I didn’t bring up Luna. Not because I didn’t want to, but because Austin was back in town, and I didn’t want to stir up whatever the hell was going on there. That family drama was a full-contact sport, and I was too sore for that.
Alex kept side-eyeing me. Between sips of beer and stuffing cookies into his mouth, he shot me this look, part suspicion, part concern.
Finally, he tilted his head and asked, accent thick, “You okay, old man?”
“Fine,” I said.
We kept bullshitting for a while, Ledger talking trash about the rookie who skated out with his blade guards on.
Then he got up with a groan. “I gotta piss,” he muttered. “Old man bladder.”
“Projection,” I said under my breath.
He flipped me off as he headed down the hall.
The second the bathroom door shut, it was like a switch flipped.
“You’ve been playing different,” Alex said as he leaned back in the chair.
I shrugged. “Tired.”
He raised his eyebrows, not buying it for a second. “No. It’s not that.” He let the silence stretch between us before adding, “It’s been what, almost five years since Luna left?”
My jaw clenched before I could stop it. That was all the confirmation he needed.
“Did something happen?”
I didn’t answer.
He waited a beat, then nodded like he already knew. “She’s back, isn’t she?”
I rubbed the back of my neck, shaking my head.
“I begged her,” I admitted, barely above a whisper. “A month ago. I asked her to come back, and she broke up with her boyfriend, but... that’s it. Nothing since.”
Alex didn’t speak right away.
“You ever think maybe she’s scared?”
I gave him a look.
“You waited years. Gave her space. That was the right thing. But if you’re still hung up on her after all this time?” His voice dropped. “It’s time you stop waiting and start trying. For real.”
To everyone else, she was sunshine. Bubbly and warm and funny and easy to love. But I knew her—the girl under all that light. The one who’d flinch at sudden change, who overthought every move like it might blow up in her face. The girl who second-guessed her own joy because she didn’t believe she deserved it.
Ledger came stomping back into the room, complaining that my bathroom didn’t have the “fancy-ass soap” his wife always buys me every Christmas.
Like that, the moment passed, but Alex’s words lingered.
Ledger drained the last of his beer with a groan, rolling his shoulders as he set the bottle down.
“Well, I gotta bounce before my wife sends a search party. We’re doing a candle-making class or some shit tonight.”
“Romantic,” I muttered.
“Please. I’ll be peeling wax out of my beard for a week.”
Alex stood, too, grabbing the empty cookie tin and shooting me a look I couldn’t quite read.
