Page 91 of Your Place or Mine

And I was such an ass.

But I knew better than to stay silent too long.

“I’m sorry you lost her,” I said quietly.

She nodded, and for a second, I thought she might say something else—something about grief or regret or what it felt like to start over when your whole world had already ended once.

But she didn’t.

She lifted her chin, the fire flaring beneath the surface.

“But that doesn’t mean I owe this town anything. Or anyone. And I won’t sit here and pretend I need permission to belong.”

I leaned in, elbows on the table, matching her tone. “I don’t think you need permission.”

“You acted like I did.”

Fair.

She wasn’t wrong.

“I was wrong,” I said, my voice low. “You don’t need anyone’s approval. Least of all mine.”

She studied me.

Not the way most people did. Not with suspicion or even curiosity.

She studied me like she was trying to figure out what I’d do next and whether she could stand it.

“I don’t know what this is,” she said. “Between us.”

“Neither do I,” I admitted.

“But it’s messy.”

“I’m not afraid of messy.”

That was the first time I saw her guard twitch.

Not fall. Just… twitch.

And that? That was enough to make my pulse spike.

“Lydia,” I said, quieter now. “I meant what I said back at the garden. I’m trying. I can’t fix what I said to you before, but I can show you that I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”

She didn’t respond right away.

But she didn’t pull away, either.

She reached for her glass again, fingers brushing the base, and when her eyes met mine again, the heat there nearly knocked me sideways.

“I guess we’ll see,” she murmured.

And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like a man waiting to lose something.

I felt like a man who might just be getting a second chance.

Chapter Twenty-Two

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