Page 10

“Speaking of, where is Shadow?”

“Right here.” He nods to his right.

Now it’s my turn to peer over the counter. Indeed, his dog is lying right there, completely in the way if you’re actively working behind it. But Caleb doesn’t seem to mind. He slides a plate with a huge piece of apple pie and my coffee over the counter. I take both of them with a grateful grin and head over to the others.

Henry and Erik are also here, watching their girlfriends gossip about God knows what with love-struck expressions.

“Apparently, he slept for twenty-four hours straight. They were about to call the cops for a welfare check,” Kylie explains in a wary whisper and takes a bite off her cookie.

“No.” Nic’s jaw drops, her fingers digging into Henry’s thigh.

“Yeah. From what I heard through the grapevine, his neighbors spent a good ten minutes knocking on his door until he finally opened it. They already had 911 dialed and all.”

“Who are we talking about?”

I pull a chair back with a screech. Wait. Right. Tattoo. Pain. Instead of sitting down, I not-so-nonchalantly lean my tattooed-free butt cheek against its back, set my coffee on the table and dig into my piece of pie.

Dick is still busy with his beef stick, which is earning some interested glances from Jensen, Henry’s husky, and Abby, Kylie’s Australian shepherd. Good thing I knew this would happen and brought spares. Because if I don’t keep Dick’s mouth busy, every single chair in this café would have his teeth imprinted in at least one of its legs within the next ten minutes.

And I’m trying to avoid my son leaving his mark everywhere.

“My ex,” Kylie reveals, and takes a sip of her coffee.

“The one who worked too much? The one who forgot he used to have a wife?” I clarify with a full mouth. She told me all the juicy details about her divorce over a coffee on her porch a while back. Both of us were too tired to power out our dogs, so we let them play for an hour while keeping our butts on her nice patio couch and enjoyed one of the last few fall days.

“The very one.” She leans her head against Erik’s shoulder.

Over the past one and a half years since I moved here, I’ve watched every single person from my new little friend group find love.

Well, the Wayward Hollow friend group. Evan and everyone I know in Kinstead are still single. As far as I know, at least.

But Cupid is working overtime in Wayward Hollow, and for some reason, he has it out for me.

Nic and Lauren moved here after me, and within months they were coupled up with Henry and Caleb. Which would be so damn frustrating if it weren’t for the fact they’re literally perfect for each other.

Then Kylie moved here only a few months ago and almost immediately got together with Erik, our small-town sheriff - and that felt personal. The universe keeps soulmates for every Wayward Hollow citizen ready, but not for me.

Everyone falls into happy chatter, and I reach for my coffee to take a sip, then scoop up some more of my apple pie and watch them.

The edge of a group is a lonely place to be.

It’s the place where you keep watching friendships bloom, watch people fall in love like through a looking glass, from the outside staring in. And you can’t do a damn thing about it. Yet it’s the one familiar place I keep finding myself in time and time again.

In university, too.

After getting kicked out of home because I’m queer, I decided to embrace it as I started my new life chapter.

Evan’s family took me in and helped me get back on my feet. Within days, his mom helped me find a job and an apartment. While she reiterated, I was welcome to stay with them as long as I needed, I just… couldn’t. A part of me couldn’t stomach being embraced by Evan’s parents so warmly while still mourning the family who kicked me out.

I needed to stand on my own two feet.

She also helped me with enrolling in an online program to finish my high school degree. It involved a lot of sweet-talking from her, because it was the middle of the school year already, but by some kind of miracle, she did it.

When the time came, she helped me apply for scholarships and, ironically, I’m pretty sure it’s my essay about being kicked out that ultimately got me accepted for one. And while she fixed my life for me, she kept reminding me it wasn’t my fault until I could at least pretend to believe it.

But Evan and I?

It was rough. I was thankful he caught me when I was down, then I quietly turned resentful because he has such a wonderful and accepting family while I didn’t.