It had felt right to tell Tori how I felt, and yet, something between us felt off over the following days. I didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t as if she was treating me differently. It was more like a fragment of dust drifting through the air, or a smear on a window, just enough to mar the view when the light struck it just so. You wouldn’t notice unless you tilted your head and looked from the right angle. Even if you could barely see it, it was there.
One morning, I stopped by Firehouse Café on my way into the station. Tish and Griffin were ahead of me in line. “Hey, hey,” Griffin said when he saw me.
I hitched my brows up. “Hey, hey.”
“Coffee and breakfast?” he asked.
“Of course. I’m getting donuts for the station.”
“How many boxes, though?” Tish teased, one brow raised.
“Enough,” I countered with a grin.
“How many is enough?” she pressed.
Griffin chuckled. “Two, maybe three, boxes.”
“You better hope Luna has enough for you,” she pointed out.
“I’m optimistic,” I replied.
When Tish’s gaze caught mine again, something flickered there. “How’s Tori?” she asked.
“Good,” I said. “Why do you ask?”
“She’s my friend,” Tish said simply, like that explained everything.
Maybe it did. This was a small town. People asked nosy questions. But there was something more behind her question. I could feel it.
Griffin looked between us. “You know how this goes.”
“How what goes?”
“The curiosity of everyone in a small town,” he said with a shrug.
Just then, the bell above the door jingled, and Beck, Graham, and Parker came walking in. “Hey there,” Beck said, stepping in line behind us.
“You guys should get some donuts,” I joked.
The conversation shifted to a teasing debate on who should pay for the donuts for the crews at the station. The debate carried all the way to the counter, where Luna appeared from the back with a stack of three donut boxes in her arms.
“I think Parker should get those,” I offered helpfully.
Parker glanced among us, shaking his head. “Absolutely not.” Luna’s cheeks turned pink when he leaned across the counter and kissed her.
We ended up splitting the cost. After we had our coffees in hand, we headed off to the station. That afternoon, after work, I headed home. There was some construction on Main Street to repair a drainage ditch, and I had to detour through some side roads. That’s when I passed the local medical office and saw Tori’s car parked there.
Seeing her car there caught me off guard. We’d been spending almost every night together since I got back. I figured if she had a doctor’s appointment, she might’ve mentioned it. A flicker of unease slid through me.
Later that evening, I pulled into her driveway. She was outside in the yard with Bella, and I got my usual greeting with Bella’s trademark ecstatic tail wiggling and slow circles of joy. I crouched to pet her, stroking my palm down her back. When I straightened, I didn’t mean to ask the question the way it came out. “What were you doing at the doctor’s office today?”
Tori’s eyes went wide. “Well,” she finally said. “I could ask why you’re asking.”
I shrugged, holding my hands up. “It was the construction downtown. I had to drive around, and I saw your car in the parking lot. I wasn’t stalking you, I swear.”
She gave a little nod. “I didn’t think you were.”
“So, uh, is everything okay?” I asked, watching her carefully.
