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I hit it with a single tap, striking hard on the touchpad, and I watched it disappear with a cold sensation churning in my gut. Just… my inbox, staring back at me.

Work. My life. Forever.

Goddammit.

I pushed my chair back, picked up my phone, and I texted her. I still remembered her number by heart, and I had a foreign sensation in my throat as I typed her number in.

You need to at least include the question in the email,I sent. My heart pounded like I was running, even though I tried to be casual—leaning against the back of the chair, one leg kicked up on the coffee table, looking out the window. Tried to be nonchalant, but I watched with every second ticking by like I had a time bomb in my hand.

And I almost dropped the phone when a text came through.

if you’re going to text me, you might as well call me. I know I’m irresistible.

Whywasshe irresistible? Nobody else had ever felt like this before—all the people who had hurt to leave behind, it had always healed in the end. So why this? Why her?

Guess she’d already told me. Sometimes love just didn’t make sense.

I called her. It connected faster than I was ready for.

“Hello, this is Paisley Macleod speaking,” she said. “Thank you for agreeing to engage with this matter despite the late hour.”

God, even when she was being like this, her voice made my chest ache—felt like I was home again, wrapped up where it was safe. And I felt like a damn fool for ever having left.

“Paisley… come on,” I said, trying to will my voice not to shake. Absently, I fingered the necklace, feeling the cool touch on my fingertips. “Fine. I’ll play. Not an issue—I was handling some other correspondence anyway. What can I help you with, Miss Macleod?”

“I was wondering,” she said. “Maybe this isn’t the right place to ask, but I hope you can point me where I need to go if need be.”

“Mm. Should be.”

“Could you tell me… does this hurt you as much as it hurts me?”

My throat tightened so much I could barely breathe. My vision swam, and I had to swallow twice to get it down. “It’s…” My voice came out dry, scratchy on my throat. “It’s definitely the right place to ask. I happen to be the one in charge of that.”

“Oh, perfect. Talk about lucky.”

I rolled my chair up next to the window, looking out at the sliver of sky I could see between my building and the next. “Leaning… leaning towards yes,” I said, my voice low. “Yes, it hurts. A lot.”

She was quiet for a long time, just the chatter in the background over the line. I wasn’t sure where she was—a party or something. Maybe one of Emberlynn’s impromptu get-togethers. I missed being at them—fighting with Paisley over the beers I brought, laughing at something Annabel did until I was bent double at the waist, gushing over Emberlynn’s cooking and pretending to change my mind about how much I liked it when Paisley piped in about how much she helped.

“I have another question,” she said. “A follow-up question, I guess.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Do you still wear that necklace?”

I looked down at it, clenching it in my hand. “Sometimes,” I said.

“Do you still have that picture?”

I glanced back at the bag, my chest tight now. “I… guess so.”

“Am I in the picture?”

I paused. “I think… it’s safe to say yes.”

“Another question,” she said.

“Mm-hm?”