Page 136 of Your Place or Mine

She nodded slowly. “He said he panicked. That he’s not good at this. That he cares.”

My chest squeezed. Tight, painful. Like every word pressed against something I hadn’t let myself admit yet.

That I cared, too.

More than I should.

More than I wanted to.

“He’s got a lot of walls,” I murmured.

Drew snorted. “He’s practically made of drywall and emotional insulation.”

I blinked, startled into a laugh despite myself.

“He’s trying, though,” Drew added, more seriously now. “And just for the record, he’s a mess about you.”

I glanced between the two of them. Melanie, with her arms crossed, clearly waiting for my next move, and Drew watching me like he knew what it was before I did, made me feel marginally calmer.

The tension between my ribs tightened again, but this time it wasn’t all anger.

It was fear.

And something that felt a lot like hope.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I admitted.

Melanie’s hand found mine. “You don’t have to. Just don’t run from it.”

I looked toward the Rusty Stag, heart thudding like a drum in my ears. I could still picture him behind the bar, jaw tight, hands always moving like he was scared of sitting still too long. He was rough edges and shadows and silence, but when he looked at me, hesawme.

I wasn’t sure what that meant yet.

But I knew it mattered.

I wasn’t ready to forget what we shared.

And I wasn’t ready to walk away.

Not yet.

Chapter Thirty-One

Callum

There was something about the morning light in Reckless River that made everything feel cleaner almost as if the air itself had less bullshit in it.

That, or I was actually in a decent mood for once and didn’t know what to do with it.

The bar was empty, save for me and the low hum of the cooler behind the counter. I’d already polished the bar twice, alphabetized the bottle shelf for no damn reason, and rewired the flickering light in the hallway like I was auditioning for some kind of home improvement show.

It wasn’t nerves. It wasn’t.

It was... movement.

Energy.

Something shifting.

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