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“Oh, boy,” Jasmine said with a groan. “What did she do?”

Closing her eyes, Evelyn hesitated. “Nothing. That’s the problem.”

Jasmine was quiet for a beat. “Start from the beginning.”

Evelyn did. She told her about going toSapphire, about sort of seeing Jo with another woman, about how Jo had explained everything and how Evelyn had believed her but still hadn’t been able to shake the doubt. “And then,” Evelyn finished. “I went home. And I thought she would at least call me. But she didn’t. Not a text. Not anything.”

“Damn,” Jasmine exhaled.

“Yeah.”

There was a long silence. “Are you sure you’re being fair?” Jasmine finally said, and Evelyn frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Jasmine said. “You said you believed her. You know she wasn’t doing anything wrong. So why are you acting like she betrayed you?” Evelyn opened her mouth, then closed it. Jasmine continued. “You pulled back first, Evie. Clearly, you needed space. Maybe she was respecting that.”

Evelyn shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know…”

“Look, I get it,” Jasmine said with a sigh. “You’ve always been careful about relationships. You don’t trust easily, and that’s fine. But don’t push her away only because you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared,” Evelyn said a little too fast.

Jasmine snorted. “You so are.” Pinching the bridge of her nose, Evelyn groaned. Jasmine’s voice softened. “You like her. And I think she likes you too. So maybe give her a chance before you decide she’s like every other mistake you’ve never actually made.”

“You really think I should call her?” Evelyn said, rubbing her forehead.

“Yes,” Jasmine said firmly. “Before you drive yourself crazy.”

Evelyn paused for a beat and then, finally, she gave in. “Okay,” she murmured.

“Good,” Jasmine said. “Now let me go back to sleep.”

“Fine,” Evelyn said with a laugh. “Thanks, Jasmine.”

“Anytime,” Jasmine said. “Go fix your love life.”

Evelyn rolled her eyes and hung up. She stared at her phone for a long moment. Then, before she could lose her nerve, she scrolled to Jo’s name and pressed the icon to call. The phone rang once. Twice. Then… “Evelyn?” Jo’s voice was rough, like she hadn’t slept much either.

Evelyn hesitated. “Hey.”

There was a pause, and then Jo exhaled. “Hey.”

“I wanted to check in,” Evelyn said in a rush. “See how you are doing.” She bit her lip. Jo was quiet for a second.

Then she let out a laugh, but there was no humor in it. “Well,” she said. “You picked a hell of a time to call.”

“What do you mean?” Evelyn asked, her chest tightening with concern. “Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah,” Jo said with a tired sigh. “But my garage got broken into.”

Evelyn’s stomach dropped. “What?” she asked. “When?”

“Last night,” Jo muttered. “Got a call from the cops right after you left the bar. Someone smashed the front windows, trashed the place. Took some tools, some parts. I spent the whole damn night dealing with police reports.”

“Jo, I’m so sorry.”

Jo let out a slow breath. “Yeah,” she muttered. “Me too.”