Page 36 of Your Place or Mine

Melanie only chirped when she was up to something. Usually, thatsomethinginvolved meddling, matchmaking, or prank-level revenge involving red nail polish and passive-aggressive Post-it notes.

I narrowed my eyes. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!”

There it was.

She used that squeaky, overly chipper tone when she knew she was on thin ice and skating anyway.

“Melanie.”

She turned around, mug in hand, and smiled too widely.

“Why do you assume I did something? I can’t just be enjoying a peaceful morning with my best friend in her adorable fixer-upper apartment in a town that smells like muffins and pine trees?”

“Because you’ve been stirring that coffee for four minutes, and your eyes did a weird panic-blink when I asked.”

“I don’t panic-blink.”

“Youabsolutelypanic-blink.”

She set her mug down and sighed. “Okay, fine. Imayhave stopped by The Rusty Stag this morning.”

I froze. “You what?”

She winced. “It wasn’t a big deal. I just… had a little chat.”

“WithCallum?”

“Technically, yes.”

“Oh my God.”

“It was a short conversation!” she said quickly. “I walked in, gave him a few choice words, told him to be nice, and then left. Kind of. I might’ve bumped into Drew on the way out.”

I put my hands on my head. “Please tell me you didn’t threaten him.”

“I didn’tthreatenhim. I delivered a strongly worded...warning.”

I groaned and leaned against the counter. “Melanie.”

“What?” she said, completely unrepentant. “He was being a dick.”

“Yeah, because youantagonizedhim!”

“He was antagonizing you first!” She frowned. “And something tells me that he’s always a dick.”

I snickered and shook my head, knowing she was probably right.

“I’m not five. I don’t need you to fight my battles.”

“You don’t. But you looked like you wanted to punch something yesterday, and Ihappento be very good at verbal combat.”

“Mel.”

“I told him you’ve been through a lot, and if he wasn’t going to be decent to you, I’d be back with a wine cork and bad intentions.”

I just stared at her.

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