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She blushed again, and it was even better than I remembered it. She turned away. “I’m not carrying you,” she said.

“Yeah, you will. So, it’s a yes?”

“What do you want for dinner?”

“Japanese. Hinomoto?”

“Sure… sounds good.” She gave me the softest, sweetest smile, and it ached like I’d break in half just how totally I was in love with this damn woman with one foot out the door. “I’m going to help Kay downstairs, but… get some rest. I’ll get us a reservation.”

Hinomoto wasn’t so popular that we’d need reservations on a Thursday evening, but something about her booking us a table made it more romantic, so I was in. “You’re the very best in all the world ever.”

“Mm-hm. Sure thing, Pais. See you,” she laughed, heading out the door, and she gave me one last loaded look on her way out.

Sharing was good for her. I knew… I knew she was going to leave again. But I’d get the story out of her before she did.

For both of us. And for Lindsay, too.

Chapter 25

Harper

“Again... thank you,” I said, and Kay beamed, dusting her hands off and putting them on her hips. She didn’t suit the place here quite as well as she did with the eye-popping color scheme of the bubble tea place, but she’d gotten comfortable with the bakery and looked at home in the dark apron.

“Thankyou.For coming back. Pais needed it.”

I looked away. “I told you, I’m just passing through.”

Kay’s shoulders slumped as she looked around the bakery, closed down for the day and cleaned up for tomorrow. “You know… she doesn’t feel this way about just anyone.”

I put a hand to my forehead. “Is this the price for getting your help with the bakery? I need to listen to you talk about my love life?”

She grinned. “I mean, you’re not the one paying me for the shift, so I think that’s a reasonable price to ask of you.”

I folded my arms, sinking back against the counter. It was an odd sensation, how nostalgic this place had been—how easyit was to slot back into working the bakery, as if I’d never left. “How is Paisley as a boss, anyway?”

“Um… well, diligent, sharp-eyed, keen attention to detail. Which is weird, because it’s Paisley, and I’m like… who are you?”

I smiled drily. “Yeah… I am seeing that.”

“But it makes sense,” she sighed. “Pais was always scared of trying. Of people seeing she cared about something. It’s scary being that vulnerable, you know? I get that it was hard for her to be herself.”

So she’d said. And it made sense. But—wasthisher? I couldn’t get the thought out of my head, like a bad itch. I couldn’t afford to let myself dwell in it, though. I had to go back… back to four small walls in a dimly lit apartment complex, back to a little window overlooking an alleyway crowded with fire escapes and the sound of trucks growling by at two in the morning when I couldn’t sleep.

“You’re changing the subject,” Kay said, a hand on her hip. “I know you two love each other.”

“It’s not—” I started, and I jolted at a voice from behind me.

“It definitely is,” Annabel’s voice said, and I spun back on where she came in from the stairwell, a letter in her hand. I forced my thoughts back into line, glowering at her.

“Annabel, we’re closed. How did you even—”

“Paisley hasn’t locked the back door since the day you left. We’ve mostly gotten used to just going in whichever door is closer.” She stopped in front of me, giving me a once-over with an odd smile on her face. “It really is you, huh?”

I looked away. The sight of Annabel, still the same as ever with that cocky, easy smile on her face, one hand in her pocket, hair falling messy just a bit too long and getting in her eyes—she’d always put off getting it cut. I’d kind of thought having a responsible girlfriend would clean her up.

“Could at least say hi,” she said, holding the letter out towards me. “Hand this to Pais, would you?”

“So I’m just good for errands?”