Sidecar Crush

“Fine with me,” Scarlett said. “I’ll help you carry some.”

“Yeah, if we all take some, we’ll get things out of here quicker,” Bowie said. “Good plan.”

There were several more boxes I hadn’t yet touched. Jonah and Bowie helped Scarlett and me load them in the back of my truck. Jonah was supposed to meet Devlin for a run, so he said goodbye. Bowie said he’d come back to help more tomorrow afternoon and went on his way.

Scarlett and I locked up. Her keys jingled in her hands, and she looked up at me with a little grin. “Got plans tonight?”

“No.”

“Hmm,” she said, and I could tell she was feigning nonchalance. I wasn’t buying it. “Talked to Leah Mae recently?”

Oh lord, this again? “A bit.”

“You should call her,” Scarlett said.

“Any particular reason?”

She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. She broke up with her fiancé.”

My grip tightened around my keys, the hard metal digging into my palm. I tried to keep myself from choking, but it felt like my throat had closed up on me. I turned, coughing, and pounded my fist against my chest.

“You okay?” she asked, patting my back.

“Yeah,” I said, my voice coming out strangled. “Fine. Just got an itch in my throat.”

“Sure you did,” she said, patting me again. “Anyway, just thought you’d want to know. Night, Jame.”

“Night, Scar,” I said, still trying to catch my breath.

She went out to her truck and drove off, leaving me standing on our dad’s porch.

I was reeling. Felt as if the ground pitched beneath my feet, leaving me unstable. Before I knew it, I was sitting in my truck without so much as a glimmer of an idea as to how I’d wound up there. It was like I was in shock, my brain struggling to come to terms with what Scarlett had just told me.

Could it be true? Scarlett wouldn’t lie to me, especially not about this. She saw right through me—knew I had it bad for Leah Mae.

Far from bringing me relief, the news that Leah Mae could possibly be single filled me with dread. What did it mean? Why had she done it? And what was I going to do the next time I saw her?

It wasn’t as if I could suddenly confess my feelings. If she really had broken up with him, it was too fresh. The last thing I wanted was to be a rebound fling. That was bad news all around—the kind of thing that would destroy a friendship in no time flat.

And if there was one thing that scared me more than never having a chance with Leah Mae—I’d come to terms with that for the most part—it was losing her entirely. At least this way, I could still be her friend. But if something happened between us, and it went south, then what would I do? Now that I had her back in my life—even if we were just friends—I couldn’t stand the idea of losing her.

The thought of navigating this new world where Leah Mae was single again scared me to pieces. I didn’t know how to handle it—didn’t know what was right. I just knew I didn’t want to make a mistake. Because if I lost her for good, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.

16

LEAH MAE

I pulled up outside Jameson’s house and turned off the engine. I’d been at my dad’s place this morning and, on a whim, decided to swing by and see Jameson after I left. He’d told me more than once I could stop by anytime, and I still hadn’t seen his workshop.

It was just after lunchtime on Monday, and I hadn’t seen much of Jameson in the last week. We’d texted back and forth a handful of times, but that was it. I figured he was just busy. At least, I hoped that’s all it was. I knew he had a lot to do on the piece he was working on. He’d told me it was for a big client in Charlotte. I wondered if he’d let me see it.

His house was set back from the road with a long gravel driveway. The house itself looked small, but tidy, with a cabin-like charm. Next to it was an old barn that looked like it must be his workshop.

I tried the front door to the house first, but no one answered. Jameson’s truck was here, although I didn’t see Jonah’s car. I went over to the barn’s side door and knocked before opening it and peeking inside.