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I’ve never been good at this. I always say the wrong thing. I can’t put people at ease the way my brother Luke can. I never know the right thing to say like Jack does.

I clear my throat.

Olivia turns. Her eyes widen and her mouth drops open, and for a moment we just stare at each other. “Noah?”

“Liv.” My voice comes out as a croak. I don’t know what else to do, so I lower myself to crouching height and take her hands in mine and give her the most earnest look I can muster.

“Noah, what are you doing here? I thought you’d gone home.”

“I couldn’t. I can’t go. It won’t be home if you’re not there.”

She stares at me. “You’ve been here this whole time?”

I nod.

“Why didn’t you contact me again?”

“I—” I pause. I don’t have a good reason. Only fear. But she needs to see that side of me too. “I was scared you’d reject me again. I was looking for a way to run into you. To see you without the pressure, and now I’ve gone and messed that up. But I couldn’t help it.”

She laughs in disbelief, but she still hasn’t pulled her hands away. “I was scared too,” she says at last. “That’s why I never called either.”

The woman on her right, the lady who I now see has the same color hair as Olivia, nudges her friend. “So this is Noah. Liv, do you want to ask your friend to join us?”

Olivia looks around at the two ladies and then back at me. “Do you want to have brunch with my mom and stepmom, Noah?”

I balk a little. I’ve made it a rule to never meet friends and family ever since Charlotte, and I’m not sure I was prepared for this to happen today with Olivia, but I need to show her I’m serious. “I’d love to, only I’m supposed to be working.” I cast a guilty glance over my shoulder at Mandy, who is glaring at me from behind the coffee machine.

“Oh. You’re cooking here?”

“Cleaning. Liv, please let me call you after my shift is over. Would you give me your number again?”

She chews on her bottom lip, but then she smiles. “Yeah. OK. You can do that.”

If I thought I was anxious before seeing Olivia at the café, I’m about to shit a brick standing on the driveway outside her house in the dark, wondering if I can bring myself to ring that doorbell. We’ve messaged back and forth all afternoon, every second I got.

Understandably, she had a lot of questions, and I owe her an explanation. I’ve saved the biggest one for last because I’m not sure how to break the whole fated mates thing to her. The last thing I want is for her to think that’s the reason for all this. It’s not.

She’s the reason.

From now on she’s my reason for everything. The fated mates thing is just luck, but I’ve fallen for her, despite my reservations, despite my unwillingness. Because of who she is.

I brush a hand over the button-up shirt I chose for dinner with her moms. I still don’t think I’m meet-the-parents ready, but I’m not going to be late. I remember that much of the manners my own parents tried to drill into me before I turned into the most obnoxious person in Kraken Cove.

I knock three times on the white door before I realize there’s a doorbell and curse my own stupidity. I’m just debating whether to ring the doorbell or wait in case they think that’s rude when the door opens and my breath catches in my throat.

It’s cliché and trite, but that doesn’t make it any less true. My mouth is dry and my fingers twitch with the urge to slide over her waist and haul her close.

Olivia’s long red hair is bound up in a loose plait that trails over her shoulder. Tiny curls have sprung loose to coil aroundher forehead and ears, and she grins at me with her sunshine smile.

Thank god it’s back.

I’ve really missed that smile.

“Hi.” I feel a bit sheepish standing on the doorstep, not knowing if I’m allowed to hug her. Not knowing if she’s going to give me the chance I so desperately need.

There’s a moment’s hesitation and then Olivia springs forward, throwing her arms around my neck to hold me close. The hug is tight. I feel and hear the sigh she lets out before she releases me and steps back and it’s everything. “It’s good to see you.”

I want to tell her it’s better than good. It’s plunging into the salty sea after spending days dry. It’s the moment my legs split apart to form my true shape and I’m free to be just who I am.