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“You okay?” Aster asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Brynn said, recovering. “Just remembered something I forgot to do. Grocery list.”

“Now?” Aster rolled her lips in.

“When do you go back?” Brynn asked, dodging.

“I have five more days.”

Brynn didn’t know whether to cling to each of those remaining hours, or wish they’d hurry the hell up so her life could right itself again.

Aster studied her phone. “Marigold says Violet is good. She’s at our parents’ house and settled in with a hot toddy. Mom will take care of her tonight. She’s great at that.”

“And Tad?”

“Dad and Sage are moving her and Ethan’s stuff out of his house tomorrow. He’s going to rage but only temporarily. His ego is bruised. That’s all this is. My prediction? Once he gets a taste of freedom, he’s gonna back off.”

“And then you head back to Boston. For how long?”

Aster climbed to the top of the slide. “I don’t know. A while. I like it there. I could really see sticking around. Get a job at a nice restaurant.”

“Or open your own place.”

Aster whistled. “Not in Boston.”

Brynn watched her slide down, enjoying the burst of adrenaline that hit. “Why not? Let me tell you, Hole in One is amazing in how unique it is. Not just the doughnuts, but the feel of the entire shop. You opened that business. You gave it the flair it’s now known for. I went in the other day at eleven, and Tori was sold out.”

Aster paused, seated on the base of the slide. “But that’s here, in a small pond. I’ve found that people in the bigger city are harder to impress.”

Brynn took a seat in a patch of grass nearby, feeling the chill of the ground through her jeans. She hugged her knees. “You need to find the confidence that I have in you. You do that, and you’re going to accomplish great things.”

For what felt like an eternity, Aster stared at her, almost as if she’d heard a set of words she wanted to memorize and hold on to. “You always have a way of propping me up with your words when I need it most.”

“Good,” Brynn said, hearing the quiet quality her voice had taken on. “Then maybe on those days when it feels like you can’t do something, or shouldn’t attempt the impossible, you’ll hear my voice in your head and you will.”

“I don’t know how to look at you like a friend anymore,” Aster said, her eyes searching Brynn’s from where she sat on the slide. “I don’t think I have it within me.”

“Try,” Brynn said, finding it hard to breathe. “Because…”

“I know. You’re not available.” Aster pushed herself to a standing position. “But here, tonight, we’re alone in this park.”

“We are.”

“Just you and me. And I need to know if you feel half of what I do when we’re together.”

“I don’t think I can have that conversation.”

“I’m not going to ambush you. I’m not going to move from where I’m standing. I’m just trying to assemble all the pieces.” Her eyes said so much, brimming with emotion that Brynn could literally feel in her bones.

Hell, Brynn wanted to understand, too. They’d shared a kiss, once upon a time. More than just that. She could see the same intensity in Aster when she looked at her now. This was perilous. She wasn’t in a position to act on any of these swirling and confusing feelings. She had Micah and the life they were slowly building. Everything was in place, and after what she’d finally recovered from, neat and tidy was exactly what she required. Evenboringwas fine with her. She couldn’t let Aster flit into town and disrupt that because nothing about them felt orderly. They were big and jagged and a jumble of overflowing everything. Their connection overwhelmed, and nothing about the way they moved when in each other’s orbits felt predictable. In fact, her head felt like it was spinning in a wonderful, uncomfortable, confusing way in this very second. Half of her loved it. The other half wanted to get off the damn ride before it threw her.

“There’s nothing to understand,” she said too defensively. A lie.

But Aster could likely tell she was avoiding the question. She was not only brilliant, but very intuitive. The look she leveled Brynn said she didn’t buy the pushback. That made Brynn relent. This was not someone in her life she could hide from. Aster saw her, plain as day.

Instead of looking at Aster, she hung her focus on a nearby fire hydrant that was in desperate need of a paint job. “I’m involved with someone. I’m with Micah. It’s what I want. It’s that simple.”

Aster wasn’t deterred. “I know that part. I saw, up close and personal. That’s not what I’m asking. Do you feel anything for me?”