Page 49 of Until We Come Home

I nudge his shoulder with mine. “I’ve got you. Always.”

CHAPTER 12

Mia

Lark is glowing as we set up for the second shoot, the sun warm on our faces and the water sparkling below, making last night’s darkness feel like a bad dream. We’re on the rocks overlooking the water, since this is the sequence at her secret swim spot, so no townspeople or fire marshals today, just the crew, the two of us, and trees in every direction.

Mateo headed back to Seattle early this morning for his shift. He seemed much more like himself, grounded and steady after a solid night’s rest, though I’m still left feeling off-kilter.

“Hey,” Lark says, dropping down onto the sun-warmed stone beside me. “You okay? You seem miles away.”

I stretch my arms overhead, trying to work the stiffness out of my shoulders and keep my tone breezy. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little worn out from last night.”

My phone vibrates against my thigh with a fresh text. It’s Derek, responding to the set pictures I sent him after we wrapped.

“Is that Derek?” Lark asks.

I tap the screen. “Yeah. Turns out he’s flying into Seattle in a couple days.”

“No kidding.” She raises a brow. “He’s coming up to see you?”

“Totally random timing, actually,” I say. “He’s meeting up with a contact in the industry about a project she’s developing. It’s not filming out here, but she’s based in the city. Since he’s around for a few days we’re going to catch up, though I’ll be up at the lake for part of it.”

She frowns. “That’s a shame, with the timing. Is he going to be busy the whole time?”

A sudden, wild idea hits me. It feels impulsive, but I grab onto it like a lifeline, convincing myself it might smooth over the weird tension between Mateo and me and fix everything.

“Oh! Would it be totally weird if I invited him to the lake day?” I ask before I can talk myself out of it. “I know I’m already crashing as your guest, so it’s terrible manners to bring a plus-one, and I know only you, Jack, and Mateo have met him, but...”

Lark laughs and waves a hand. “Nobody’s going to care, Mia. We rented enough cabins for a small army. Bring him along. Alex and Isabelle are actually bringing a couple of friends up from California too.”

I sit up, surprised. “Oh, really? Who?”

“Cillian and Margot,” Lark explains with a smile. “We met Margot down in Napa at the restaurant opening.”

“Oh, I absolutely loved her!” I say, the memory coming back instantly. “Yay, that’ll be so fun. I heard her husband is super cool. Isn’t he a big-deal hockey player?”

“Yep. Jack and Dominic are both massive fans, so they’re practically counting down the hours. So seriously, the more the merrier. Bring him along.”

“Well... perfect.” I try to ignore the sudden flutter of anxiety over having Derek and Mateo in the same square mile. “I’ll shoot him a text right now. He can probably drive up after his first round of meetings.”

She studies me, not fooled. “And you’re sure this won’t be weird?”

“Why would it be weird? Derek and I have always done this casual back-and-forth thing,” I say, a little too quickly.

“That’s not the weirdness I’m talking about,” Lark says, not buying it.

“I know what you’re hinting at, but it’s fine, I promise,” I tell her, digging my heels in. “We’re friends. That’s all it is.”

She laughs out loud at my defensive tone. “Man, I am going to thoroughly enjoy saying I told you so when those two throw hands over you by the bonfire.”

“Derek is a pacifist, that’s literally never going to happen,” I say, which only makes her laugh harder. “I’m serious! And Mateo is an EMT—he rescues people, he doesn’t pick fights in the woods!”

“Uh-huh, well, Mateo is the one I’d put money on in a fight. He’d throw a punch for you in a heartbeat,” Lark says, taking a sip of her iced coffee. “And as for Derek, a pacifist he may be, but I have a feeling seeing you with Mateo might test his limits.”

“Derek doesn’t get jealous, and he’s met Mateo before. He knows how close we are,” I tell her, trying to sound sure of myself.

“Yeah, but the energy between you two is a little different these days, isn’t it?” She gives me a playful grin. “And I doubt he’s ever had to compete with someone like Mateo before, who I’m rooting for, by the way. Platonic my ass.”