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“I’m not saying that you should tell her everything, but I think telling her how much you care about her and that you’re there to support her would be something she’d want to hear.”

Hunter stared off into space. She was thinking hard about something.

Buck chose that moment to get up off his bed and come over. As if he knew that his presence was needed.

He whined and then jumped up on the couch, squishing between us.

“Is he allowed on the couch?” Hunter asked, squishing as far away from Buck as she could get until he settled with his head facing Hunter.

“You try telling him he’s not allowed.” I knew without being able to see his eyes that he was giving Hunter his most soulful and pathetic expression.

Hunter snorted and stroked his head. Buck sighed. “I see your point.”

We were both quiet for a few minutes.

“Sorry I brought the mood down. I have a tendency to do that.” Her voice was quiet.

“You didn’t. Promise. I know I seem like I can’t handle heavy, but I can. If you ever want to talk to someone about anything, let me know.”

I expected her to refuse.

“Thanks.” Her fingers continued to stroke Buck’s head and I knew from his deep breaths that he was asleep. Lucky dog.

“I should go,” Hunter said, carefully getting to her feet so she didn’t wake up Buck. He flinched in his sleep but went right back to snoozing.

“Yeah, of course. Thanks for coming over. And for hanging out with me today.” I followed her to the door.

Hunter put her shoes on and grabbed her bag, along with the books she’d picked out.

“Stace. You don’t have to thank me for spending time with you. I told you. I like you.”

Hearing those words made me so damn happy.

“I like you, too.”

It wasn’t my imagination that she smiled when I said it. Fuck. I could live for a thousand years off her smiles.

“I’ll see you at yoga,” she said, stepping into the hallway. “And I’ll be planning our next outing.”

“I’ll be there. Let me know that you got home safe.” I needed to get those messages from her. I knew they were probably a little neurotic, but I saw too many car accidents as a firefighter. I never wanted to leave anything unsaid or have any regrets when someone got in a car to go somewhere. My job had really put a lot of things into perspective for me.

But Hunter didn’t need to know about that. She didn’t need to know how many times I’d get a call and for half a second wonder if it was someone I loved. She’d joined the ranks of my friends and my family as people I had those moments about.

“I’ll let you know when I get home,” she said before heading down the stairs.

Chapter Eleven

Hunter

Torrin showed up for Thursday yoga and I couldn’t stop myself from telling him that Micah had also signed up. His face lit up for a moment and then he smoothed everything into what he thought was a mask of indifference.

Just as he was setting up his mat, Micah walked in. He glanced around the room and went red when he saw Torrin. I did my best not to watch them as Micah walked over near where Torrin stood. Close, but not directly next to him.

What had gone down between the two of them? It was obvious, at least to me, that there was an attraction there. Maybe Micah wasn’t out? Maybe he didn’t even know he was attracted to Torrin. That was a solid possibility. I’d been out for years, but everyone had a different journey.

Throughout the class, I kept a fraction of attention on Torrin and Micah. They made eye contact a few times and Micah definitely blushed more than once. He was like Cade that way. Couldn’t hide anything if he tried.

Torrin lingered after class and Micah seemed to be taking his time as he cleaned his mat for an unnecessarily long time.