For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, I’m woken up by the downstairs buzzer. Sitting up, I dig my phone out of the pile of blankets and check the time. It’s almost noon.

And I have a text from Patrick.

Patrick: Morning, beautiful

call me when you wake up.

He sent it at 7AM. Five hours ago. Three hours after we said good night. Knowing he’s been up for hours while I sleep the day away makes me feel guilty for keeping him awake last night... but then I remember how I kept him awake, and I’m suddenly fighting a perma-grin.

Whoever’s downstairs starts to actually lean on the buzzer. One long Buzz that pulls me out of bed and down the hall.

I hit the blue button. “Hello?”

“Jesus Christ—are you still sleeping?”

It’s Tess.

Before I can answer, she hits her intercom button again. “Open the door, Faraday—I’m on my lunch break, and I need girl time. Con is driving me batshit today.”

I buzz her in before padding over to the laundry room door to open the door for her. On my way, I shoot text Patrick a quick text.

Me: Tess is here. Call you as

soon as I can. ♥

When I get the door open, she’s already halfway up the stairs.

She brought pizza.

“Declan kissed me last night,” she blurts out, shoving the pizza box into my hands as she passes me on her way in.

“I—” I almost tell her that I know. That Conner and I watched the whole thing on the bar’s security cameras, but I stop myself. Conner has done a lot for me, and I owe him, even though he’s a total prick 95% of the time. Besides, knowing I saw what happened between her and Dec wouldn’t help Tess. It might even hurt her more. “I don’t know what to say,” I tell her, shutting the door before following her into the kitchen. “Are you okay?”

“No!” she shouts, yanking the refrigerator open. “I am most definitely not okay.” She disappears into the fridge for a few seconds, digging around until she reappears with a beer in her hand. Twisting off the top, she tosses it in the trash. “Why would he do that?” she asks, eyes wide. She takes a long pull of her beer, draining half of it before speaking again. “What the fuck was he thinking?”

I shrug, turning to pull plates from the rack next to the stove. “If I had to guess,” I say, setting the plates on the kitchen island before opening the pizza box. “I’d say he wasn’t thinking at all.”

At least it didn’t look like he was.

Pulling a few pieces free, I put them on my plate before sitting down. “When did you guys even start talking to each other?”

Tess narrows her eyes, yanking a piece of pizza free. “When that dickface stole my cat,” she says, stuffing her face full of double cheese and sausage.

“Declan stole your cat?”

“Yes,” she says around a mouthful of pizza, washing it down with beer while she rolls her eyes. “No... I’m not sure, exactly. He says he didn’t, but—” She waves an irritated hand in the space between us like she’s swatting a fly. “It was a whole thing. Anyway, it was while ago.” She pulls a face and drops her half-eaten piece of pizza into the box and looks at me. “Why did he kiss me? Things were fine the way they were, and then he has to go and fuck everything up.”

“Maybe things aren’t fine,” I say carefully. “Maybe he’s not as over you as you think.”

I think about what Patrick told me last night. That Declan doesn’t love Jessica. That he’s marrying her because he thinks a lifetime of being shackled to that miserable cow is what he deserves.

Tess snorts, lifting her beer to take another drink. “He’s getting married in two months, Cari,” she says before draining the bottle. “I don’t know how much more over me he can be.”

“Have you talked to him about it?” I ask, walking the line between helping her understand and keeping Patrick’s confidence.

“No.” Tess shakes her head, picking at the label on the empty bottle in front of her. “I can’t do that.” She stands up, taking her empty with her. “Declan and I don’t exactly have a history of effective communication.” Dropping it in the trash, she opens the fridge again. This time, she pulls out a couple of bottles of water. “To be honest, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

I think about Tess and Declan. Everything they’ve put each other through. All the things they refuse to say to each other. Choosing to hurt and confuse each other instead. So much and for so long that they don’t even know how to breathe around one another without causing pain.

Eleven months ago, that was us. Eleven months ago, all Patrick and I could do was cause each other pain. We couldn’t trust each other. That there was more between us.

I spent the last eleven months figuring it out, flipping through three years worth of memories, trying to pinpoint the exact moment when it happened. When he fell in love with me. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t find it because he’s always loved me—just like he said.

“The truth.” I take the bottle of water she’s offering me. “You start by telling him the truth—about how you feel.” I angle my head, so I can catch her gaze with mine. “How you really feel, Tess.”

“I can’t,” she says, shaking her head. I watch her struggle for a few seconds, struggling to put into words what Conner already told me.

That there’d been a baby.

That Declan left her and she lost it.

Finally, she clears her throat. “He hurt me,” she tells me, her voice barely held above a whisper. “No matter what I feel, I can’t give him the chance to do it again.”

Before I can get her to tell me her side of things, she swipes a hand over her face, erasing whatever emotion she’d been feeling. “I see Cap’n gave you your birthday present,” she says, effectively ending the conversation.

I blush and look down. The chain is visible above the neckline of my shirt, the charm tucked inside. I lift it out and show it to her. “He gave it to me last night,” I say, grinning like an idiot.

“I heard that’s not all he gave you last night,” Tess says, wagging her eyebrows at me and then laughing at what must’ve been a look of pure mortification. “Don’t worry, Cap’n is a gentleman. He didn’t say a word, but Con’s a total perv—and as such, has a way of sniffing these things out.” Her face relaxes into a smile. “I’m happy for you,” she tells me, nodding her head. “I’m glad you guys are finally figuring it out.”

I feel guilty for being happy. Like I’m rubbing it in her face. “Tess—”

“I gotta get back to the garage before Con shows up on your doorstep and drags me down the stairs by my hair,” she says, recapping her water and shutting her pizza box. “You and Cap’n have plans tonight?”

“Sort of—I’m supposed to go to dinner with Miranda and Chase.” I stand, watching her close the lid on the pizza box before tucking it under her arm. “I was going to ask him to go with me,” I say walking her to the door. It’s Thursday—that means both Con and Declan will be behind the bar. Together. It also means Tess will be alone. “But I can cancel. I’ll call Chase and—”

“Don’t you dare,” she says, sounding more like the Tess I know. “I don’t need a babysitter. I’ll be fine.”

Fine means she’ll pull an all-nighter at the garage, working on cars until she passes out on her creeper in the middle of an oil change. Opening the door, she turns and looks at me. “I really am happy for you, Cari.”

She’s halfway down the stairs before I find the courage to say it. “Tell him how you feel, Tess.”

She turns and looks at me. “You should take your own advice,” she says before disappearing around the corner. A few seconds later, I hear the door slam closed behind her.