Page 45 of Love Songs

“Oh my God,” Haider gasped, stopping suddenly. With glee in his voice, he proclaimed, “You fell in love with the rock star.”

“What? No!” I knee-jerked in response.

Sam and Ryan had also stopped, but I walked a few steps ahead of them before giving in and turning.

They all stood there staring at me—Sam with disbelief written across his face, Ryan frozen in shock, and Haider with glowing pride, because everything about Haider glowed. That was one of the things I loved most about him. That and his truffles.

I let my head fall back and gazed up at the sky as if it held all the answers for me.

“Yeah, okay.” I looked back at them and flapped my arms. “Maybe I fell in great like with Dallas. I thought it would be nothing more than a fun week with him, but . . .”

“But it became more than fun,” Ryan finished for me.

“Yeah,” I breathed. “And now he’s gone, and I doubt I’ll ever see him again.”

“Oh, my little Jedi.” Haider snuggled up close to me and put an arm around my waist because he couldn’t comfortably reach my shoulders. “You’ll always have us.”

“I know, but I’m not sleeping with any of you jokers.” That earned me the chuckles I’d been looking for earlier. “Besides, you guys are all shacked up now.”

“Maybe,” Sam agreed. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re always going be here for you no matter what”

“Yeah, no matter what,” Haider and Ryan said in unison.

“Is that why you were so grumpy at Lucy’s last Friday?” Ryan asked.

I nodded and took a deep breath.

“But there’s more,” I said. Might as well tell them everything, since I didn’t plan on talking about this stuff again. “You know the old Ferguson house on Harmony Drive?”

“The haunted house that should’ve been torn down years ago?” Haider said.

Ryan and Sam snorted, and in unison said, “It’s not haunted.”

“That’s the one, but it’s not haunted,” I echoed. Haider raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue. “Somebody bought it.”

“No way,” Haider squealed. “Who would buy that. It’s a dump. And haunted.”

“It’s a tear down,” Sam agreed with a nod.

“Depends on what condition the bones are in,” Ryan said thoughtfully, his brown eyes going distant for a second, as theyoften did when he was planning woodworking projects in his head.

Haider waved at Ryan. “See? Haunted!”

“Bones means foundation,” Ryan countered.

I glared at them while they disparaged my dream home until they finally noticed that I wasn’t adding to the discussion. One by one, they raised their eyebrows, and their jaws dropped as comprehension struck.

I held up a hand, palm out.

“I didn’t buy it, but yeah,” I said, my voice tight. “I wasgoingto buy it. One day.”

Silence greeted that statement for a suspended moment, and then the responses came fast and furious.

“What?!”

“No way!”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

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