Page 45 of Your Place or Mine

I shot him a look, but he just grinned.

“I’m serious,” I said. “She walks in, and the whole bar feels different. Like she’s rearranging the furniture in her head without touching a single thing.”

Drew let out a low whistle. “Man. You’ve got itbad.”

“I do not.”

“You do,” he said. “You talk about her like she’s an existential crisis in boots.”

“She kind of is.”

“Then maybe that’s exactly what you need.”

I leaned back against the couch, arms folded. “I don’t need anyone turning my life upside down.”

“You sure about that?”

I didn’t answer.

Because no. I wasn’t sure.

I was used to holding everything together, keeping the bar steady, the lights on, the memory of our family alive and well. I wasn’t used to people coming in and challenging me just bybeingin the room.

I wasn’t used to someone like Lydia…bright, bold, and frustrating in a way that got under my skin and stayed there.

“I like my life the way it is,” I said, more to convince myself than him.

“Your life’s a thirty-year-old jukebox and a half-functioning boiler,” Drew said. “Maybe it’s time for something new.”

“Spare me the metaphors.”

He stood up and stretched. “You’re stubborn as hell. But you’re not hopeless.”

“Gee, thanks.”

He headed toward the bathroom, finishing his beer. “I’m just saying, Callum. You can keep being miserable if you want. But maybe, just maybe… you’re allowed to want more.”

He clapped me on the shoulder on his way out of the room. “Try not to implode before you finish your drink.”

The door shut behind him, and I sat in the quiet.

The kind that wasn’t comfortable anymore.

The kind that crept in made you wonder if maybe your little corner of the world wasn’t as fine as you thought.

I looked around my place. It was home. It was mine.

But for the first time, I wondered what it might feel like if someone else were here, too.

Someone who didn’t care that I was grumpy. Someone who pushed back. Someone who laughed like it was her job and looked at me like I wasalmostworth arguing with.

Someone like Lydia.

Damn it.

Chapter Twelve

Lydia

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