Who needs enemies with friends and family.
Johanna grabbed another fry with entirely too much aggression while trying not to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth sitting underneath all their teasing.
Part of her knew they weren't completely wrong, which only made the last three days harder to endure. Blaze still texted every morning. He still checked on her throughout the day and somehow refused to let distance settle between them.
And Lord…
Johanna hated how much effort it took not to melt every time.
MacKenzie gently rubbed her baby bump while watchingJohanna's face. Whatever she saw there erased the humor from her expression. “You love him.”
Johanna froze instantly.
The table quieted around her because somehow hearing the words spoken out loud made everything feel terrifyingly real.
Johanna lowered her eyes quickly to the table. “I never stopped,” she admitted quietly.
Leigh reached across the table and squeezed Johanna’s hand gently. “Then this isn’t really about Seattle.”
Johanna laughed softly without humor while staring down at her untouched fries.
“No. It’s about what happens if I trust him completely and he leaves anyway.”
The silence settling across the table told Johanna her friends finally understood the real fear underneath the argument.
MacKenzie leaned back slowly against the booth. “You know what I think?”
Johanna looked up reluctantly.
“I think Blaze Carter spent years being emotionally stupid before realizing you’re the love of his life.”
Paige nodded immediately. “Agreed.”
“And,” MacKenzie continued carefully, “I think you’re so scared of getting hurtagainthat part of you would rather sabotage the relationship before he gets the chance to do it.”
Johanna opened her mouth to argue. Then closed it again. Because damn it… that felt a little too accurate.
Before anybody could say anything else, the front door of Clarence’s opened. Johanna looked up instinctively, then immediately forgot how to breathe.
Blaze.
He walked inside wearing faded blue jeans and a charcoal sweater layered beneath a black bomber jacket that stretched across his broad chest and powerful shoulders.
Ryan and Michael followed behind him laughing loudly about something, but Blaze stopped walking the second he saw her.
The crowded restaurant seemed to soften around the edges after that.
Their eyes locked across the crowded restaurant while conversation, music, and laughter blurred into background noise. And just like that, every ounce of distance she tried to create collapsed all at once.
Blaze’s expression shifted slightly to scan the room before his gaze settled back on Johanna with a warmth that made her stomach flip painfully.
MacKenzie leaned closer beside her and whispered softly, “Oh girl… that man looks heartbroken.”
And somehow that hurt Johanna far worse than anger ever could.
Blaze stood near the entrance a second too long, not frozen so much as carefully trying to read her expression from across the crowded restaurant. Johanna felt it immediately, that steady, searching look, like he was trying to figure out whether she was slipping farther away from him or finding her way back.
And the worst part was that some part of her wanted to run straight into his arms. The other part couldn't stop replaying the discovery that he'd once imagined a future somewhere else.
