Page 186 of Come Back to Me

“Bast suggested...”

“That something was going on between us?” Her shrug’s dismissive. “He can suggest what he wants.”

I relax my hold on the wheel. “If it gets out, I just want you to know it’s not me. I meant what I said about making it up to you before.”

“And I believed you.” She shuffles on the seat, earning a lick from Brogan, who takes it as an invitation to stick his tongue between the nets. Her chuckle has a grin kicking at the corners of my mouth. “At least your dog likes me.”

“We have good taste.”

“Not sure you can take the credit for that when Callan and I picked him,” she jokes, rubbing her fingers over his snout. Then, her tone turns pensive. “I do trust you, Cody. I hope you know that. Just… I need some time.”

“You can have as much time as you need. I’m not going anywhere, Tee,” I tell her calmly.

Tee hums, a happy sound, one that lilts on the air and trails off into her scrabbling for her purse and writing down the notes in her notepad.

“You never mentioned in your letters how you composed so much.”

“The orchestra killed my buzz,” she replies, the words huffy because I’m distracting her. “I barely composed anything in New York. Whatever I did was written when I was on PTO or sick. The last couple weeks before I moved here, I took some time off because I wasn’t coping well, so I thought it might help. It made things worse.”

“Pigeon Creek is good for you,” I say with no small amount of satisfaction.

“It is.”

The humming starts up again, until she jumps when Brogan touches her shoulder with his snout.

Cutting him a look, I snort. “You’re turning into Dr. Doolittle.”

Stroking Brogan’s head, she chuckles. “Had worse things said about me.”

“Tonight, we’ll work on getting Milord to come to you. After… you can spend the night in my room, if you want.”

“Why would I do that when you’re never in it?”

I roll my eyes. “I’d be in it. If you were there.”

“Ahhh. Probably best if you came to my room, no? Callan’s next door?—”

“Mum’s next door to you,” I point out.

“Huh. True. But I think I’d prefer your mum knowing rather than Callan.”

“Why?”

“Your mum wouldn’t say anything.”

“How do you know?”

“Because we have an agreement.”

My shoulders straighten. “What kind of agreement?”

“What happens in the hallway, stays in the hallway.”

“What the fuck happens in the hallway?”

She snorts. “That’d be telling. Okay, you can room with me.” I gape at her until she tsks. “Eyes on the road, marshal.”

Shifting focus to the road, I mutter, “What the hell is Mum doing?”

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