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“I’d never have guessed that you own a flower shop,” Charlee says to Matt, her gaze doing a double take on his bushy beard.

Matt smirks, showing his huge hands. “These fingers? Some of the most delicate in all of Pine Falls. According to the flowers, of course.”

We all roll our eyes, except for Charlee, who lets out a laugh.

“What’s it been like to finally come here? Do you like Pine Falls?” Matt asks Charlee, and I feel her going rigid next to me. His question, as banal as it sounds, holds a million implications. None of which either Charlee or I have been able to talk about so far. And Matt, with his usual finesse, just walked right into it.

Charlee takes a swig of her beer. “It’s been . . .” She glances at me quickly before dropping her gaze to the bottle. “It’s been unexpected, but familiar too, in a way. I . . . I really like it here.”

Lola hums. “It’s easy for a place to feel like home when you’re with the right people.”

I whip my head to her. She’s already watching me, the love of a sister in her eyes. She’s right, though. Home is wherever these three are.

And to my surprise, Charlee nods too. “Perhaps you’re right about that.”

James clears his throat, the wind pushing through the dirty-blond strands of his hair. “Oli, what do you say we get dinner started?”

“Sure.” I turn to Charlee. “Wanna come?”

“I think I’m gonna stay here a bit, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. You staying too?” I ask Lola.

Lola smiles, settling deeper into her chair. “I think I just might. Go on, boys. Charlee and I are hungry.”

The girls chuckle while James gets up and nudges Matt’s foot. “Come on, big guy. You’re coming too.”

“I want to stay,” Matt says.

“I think not. Up.” James widens his eyes, and Matt finally gets the message. So do Charlee, Lola, and the whole town.

I turn to Charlee as I walk away. “Text me if you need anything, okay?”

“Okay!”

Matt blows out a breath as we walk toward the house. “You are so fucked, Oli. It’s way worse than I thought.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I open the front door and head for the kitchen. “What are we gonna eat anyway? I didn’t have time to go grocery shopping. Maybe we should order something.”

James sits at the kitchen table, Matt in tow. “Lola stopped by and left some stuff in your fridge this morning. You know how she is when you come back from trips.”

I open my fridge, and sure enough, I find everything I need to cook our traditional Friday night dinner.

“What did I do to deserve you guys?” I grab the potatoes, cooking cream, and grated cheese and set them on the counter.

“Is this a real question for which you want the answer?” Matt deadpans. “Because I can make you a list in two seconds.”

I chuckle, fumbling in one of the drawers for the peeler. “It was rhetorical. My way of saying I’m lucky to have you in my life. Who would go grocery shopping for their friends just so they can have food after a week away?”

“Hey,” James says, “you’re cooking us dinner, so to me, it sounds like a good deal.”

Matt gets up, rounding the counter. “Can we help? Or are you gonna shoo us away again because we didn’t cut the potatoes the ‘proper’ way?” he says, taunting me. If you ask someone to slice the potatoes, you don’t expect to find them in cubes.

“Just sit your asses down, okay?” I get the steaks out of the fridge, add salt and pepper, and slide them onto a pan in the oven on low heat.

“Charlee’s nice,” James says, not bothering with subtlety. “How was it, seeing her?”

I keep my focus on peeling the potatoes and say, “Like someone knocked me unconscious over and over again. I still can’t believe she’s actually here. How many times have we talked about this?”