that.”
Maisie acknowledged that with a nod. “Yes, but maybe it’s a platonic, just friends, type of thing, but he didn’t realize that until it was too late. Now he doesn’t want to say anything, too afraid he’ll hurt my feelings.”
Penelope snorted. “You’ve had sex with him. It can’t be platonic, babe.”
“Okay, true,” Maisie hedged, “but maybe he was just using me to blow off steam though, you know? Like he needed that release or something.”
“Which he could have had with anyone.” Amelia stuck her fork in the pie, cutting off a small piece. “I doubt he’d cross the friendship line with you if there weren’t something there. Did it feel disconnected, like just sex?”
Maisie slowly shook her head. “No, it felt like more.”
Amelia paused, chewing on her pie and then offered, “Well, I say there’s no sense beating around the bush anymore. Ask him straight out what he’s keeping from you.”
“Did that,” Maisie replied. “And he said he’s not keeping any secrets.”
Penelope asked, “Did you believe him?”
“No.”
Heavy silence filled the room. The type of silence that came from simply having no answers to a thousand questions.
Penelope finally broke the heavy silence, “What exactly does that mean for you two, then?”
“I don’t know.” Maisie shrugged. “He said he wants to talk tomorrow. One way or the other, I’ll hopefully get some clarity.”
Amelia studied Maisie. “As hard as it is, maybe it’s time to let go of Hayes. You’ve had your heart set on him for a long time. Take Seth last night. He’s hot and available, and was totally eating you up.”
“But there is a big problem with that,” Maisie said.
Penelope asked, “Which is?”
“My heart doesn’t want Seth.” Maisie stuck the fork back in the pie. “It only wants Hayes.”
Hayes wasn’t sure what had woken him during the night or how he ended up at his back door, but he stepped out into the fog in his backyard. The willow tree hemmed a meandering creek at the edge of his property. He recalled going for a run after talking with his father to burn off the shit going on his head before talking to Maisie tomorrow. But he couldn’t remember how he got here. The wet earth infused the air as he stepped onto the dewy grass, the soft squish of mud moving beneath his bare feet. Hayes strode absentmindedly toward the creek, pulled there by a force he couldn’t see but could feel. When he reached the creek, he noticed the rippling water slipping over wet stones, partially submerged twigs in the water, drifting leaves and air bubbles floating lazily downstream. But his attention shifted when he realized he wasn’t alone. The blond-haired beauty next to him, with the soft green eyes, and fair features, was no stranger. “Laurel?”
She smiled, wearing the same white nightgown she’d been wearing when he’d found her in their bedroom. Her blond hair was pulled back in a braid, strands free around her face.
“Surprised to see me?”
He blinked, but she remained. “How is this possible?”
She offered her hand. “You know, you don’t always have to have the answers for everything.”
But he needed answers. He needed logic, and nothing about this was logical. Everything slowed around him when he took her delicate fingers in his. She felt solid, so familiar. “You feel warm.”
“You’d expect different?” she asked with a laugh, leading him closer to the tree where he’d spread her ashes.
The world spun away from him as he glanced down to their intertwined hands. He sat next to her under the tree and she felt real. Like she’d never left him. “This can’t be real.”
She tightened her fingers. “This doesn’t feel real to you?”
“It does,” he countered, losing himself in the tight way she held him. “But…”
Laurel gazed at the creek and then up at the willow tree. “I like it here. You picked a good place for me to rest.”
His mind wanted to refuse this as truth. He decided to stop fighting, needing to get all the things he wanted to say out. “It felt right when I found this place. You would have been happy living here. We should have moved here. You would have been safe.”
She turned to him with a smile that broke his chest wide open. “I would have loved this house, you’re right.” Her gaze fell to the home behind him. “But this was never meant to be my home.”
He sucked in a harsh breath, the world feeling like it was slipping away from him. “It should have been.”
She gave