Page 55 of Come Break My Heart Again

She snorts. “What happened?”

I swallow more salty gin. “I don’t know. It just … happened.” My finger rubs the rim again, until it squeaks. “He was annoyed I hadn’t told him about this trip.”

“You didn’t tell him about this trip?”

“Nope.” I pop theP.

“I putplus-ones allowedin the email mostly for you, you know. I wanted to meet him.”

“It’s a girls’ weekend.”

“Only because Gavin pissed Juliet off, and Ophelia has terrible luck with dating apps, and Tuck is obsessed with the new renovation.”

“What’s the new renovation?”

“The old Warren house. He’s planning to flip it.”

“Oh. Cool.”

Scout bounds up the stairs, plopping down on the wood planks next to my feet. I lean down to brush sand off his fur.

“Tuck texted earlier. Some materials he needs got delayed … so he might come tomorrow.”

“That’s great,” I say.

“He might bring Ryder.”

I freeze, glad I’m bent over so Keira can’t see my face. I assumed Tucker knew about Ryder’s release. Figured that meant Keira did too. I even considered it might come up at some point this weekend.

I was absolutely not expecting toseeRyder this weekend.

My stomach lurches, the gin and sushi threatening to make a reappearance.

“Elle?”

I force my spine to straighten. Paste a smile on my face. “I heard you. I was just … surprised.”

“I’m not sure if he’s coming. I just wanted to … I thought you should know.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Are you okay with Ryder coming? Because I can tell Tuck?—”

“Of course I’m okay with Ryder coming.” The lie tugs at the stitches in my chest. “It was forever ago. And it’s nice that he and Tuck still get together. That they’re still friends.”

My mind is racing as fast as my heart. I’m not even aware of half the crap spilling out of my mouth.

“He’s working for Tuck. On the Warren project.”

A weak “Oh” is all I can think to say.

I drain the rest of my martini. The soundtrack of the waves is no longer calming. It sounds like they’re pounding the shore, raging and riled.

I last less than a minute before the curiosity is too much to contain. “Have you seen him?”

“Yeah. He was at the jobsite when I stopped by a few days ago.”

“How-how did he look?”

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