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Autumn handed Will to Gia and picked up Carrie, who was beginningto fuss. “Uh-uh. That doesn’t work for me. My mother was a walking bad exampleas far as relationships went, and I still believed the one was out there for mesomewhere. Spoiler alert, she was!”

Hadley smiled at the memory of Autumn and Kate’s story. “Trust me.I get it. I want that for myself.”

“What are you going to do?” Gia asked. “Do you think you’re up forchanging her mind?”

Hadley shrugged. “Maybe?”

“It’s definitely possible,” Gia continued. “I used to think thatsurfing mattered to me more than anything, more than the person I was in lovewith. I don’t believe that for a second anymore. People can change.”

“Good point,” Isabel said. “I vote for hanging in there for a bit.See what happens.”

“And if I fall for her, and she breaks my heart into millions oftiny pieces, which could fully happen, what then?”

“Then we break her kneecaps,” Gia said, smoothly as if it were thesimplest solution in the world. They looked at her in horror. “It’s anexpression. I’m joking.” A pause, and then quieter, “But only kind of.”

“Here’s what I think,” Autumn said, seeming to settle on somethingimportant. “Love is love. It can be temporary or it can be long lasting, butit’s never a bad thing. If you think there’s a chance at love here, Had, youhave to follow your heart and sort the rest out as you go.”

Hadley knew that underneath it all, but hearing the words out loudmade her face the facts. Spencer was placed in her path for a reason, and sheneeded to see this thing through, wherever it took her. Big bang candidatesdidn’t show up every day. “I think you’re right.”

Isabel squinted. “The bonus is there will likely be moreup-against-the-car kissing.”

Hadley sighed dreamily. “It would be hard to turn that down.”

“Just look out for yourself as you go,” Gia said. “And if there’strouble, kneecaps.”

“Kneecaps,” Autumn and Isabel echoed. “Now drink that mocha,”Autumn said, “and think up some new details from last night. I have fifteenminutes before I have to take these two back for a nap and I need to bask indecadent details.”

Hadley launched into the remaining tidbits from the night prior asher friends leaned in. “Well, to start with, she smells like strawberries…”

* * *

“I need you to tell me how to make Cornish Game hens, and fast,”Spencer said, from the floor of her living room. This was serious. She wasn’tmessing around. She hadn’t seen Hadley in four days, and she was coming over toSpencer’s place that night for dinner, and she needed everything to be perfect.

Kendra set down the latest issue ofCosmoand regarded her from where she layon Spencer’s couch. “Girl, you don’t cook.”

“Not usually, no. Tonight, I need to.”

“Nope. Not enough information.”

“Fine,” Spencer said, dropping the shipping box in her hand. “Ihave a date, and I need dinner to be good.”

“Then you should order in.”

“No! Not with this woman. She’s better than just ordering in. Shedeserves home cooked.”

“Not from you. No one deserves that.”

“Are you going to help me or not?”

Kendra sighed, dropping the magazine entirely. “Is this the womanfrom the fancy store?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re still really into her?”

“Yes.”

“Lord. We’re going to need some paper and a lot of patience.”