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Rose’s shoulders fell at the question. “Yeah. Every few days they’ll send something. A meme. A song. Sometimes pics from other jobs we did.”

Placing her hand on Rose’s back, Ellen rested her head on her friend’s shoulder. “You know, if you change your mind, it’s all your call. We’re just following your lead.”

“I know, but I think it’s still for the best.” Rose shook her head, she was still convincing herself that was true. “Maybe I do need to learn to be alone.”

Fin’s attention was grabbed by a manager who wanted to show her something, leaving Ellen and Rose alone. They walked along in silence for a second before Ellen shattered it. “Look, when I said that… I didn’t mean to give you a complex about it. I just worry about you and hate seeing you get hurt.”

Rose smiled. Ellen was her oldest friend, they had been through everything together. “You don’t need to worry about that. I know what you meant and I don’t think you’re wrong. I just think Drew is… complicated.”

“And you know that I didn’t dislike them right? I thought you were sweet together, I just want to make sure you’re protecting yourself.” Ellen was clearly nervous she had offended her friend.

With a laugh, Rose nudged her. “I know, hon. Thank you.”

Looking around at the lake below, Rose could see the leaves starting to change. The light yellows would be a stunning backdrop to the ceremony. Shaking her head, Rose giggled. “I can’t believe you’re marrying Finley fucking Sullivan in a week.”

Ellen shook her head. “I never thought I’d fall for her whole goofy act. But god I love her.” Her eyes wandered to her partner who was waving their arms frantically as they joked around with the Mountain House manager.

Rose smiled. She still wanted that. She still believed it was there for her.

35

DREW

Their AirPods blastedinto their ears far louder than they should have been for a Wednesday morning. But the walk to C&B had felt particularly daunting that morning as Drew stumbled out of the house.

They had finally sent off the last of the U.S. Open shots to Tommy the week before just in time for the post-tournament socials. But they were beat, having done everything in their power to not stop moving since Rose walked out of their apartment.

Sitting still felt like torture. And the September morning sun was a welcome change from the red light of the darkroom. Even with their sunglasses on, Drew felt like the light was helping their mood.

To get through the last few hours of darkroom time on another engagement shoot, they needed a coffee. A few months ago those shoots annoyed them, not it was depressing, making them miss Rose more than they already did.

They turned the corner onto 7th Street. The coffee shop was busier than usual, the outdoor patio filled with patrons that Drew was happy to ignore.

Grabbing the metal door handle, Drew held the door for someone exiting. Pushing past, they made their way up to the counter where Jess stood taking orders. The renovations they had done mid-summer must have done something for business because Drew actually had to wait in line for once.

When they made it to the front, Jess smiled. “Hey dude, sorry for the wait.”

“No worries. How are ya?” Drew nodded.

“Busy as all hell.” Jess wiped a bead of sweat from their temple. “The usual?”

Drew smiled. “Can’t go wrong with a classic.”

Jess put the order into the POS and processed Drew’s payment. Just as Drew was about to say goodbye and head to the pickup counter, Jess raised a finger. “By the way, your friend is outside. Grabbed a table this morning and I thought you might want to say hi.”

Drew’s forehead wrinkled. But before they could ask which friend, Jess had to run back to the counter and take more orders.

Once their drink was finished, Drew’s heart was pounding. Usually the coffee raised their anxiety but this ominous warning seemed to be doing plenty of that.

“Order for Drew.” The barista lifted the paper cup to their hand.

With the drink in hand, Drew hesitantly walked outside. They scanned the outdoor patio. It wasn’t until they saw the burning red hair that their heart stopped.There she is.

At that point, they hadn’t seen her in at least a month. And they had hoped to see her like this probably every day since. She hadn’t looked up from her laptop yet and Drew took advantage of the time to refamiliarize themself with her face. Her glowing green eyes shone, even under the covered outdoor seating.

She lifted her head slowly from her laptop, probably having an inkling that someone was watching her.

Her eyes met Drew’s gaze. Their heart was racing as they smiled at her. Taking a gulp, Drew walked closer.