hand. “Only about seventeen times.”

Melanie elbowed him. “You’re not helping.”

I took a breath. Tried to reel it back in. My skin still buzzed from seeing Callum, and I wondered what he was saying. If he looked guilty. If hecared.

“I was worried about you,” Melanie said, softening. “You’ve been quiet and didn’t answer my texts.”

“I’ve been figuring things out.”

“I know, which is exactly why I wanted to check in. But I didn’t go in there guns blazing. I just… talked to him.”

“Youtalkedto him?” I repeated the words, tasting like smoke.

Melanie looked me dead in the eye. “Lyd, I know you don’t want people interfering. I know you hate looking like you’re not in control. But I’m your friend. And you don’t have to do all this alone.”

Her voice had dropped, sincere now. Not bossy. Not smug. Just Melanie being Melanie. Fierce, loyal, and maddeningly right most of the time.

Still, the heat in my chest didn’t go away.

“Did he say anything?” I asked, quieter than I meant to.

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