Page 79

I’d pushed far beyond my comfort zone to take part as much as I had. And I had one person to thank for that nudge.

We brought a capacity crowd to Red’s, so we divided ourselves up between the counter, booths, and tables in the back. Joe and Mickey were awesome staying open late and hosting us.

Liam pulled me aside before I sat down. He wrapped me in a tight hug and clapped me on the back. “You okay?” he asked quietly.

“Hanging in.”

“Good. If you need anything…”

I nodded into his shoulder and he let me go with another back slap.

“Have a seat, everyone,” Mickey said, loud enough to quiet the chatter for a moment. “We’ve got appetizers coming and we’ll be around to take orders for drinks and food shortly.”

I’d parked myself at the counter so I could swivel and see everyone.

“You missed lunch, right?” Mickey stood in front of me.

I shrugged. “You caught me.”

He set a burger, fries, and a 27 in front of me. “I’m going to leave this right here.”

The first bite of the burger, chased with a drink from the shake, was exactly what I needed.

“You know, Ethan,” Kyle said, his tone casual but purposeful, “you and Andre remind me of when Austin and I first started dating.” He glanced at his boyfriend, who nodded encouragingly. “We almost didn’t make it.”

That caught my attention. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Kyle stirred his ginger ale with a straw. “I had a streak like Andre. I’m a stickler for punctuality, keeping commitments. And Austin…”

“Was a workaholic who had trouble being on time,” Austin finished. “We had several blowups over it.”

“And I got traded in the middle of all of it, which didn’t help.”

“What changed?” I asked, though I sensed why they were sharing this story.

“We talked. A lot.” Kyle made it sound so simple. “Not just about that specific issue, but about why it bothered each of us so much.”

“Communication is key in any relationship.” Shawn offered his perspective as an author of many happily ever afters. “But so is timing. Sometimes you need space to process.”

I ate a fry, considering their words. “What if you’re not sure you can trust things will be different?”

“That’s valid,” Nick said quietly. “But you also have to ask yourself if what you could have is worth the risk.”

That question hit home.

“I was going to tell him I was falling for him.” I stared into my shake glass, unable to meet anyone’s eyes. “This morning, everything felt so right. And now…”

“Now you know you both have things to work on,” Cole said gently. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“I guess I need that space that Shawn mentioned,” I said finally. “Figure out if I’m ready to take the leap. Any chance you can script it all out for me?” I looked in his direction.

Shawn chuckled.

“Maybe you can make this story the basis of your next movie?” Nick raised his eyebrows at Shawn.

“Next movie?” This was news to me. “There’s a first?”

“Yeah, I got to announce it at the book event on Friday. A Christmas movie I wrote got picked up and goes into production in a few weeks. It’s actually shooting outside of Seattle, so I’ll be there for a couple of weeks.”