So, I packed up my laptop and made my way to Adam’s.
The pub was buzzing, the kind of warm chaos that made it impossible to feel invisible.I slid into a corner booth, ordered their Beef Stew and bread, and opened my laptop, the blue-white glow washing over me.Words spilled more easily here, maybe because nobody expected anything of me beyond eating and paying the tab.
Adam spotted me eventually, weaving his way over with a rag tucked into his apron.He gave me a once-over, then nodded at my screen.“Working?”
“Trying,” I admitted.
“You coming to the fundraiser next week?”he asked, leaning an elbow on the table.
I wrinkled my nose.“Not sure.I’ve already caused enough scenes in this place.”
He scoffed.“Please.You’d have to set the place on fire to beat half the shit that’s gone down here.”
That tugged a laugh out of me, but he didn’t stop.“So… you seeing anyone these days?”
The bark of laughter that left me was louder than I meant.“Are you kidding me?No.I’m still recovering from my last...”My stomach turned, bile rising at the word.“Relationship.If you can even call it that without nausea.”I shook my head.“No.I’m not ready.And it’s not like I have to worry about people lining up anyway.I used to be the golden girl.Now I’m the dating pariah.Nobody would touch me with a ten-foot pole.”
Adam’s grin was wicked.“I’d touch you with my pole.”
The laugh ripped out of me before I could stop it, a loud, messy snort that had a couple of heads turning.But for once, I didn't care.
Adam grinned wider, but then his expression softened.“Jokes aside, Cass, I get it.You need time.What you went through… that’s not nothing.But don’t shut down completely.Don’t miss out on something, on someone, because you’re too busy convincing yourself you don’t deserve it.”
And I felt it then.That shift in the air, the quiet awareness that had nothing to do with Adam’s words.
I turned my head.
Brody had just walked in, wet snow clinging to his shoulders, his hair mussed from the wind.He scanned the room, and when his eyes found mine, his whole face broke open in a smile so bright it felt like sunlight.
My pulse tripped over itself.
I snapped my laptop closed.
Adam smirked, muttering under his breath as he pushed off the table, “Maybe someone right in front of you.”
Chapter 37
The rough ground crunched beneath our boots as Chase and I wound up the trail, the cold morning air biting at our cheeks.He’d shown up before I’d even had coffee, leaning on his horn until I trudged outside with my glove’s half on.
He’d always been that way, impatient, bossy, protective, still my big brother, especially now.
“You’ve lost weight again,” he said after a few minutes, voice calm but laced with the doctor tone I hated.
I rolled my eyes.“I’m eating, Chase.”
“Not what I asked.”
“I am,” I repeated, sharper this time.“More than I wasbefore.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push.That was Chase’s thing: poke, prod, then back off right before I snapped.
The woods around us were quiet, the kind of quiet that let your thoughts get too loud.
“So,” he said eventually.“What have you been working on?Besides fixing Mason’s entire financial disaster.”
I tugged my scarf higher.“Writing.”
“Ghostwriting?”
