And he was gone.
Cal exhaled quietly, reaching for his glass.
“Well,” he said. “That’s how he invites people over.”
Izzy didn’t look at him.
Her eyes were still on the door.
“That didn’t feel like an invitation,” she said.
Cal huffed a low laugh. “No,” he agreed. “It didn’t.”
A beat.
Izzy picked up her fork again.
Forced her attention back to the table.
But the unease lingered—quiet.
Persistent.
And just beneath it—another thought she couldn’t quite shake.
Grant would hate this.
She pressed her lips together. Good.
* * *
Scott House — Early Afternoon
The Escalade rolled up slow, stones grinding under the heavy tires as it came to a smooth, silent stop at the base of the porch steps.
Grant saw it before he even killed the engine on his old truck. He stayed exactly where he was, hands resting loose on the steering wheel, his gaze locked through the windshield.
Cal Hollis got out first. He came around the front of the vehicle with the effortless, unhurried stride of a man who had never had to rush a day in his life, opening the passenger door before Izzy could even reach for the handle.
Izzy stepped out, oversized sunglasses still masking her face, her dark hair catching the mountain sun. She looked… untouched. Like the morning hadn’t happened. Like he hadn’t?—
Grant shoved that thought down hard, his teeth clenching until his jaw ached.
Cal said something low, his mouth curving. Izzy smiled back. Then Cal leaned in, smooth and confident, pressing a brief kiss to her cheek.
Grant’s grip tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Not my business. Not my problem. That’s what he wanted. That’s exactly what he’d told her.
Cal stepped back, sliding into the driver’s seat. The engine didn’t turn over immediately. Instead, the tinted glass of the window slid down with a mechanical hiss.
“Izzy,” Cal called.
She paused on the bottom step. Turned. Walked back toward the idling Escalade, leaning in just enough to hear him over theengine. Grant couldn’t catch a single syllable. Didn’t need to. Cal’s gaze stayed fixed on her with a proprietary focus, like he already knew exactly how this game was going to play out.
Izzy nodded once. “Tomorrow works,” she said.
That was all the wind carried back to the truck. Cal’s smile widened just a fraction. “Good,” he said.
The window slid back up, and the Escalade pulled away, kicking up a plume of gray dust that settled slowly in its wake.
