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Cade waved her hand. “Yeah, yeah, I don’t care about that. What about Sophie?”

I couldn’t just wave that off, but I also needed to talk to someone about all this crap, and Cade was available, and she was one of my best friends. Who else could I go to?

“She’s… She’s exactly the kind of person who would normally annoy the shit out of me. She’s a talker and she’s loud when she gets going and she gets so excited about things. I sent her some fanfic and she basically lost her mind and loved it so much. And she’s just kind of awkward and adorable and I don’t know. She makes cupcakes and loves to read romance and she’s got the prettiest eyes and what the hell?” I stopped talking because Cade had jumped off the couch and started going a little shimmy dance without an explanation.

“What are you doing?” I asked as she spun around with a grin on her face.

“You have a crush. Reid Hayward, you have a crush on Sophie and there’s no denying it. Woo!” There was more dancing and then I did start chucking grapes at her. She started trying to catch them, which led to me trying to throw them in her mouth.

“We’d better clean these up or Eloise is going to freak,” she said as we both laughed. “But back to much more important things. Reid. It’s not illegal to like someone. Even if that person is the younger sister of your ex. Is it complicated? Yeah, a little bit. Thanksgiving would be awkward. But if you like her, really like her, then don’t let all that other shit stand in your way. Do you know how many times I told myself that Eloise would never possibly like me, that we could never work for a bunch of bullshit reasons? She did the same thing and then we both decided to get out of our own way and let ourselves be happy. And we are. None of that other stuff matters.”

To her. None of that mattered to her.

“You don’t know. How bad it was with Kaylee. I never really told you,” I said, my voice low.

Cade sat back down, her mood somber.

“So tell me. Explain.” She gestured for me to go ahead. Like it would be easy to just open myself up like that.

“Fuck,” I said, exhaling. “I think I’m going to need a drink for that.”

A while later, after I’d made us both old fashioneds and spilled my guts about my past relationship, I was completely and totally drained. Cade sat next to me on the couch and sighed.

“That’s so fucking shitty. I’m so sorry.”

I lifted one shoulder. “It is what it is. It happened. I can’t change it, but I can prevent myself from falling for her sister.”

Cade snorted. “I hate to break it to you my dear, but you can’t stop yourself from falling for someone. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

Yeah, I knew about that. Her and Eloise.

“Well, I can. I can stop myself. Because I’m not falling for anyone again. It’s not worth the risk.” Besides, would I even be able to love someone again? I didn’t think so. And then whoever I was with would be getting less than they deserved so it would be cruel anyway. I’d thought about this so many times already. Gone over and over and always came to the decision that not getting involved was the best course of action.

“I’m going to help her find someone else and then go back to being her neighbor.”

Cade didn’t know about the banging on the wall incident. No one did. It didn’t feel right to share that situation with anyone else. It was private.

“Mmmhmmm,” Cade said, smirking at me. “All I’m going to say is don’t let your past ruin something that could be in your future.” I let out a little growling noise.

“Okay, okay, I’m done. Wanna raid my library?” Her eyes lit up and she got to her feet. “Come on. Eloise just got a whole box of books she’s supposed to blurb.”

I followed her upstairs to the library.

“As long as you give them back within like, a month, then take anything that strikes your fancy.” Cade was awfully cavalier about that, so I decided to avoid that box and went to her regular shelves instead.

I really didn’t need any more books, but when you had a friend who had her own massive library, you ended up bringing more books home. It was just what happened whenever I visited.

“Okay, you browse and I’m going to grab cake. Red velvet good?” If there was one thing Cade always had on hand, it was red velvet cake. It wasn’t my personal favorite, but I wouldn’t say no to it when offered.

“I can’t believe Eloise lets you eat up here,” I called as she left the room.

“She hates it, but she loves me so it all works out,” she said as she paused in the doorway.

I went back to the shelves as she skipped down the stairs.

There were truly an astonishing amount of books in this room. I couldn’t even begin to count how many. Eloise had had a ton before she even met Cade and then Cade had gone ham when they got together and she didn’t have to spend most of her paycheck on rent and could funnel that money to books. It was kind of the ideal situation for her.

“So you like the same kind of fanfic, huh?” Cade said, appearing with two plates of cake and forks. We sat together in the comfy reading chairs with a little table between us.