Page 57 of Fragile Heart

“Knock, knock.” It’s Melissa’s soft voice.

Faedra and I look up just as she rounds the side of the house. She has two large platters in her hands, balanced carefully, one atop the other. Logan rushes to her and takes them.

“Here, I can take those,” he says.

Melissa smiles and digs something out of her purse. “Here, I made labels for them, too. One is vegetarian. Olivia doesn’t eat meat.”

Logan takes both small cards from her without jostling the trays. As he turns toward us, Melissa focuses on me. She crosses the yard and hugs me before saying a quick greeting to both Faedra and Iris.

“Everyone should be here soon,” she says. “Emily is just leaving the ranch. She had to get the horses squared away for the night after Ethan finished with them.”

“That should be perfect timing. Carter planned on starting grilling right around six.” Faedra smiles and smooths down the table cloth one more time. She adjusts the tape on one of the corners before turning to her daughter. “All right, Iris. Let’s get that one situated and grab the other one.”

Iris skips off into the house once she sets the first vase on the table. As soon as she’s out of sight, Faedra leans in and lowers her voice.

“Did you get the bloodwork done?” she asks.

I shake my head and mess with the flowers in the vase. It’s either that or tear apart my finger nails, and I don’t really want to be dealing with cuts on my hands while we’re camping and relying on hand sanitizer.

Faedra frowns. “You don’t want to know?”

“Oh, he already did it,” Melissa chimes in. “But that’s pretty secret still.”

Surprise lights Faedra’s face. “He did?”

My stomach twists as I realize they’re talking about different men.

“Oh, yeah. Caleb got it done, like, a week ago,” Melissa says.

Faedra cocks an eyebrow, but I shake my head as subtly as I can. Please don’t bring up Ethan right now.Please. Faedra frowns and casts a quick look toward Melissa. I shake my head in answer to her unspoken question.

“Oh,” Faedra says. She takes a deep breath and then changes the subject. “Jude’s going to try and have us out the door by eight tomorrow. We’ll see how Dahlia does. But we should be at the campsite by ten at the latest to get everything marked off and prepped.”

I smile and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “Perfect. Melissa and I can plan to be there by then, too.”

Another couple voices carry to the backyard. I twist in time to see Hudson, Beau, and Olivia round the house, more food in their arms, too. Faedra squeezes my hand in silent support. I wave to the group as we close the distance with them.

“Hey guys. Have you gotten a chance to meet Faedra yet?” I ask, keeping my voice from betraying my nerves.

CALEB

By the time I make it back to Creek Falls, the evening air is crisp and the sun is only an hour or so away from dropping below the mountains. There’s an entire hoard of cars blocking the driveway of the address Melissa gave me, so I pull up to the curb about half a block down. The house is one of the known rentals in the heart of town, only a block off of Main. I grab the grocerybag from where I had tossed it onto the passenger seat and slide out of the truck, taking a minute to stretch my neck and shake out my legs.

My phone vibrates, and I check it as I lock the truck and start down the street. It doesn’t surprise me to find a text from Melissa.

Hey, are you still coming tonight?

Brielle is talking about heading out early. I’ll keep her here if you want, though.

Just pulling up now. Don’t make her stay if she doesn’t want to.

Maybe I should have told Brielle I managed to finagle a way to get the weekend off so I could go camping with her. But I wanted to actually see her face when she found out. The downside of trying to surprise your scent match? It might not actually work. At least I am here and trying. Even if it’s just a single hug as she’s leaving, it’ll be enough tonight. I just need to see her, feel her, kiss her.

The gate leading to the backyard is open. I slip through it, following the sounds of kids laughing. There’s a large fire pit centered in the backyard, red-brown cobblestones laid in a circular pattern stretching at least twenty feet wide. There’s a grill tucked near the house and a large table set up beside it, covered in a black tablecloth and mostly empty dishes of food.

Melissa notices me first where she leans against the table and crosses the space, grabbing the bag from me with a smile.

“Brielle’s inside. She should be back out in a minute,” she says. Then, louder, she calls out, “S’mores made it! Do you guys still have your sticks ready?”

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